The Well-dressed Hobo (ebook)

Argumento de The Well-dressed Hobo (ebook)

Growing up in the bustling railroad town of Norfolk, Virginia, and joining his conductor grandfather on overnight runs, future Fortune journalist Rush Loving was enchanted with railroads at an early age. In this extraordinary inside look at eight decades of the railroad industry and some of its greatest leaders, Loving reminisces about his colorful people and fascinating anecdotes. Chatting with brakemen, engineers, and executives, Loving shares stories he collected in locomotive cabs, business cars, executive suites and even the White House. They paint a compelling, intimate portrait of the railroad industry and its leaders, both inept and visionary. Above all, Loving tells stories of the dedicated men and women who truly love trains and know the industry from the rails up.

"Rush Loving never ran a railroad, but he sure knows how to write about them. Climb aboard this lively blend of memoir and history, which chugs along like a Burlington Northern diesel locomotive barreling down the Continental Divide, and prepare to be entertained and informed by a man whose passion for one of America's great industries shines through every page." ?Rik Kirkland, former managing editor, Fortune

"In The Well-Dressed Hobo, Rush Loving tells the story about getting the story and describes his personal love of trains. As a journalist, he answered a call and perfected an art. This is a book to be read on a train, plane or in a cozy corner with a martini or gimlet." ?Todd Culbertson, Editor of The Editorial Pages, Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Rush Loving is America?s greatest chronicler of the romance and business of railroads and treats readers to a moveable feast of landmark events and locomotive-powered personalities including Averell Harriman and Ed Ball. Jump onto the hobo?s boxcar for a rollicking journey!" ?Shawn Tully,, Fortune editor at large

"If you've always been intrigued by trains ? if, from an early age, the sound of a distant whistle, the sight of a train pulling into a station or simply the memory of a train streaking across an open landscape has kindled a sense of adventure ? Rush Loving Jr.'s The Well-Dressed Hobo is for you.

And if you did not grow up fascinated with trains, you will be after reading his engaging memoir." ?Star-Ledger

Rush Loving Jr. is former associate editor of Fortune and former business editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He is author of The Men Who Loved Trains (IUP, 2006). Loving served as assistant director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter and worked as a consultant specializing in transportation economics, issues before Congress, and corporate communication problems.

"Loving?s sweeping and grand epic on the renaissance of American railroading during the last 40 years and the characters, both wise and foolish, who helped make it a reality should be on the bookshelf of anyone who loves railroading as much as its author." ?Frederick N. Rasmussen, The Baltimore Sun0Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Mix of Love and Luck
1. Rumbling up the Horseshoe
2. Averell Harriman and His Streamliner
3. Sin and the Aspiring Reporter
4. Al Perlman Buys a Hill
5. The Country Boy Who Was King of Florida
6. Wooing Bankers With A Railway Car
7. The Locomotive That Sashayed
8. The ?Token Yokel? Meanders North
9. The Biggest Railroad Story of Them All
10. ?The Greatest Thing Since Sex and Watermelon?
11. The Merger That Worked
12. The Dinner Debate With Graham Claytor
13. The Steadfast Colonel And the Unsteady Rock
14. ?Who Knows Hays Watkins??
15. A Modern Annie Oakley Takes on Lou Menk
16. The Lawyers?s Son from Buffalo
17. ?Hays Must Not Know?
18. J. B. Hunt Takes a Ride On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
19. Two Empty Limousines
20. ?They Nod off Regularly on the Job?
21. Déjà vu Once More
22. Their Greatest Task
Index