Mr. Hepler was born in 1910 and worked for the C&O railroad as a gandydancer and section man on-and-off from 1926 to 1931. The on-and-off was a combination of being let go because he had lied about his age, and once he could pass for 18 because he was on extra board (extra board means you are part of the railroad but have to wait until you are called for work – if there is no work there is also no pay). He decided he had had enough of extra board so he went to work at the rayon plant in south Covington.

In 1943 he went to work for the Southern railroad as a hostler helper at the Alexandria roundhouse. He worked for the Southern Railroad from 1943 to 1970 in the capacity of roundhouse hostler, roundhouse clerk, fireman, engineer, and as watchman at the Fruit Growers Express Complex in Alexandria, Virginia (FGEX was a railroad refrigerator shipper jointly owned by the Southern Railroad and several other class I railroads).

The stories he has to offer are well told and his writing style is conversational. As would be expected many mirror the experiences of others who have worked on the railroad and, also as expected, many of the stories are unique and are his and his alone to tell.

I think this is an excellent first person account of railroad work and I would recommend it to anyone interested in stories of railroad life. (see Common Knowledge for examples of his writing style).

The book is profusely illustrated with contemporary pictures of people, places, and motive power.
(Text Length - 108 pages, Total Length - 108 pages. Approximately 42 pages are devoted to photographs). (Book Dimensions in inches (LxHxW) 8 ½ x 11 x 3/8) ( )