I should probably ask on little details, but....

[rm]

Lives of railway construction workers in America circa 1892/3.
Google is not quite getting me where I need to go.

Got anything?

Yes, fandom people who recognize the year in question, it's for fic.

Comments

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

I have an 1872 edition of Byrne's Pocket Book for Rail-Road and Civil Engineers sitting next to me. (Blame the family. You know how my dad is about bridges.)

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

the 1864 ed. is here: http://books.google.com/books?id=hPENAAAAYAAJ&dq=byrne's+pocket+book+for+rail-road+and+civil+engineers&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=oJhm4KalyY&sig=DT9qOkWnjlYdtXmtPY1KlEwpj24&hl=en&ei=Bkz7Sdu1G5K-Mojr2a0E&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPA6,M1

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, hilarious. Mostly I'm looking for info on living situation, working conditions, etc. I know this info exists, but all I keep hitting are geekery sites about how various trains were painted and stuff.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

Of course, the rest of the stuff we have around the house is ridiculous shit like 78s of various train whistles.

I have access to a lot of stuff about railroads from that period due to my library magic, actually. Do you have a specific location? There really is quite a bit of material from that time period, but a lot of it is focused on specific rail lines or locations.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Probably The Great Northern Rail, which finished its line to Seattle then.

I also know there was major construction going on in (I'm not sure what line) Colorado at the time.

Either work for me.

Thanks!

Sadly, this is the sort of thing that's probably not going to be more than a few sentences in what I ultimately right, but I want to not fuck it up.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

if you can get a copy:
Profiting from the plains : the Great Northern Railway and corporate development of the American West / Claire Strom.
Author: Strom, Claire.
Year: 2003
Abstract: "Profiting from the Plains looks at two inextricably linked historical movements in the United States: the westward expansion of the Great Northern Railway and the agricultural development of the northern plains. Claire Strom explores the persistent, idiosyncratic attempts by the Great Northern to boost agricultural production along its rail routes from St. Paul to Seattle between 1878 and 1917. Lacking a federal land grant, the Great Northern could not make money through land sales like other railways.
It had to rely on haulage to make a profit, and the greatest potential for increasing haulage lay in farming.".
"This story of railroad politics and development ties into themes of corporate and federal sponsorship, which are increasingly recognized as fundamental to western history. As the first scholarly examination of James J. Hill's agricultural enterprises, Profiting from the Plains makes an important contribution to the biography of the popular and controversial Hill, as well as to western and environmental history."--BOOK JACKET.

The majority of the construction looks like it might have been a little earlier than your time period, though. There's a report from 1889.

Grand Canyon : a century of change : rephotography of the 1889-1890 Stanton Expedition / Robert H. Webb.
Author: Webb, Robert H.
Year: 1996
Abstract: Photographs made in Grand Canyon a century ago may provide us with a sense of history; photographs made today from the same vantage points give us a more precise picture of change in this seemingly timeless place. Between 1889 and 1890, Robert Brewster Stanton made photographs every one to two miles through the river corridor for the purpose of planning a water-level railroad route; he produced the largest collection of photographs of the Colorado River at one point in time. Robert Webb, a USGS hydrologist conducting research on debris flows in the Canyon, obtained the photographs, and from 1989 to 1995, he replicated all 445 of the views captured by Stanton, matching as closely as possible the original camera positions and lighting conditions. Grand Canyon, a Century of Change assembles the most dramatic of these paired photographs to demonstrate both the persistence of nature and the presence of humanity. The level of detail obtained from the photographs represent one of the most extensive long-term monitoring efforts ever conducted in a national park and the most detailed documentation effort ever performed using repeat photography. Much more than simply a picture book, Grand Canyon, a Century of Change is an environmental history of the river corridor, a fascinating book that clearly shows the impact of human influence on Grand Canyon and warns us that the Canyon's future is very much in our hands.

That looks awesome

Gulf to Rockies : the heritage of the Fort Worth and Denver-Colorado and Southern Railways, 1861-1898 / by Richard C. Overton ; with pen sketches by Reginald Marsh.
Author: Overton, Richard Cleghorn , 1907-1988.
Add.Author / Editor: Marsh, Reginald , 1898-1954.

Gulf to Rockies : the heritage of the Fort Worth and Denver-Colorado and Southern Railways, 1861-1898 / by Richard C. Overton ; with pen sketches by Reginald Marsh.
Author: Overton, Richard Cleghorn , 1907-1988.
Add.Author / Editor: Marsh, Reginald , 1898-1954.

[hughcasey.livejournal.com]

1892-3...

Holmes?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Nope. Although reasonable. It's apparently (from others) the fandom I need to acquire.

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who just completed her history degree, and whose father is a railfanner - let me see if she's got any suggestions..

