The Milwaukee Road revisited

the long version

Stanley Johnson's newest book, The Milwaukee Road Revisited, traces the ways that the Milwaukee Railroad shaped the lives of its employees and their families, Johnson's stepfather, Frank Fiebelkorn, worked as a passenger conductor on the Milwaukee Road for fifty-three years, and his career took him across Washington, Idaho, and Montana numerous times. In his book, Johnson reminisces about the way the railroad affected his youth. Johnson takes the reader on various train rides, some during the vibrant springtime and others during the deadly winter. Depots such as Spokane, Washington, Avery, Idaho, and Butte, Montana are visited twice in the book; first in the 1940s when Johnson accompanies his stepfather, and then again more than forty years later when Johnson and his wife revisit those nostalgic places. The book recounts interviews Johnson had with other Milwaukee old-timers - the men who built the railroad and then spent their lifetimes riding and working on it - who also mourn the loss of the Milwaukee Road.