Robert J. Church

On January 13, 1952, Train 101, The City of San Francisco, became stuck in a snow-slide during a raging blizzard, the worst in 62 years, high in the Sierra Mtns. It was the the 16th before a pathway could be made from the train to the near-by highway and the 226 passengers and crew were led by section men from the train to the highway where they were met by every vehicle in the area to take them to shelter.

This book, which is really for people keenly interested in either history, or railroads, is very detailed. It begins with the history of building the railroad through the mountains and the problems that the exceptionally bad winter conditions caused. It covers details about how the snow is cleared with details of all the various snow removal equipment. It covers the 17 days the train was stuck (actually, almost buried) and how it was eventually freed.

The book has photographs on every page. One railroad man was killed during the effort to get to the train. The 30 men on the crew on the train were very professional and helped the passengers in every way. It was their work that kept the incident from becoming a disaster with many deaths.… (mer)