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

1893: the Pullman strike, one of the most violent episodes in US labor history. I'm away from my library but can give you references early next week -- in the meantime, try searching Google. You should turn up lots of evidence on working/living conditions, especially near Chicago, where there was a Pullman company town.

Incidentally, this also intersects with the history of the World's Columbian Exposition, which I was toying with using in a fic about Jack in the US, so GMTA.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm on hold with Public Health Care System run by Provincial( and provincial) Tories.
So you ask me for a (gluten free)sandwich, and all I have on hand is a (gluten free) crumb. http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10196

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

A trifle earlier, but you might look at books/articles about the building of the Transcontinental in the 1860s. As I recall there was a lot of information about the treatment of the Anglo (mostly Irish) versus Chinese labourers that came with the "by the way we built a huge fuckoff railway". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad#Laborers is a start.

Also although it was originally a British thing, have a google round about the life of the Navvy. Navvies were imported for American labour once the UK's need died down. Check "gandy dancer" also.

I can poke around Jstor if you like, but won't be able to until Monday. Good luck!

[rm.livejournal.com]

The Navvy stuff was, in fact, the only stuff I could reliably find. I was sort of looking at it going "close enough for fic, right?"

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

It probably is, honestly. In that industry, because Britain was such a trendsetter, most of the management, labour, and technology was imported.

This may be stuff you've found, but -- Photos of American rail workers here:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/award97/codhtml/hawpSubjects269.html

The Pullman Strike was in the 1890s too, but that was construction of rail cars, not the rail itself. Still, it's good reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike

RESEARCH BOY! *strikes pose*

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yup, Pullman Strike is definitely not what I'm playing with here (this thing definitely is "most inexplicable plot bunny to date" and I'm way too sick to write it today -- I can't think at all.)

[valancy-joy.livejournal.com]

http://books.google.com/books?id=EecoAAAAYAAJ

The Railroad Trainmen's Journal, 1892

worth at least a glance for the floridity of the language back then, if possibly not quite what you are searching for...

[rm.livejournal.com]

Looking -- not quite what I was looking for, but totally useful.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hadn't seen that yet. This is a sweepstakes of fabulosity, clearly.

[valancy-joy.livejournal.com]

Now that I look, there's even fiction... take this example from page 169

He was a fair pianist and several months ago Banker Sightdraft had given his clerk a free invitation to visit his princely mansion. The idea was that Edward was to put the banker asleep with his music. Now it so happened that the banker had a daughter, and furthermore it occurred that when (the banker) dropped asleep, his daughter—the fair and rich Virginia—took great pains to follow Edward's fingering, and for that purpose leaned frequently against his manly bosom.

EGAD!

[rm.livejournal.com]

That's so funny I could die. Funnier, even, than the poetry I found in it, which was pretty hilarious.

[valancy-joy.livejournal.com]

Also: there's a LOT of linkage to follow here:

http://cprr.org/Museum/index.html#Read

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Bizarrely, someone just made a huge post on little_details about sorts of various information on American railroads in the late 1800s. It seems to be more about riding the trains than building them, but there is an absolute ton of links, so I'd think there's something useful on there.

[shane-mayhem.livejournal.com]

Oh man, Pullman Strike.

Conditions were notoriously bad...what kind of details are you looking for, specifically? I'm reading a great book called Strike about the Labor movement in the 1870's-1890's...I don't have it to hand at the moment, but I'd be happy to inundate you with more detail when I get home. If, of course, someone else hasn't already solved this for you.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Housing arrangements for the men actually building the rail lines is what I specifically need.

[shane-mayhem.livejournal.com]

Often tents or shacks put up hurriedly along the actual railway. Think long barracks somewhat like prison camps. These were often very shoddy construction, I'm not sure what they were made of. I could look that up for you later. I know that at some points along the Western Railway they had what amounts to "tent cities" put up, sort of like shanty towns would later be. There was a lot of fighting, drinking, and gambling, and mostly, they would have to buy everything they needed on credit from the railway company for which they worked. (The same went for more permanent "company towns" which were set up at major railway hubs.) I don't believe that the families of the men ever lived with them in these impermanent settlements, but there are stories about "camp followers..." I'm not sure if these women somehow came with the workers, or came from nearby towns to meet them there...? I'm pulling this from memory at this point, but as I said, Strike is a great book...I'll try to find you more details on it.

[shane-mayhem.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Excerpts!

http://books.google.com/books?id=uoCNcKLzM_sC&dq=Strike!&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=lqDUDR9D_J&sig=eq9ghZL16uogF7wIBVX4TdunnT4&hl=en&ei=nbP8SYKtNpauMbXnkdME&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=13#PPA17,M1