Barbara B Clayburn

Prairie Stationmaster is a short biography of the author’s father, Nathan Bragg, which traces his career as a stationmaster (1917-1963) on CB&Q branch lines in Nebraska. The book is a compilation of Nathan’s recollections of his railroad and personal life augmented with some of the authors own experiences as his daughter. The overarching theme, although not explicitly stated, is the decline of the U.S. branch line railroad service as seen through the eyes of a branch line agent.

Although well written the style of writing is inconsistent. Some sections of the book read like a biography written for an adult whereas other sections read almost like something written for children. The latter is particularly noticeable in passages where the author has a tendency to give an overly rosy view of the way things were. What makes the book worthwhile are the recorded glimpses of railroad life – the branch line train crew who combined pheasant hunting with work, her father and the Railroad Superintendent personally servicing the passenger cars scheduled for extra troop movements during World War II, the “pet” black snake at the station at Schubert, etc.

If you are interested one man’s view of the changing Midwest railroad scene, you might want to consider adding this book to your reading list. An example of the writing style can be found in the “Quotation” section of Common Knowledge. (Text length - 125 pages, Total length - 128 pages)… (altro)