James A. Ward (1) (1941–)

Nimrod J. Bell worked as a conductor on various southern railroads between 1857 and 1895. He published his story of railroad life in 1896 titled “Railroad Recollections for Over Thirty-Eight Years.” The book was privately published and quickly disappeared from view. A copy of his work was re-discovered in the late 1980’s. After some editing and annotation by James A. Ward it was re-issued under its current title “Southern Railroad Man.”

As a conductor Bell was in an excellent position to observe the changes in the general railroad scene and the passengers in his charge. It is obvious from his writing that he paid close attention to both. His descriptions of people, events, and places are well written and convey an understanding the times in which he lived. Ward’s contribution to the book consists of footnotes and annotations which serve to clarify references and terms not part of today’s general discourse and provide verification in the form of additional citations concerning things, places and events. Ward also recognized, as does the reader, that Bell changed his form and focus of writing approximately 2/3 of the way through the text. The former being a description of his experiences and the latter being a collection of general observations about life but not just about railroad life. To that end Ward split the book into two sections – “Bell’s Career” and “General Observations”.

In his opening chapter Bell provides the reader with a brief biography of himself and the sequence of events that led up to his choosing railroad work as a career. Chapters 2-5 provide details of his Civil War experiences on the Western and Atlantic, the East Tennessee and Georgia, and the South Carolina Railroad. Chapter 6, titled “After General Lee Surrendered 1865-1868” give the reader a sense of the southern railroad scene in the immediate postwar years and Chapter 7-11 detail Bells experiences on the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad, The South and North Railroad of Alabama, and the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad.

Chapters 12-15 are “General Observations.” The topics are Railroads and Employees (12), Passenger Trains and Conductors (13), Old Stories and Other Things Connected with Railroads (14) and Right and Wrong (15). Bell’s book provides a rare glimpse of the 1850-1890 trackside/station-side/ railroad scene. I would recommend his book to anyone interested in eyewitness descriptions of the times. Some examples of his writing style are provided in Common Knowledge. (Text length - 182 pages, Total length - 194 pages)… (meer)