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Many of us model railroaders have hobos on our layouts because they add a human element to what otherwise might just be a bland and uninteresting scene. However, we would do well to remember that hobos were a consequence of the difficult economic times in 1930s America.

At the height of the Great Depression, the Farm Security Administration sent some of their photographers to document the state of the nation, its people, and their relationship to its railroads. One-hundred-and-thirty-eight of the 270,000 negatives in the resulting photo archive have been assembled into a book titled “An American Journey – Images of Railroading During the Depression” by Mark S. Vandercook and published by Hot Box Press in 2000. The book chronicles the years between 1935 and 1941 and shows ordinary Americans, railroad people, and hobos, during an era that lies within the memory of only a very few of us today. On a lighter note, it will provide the model railroader with an excellent set of images from which to create a model railroad that recalls this important period of American history – including hobos.

MELGAR

MELGAR_ANAMERICAN_JOURNEY

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MELGAR posted:

Many of us model railroaders have hobos on our layouts because they add a human element to what otherwise might just be a bland and uninteresting scene. However, we would do well to remember that hobos were a consequence of the difficult economic times in 1930s America.

At the height of the Great Depression, the Farm Security Administration sent some of their photographers to document the state of the nation, its people, and their relationship to its railroads. One-hundred-and-thirty-eight of the 270,000 negatives in the resulting photo archive have been assembled into a book titled “An American Journey – Images of Railroading During the Depression” by Mark S. Vandercook and published by Hot Box Press in 2000. The book chronicles the years between 1935 and 1941 and shows ordinary Americans, railroad people, and hobos, during an era that lies within the memory of only a very few of us today. On a lighter note. it will provide the model railroader with an excellent set of images from which to create a model railroad that recalls this important period of American history – including hobos.

MELGAR

MELGAR_ANAMERICAN_JOURNEY

Very interesting, Melgar, and the book sounds great. Arnold 

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