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

[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.