The Grand Train Trip-part the Fifth

On my mother’s side of the family there was a connection to the Railroad. Her father, my grandfather worked for the CRI&P as a section foreman. As such he followed the rail road up and down the line. So my Aunts and Uncles would have birth places in towns on section between Rock Island and Sheffield. The connection to the railroad then is in my blood. Although, I did not know my Grandfather as he was dead before I was born, his reputation and stories were told many times by his widow and children. From them and his long obituary, I gather he was well respected by both his employers and the men who worked with him on the section. He was a stern but fair man who required a days work for a days pay. He, like many of his co-workers was a first generation Irishman, who had looked for his fortune in the new world and found it working on the railroad.