Railway Man begins with author Mitchell Deaver paying a nostalgic visit to Bickle signal box, base of boyhood adventures described in his first book Railway Boy. Shortly after, he leaves rural Yorkshire for life in the big cities. It is 1968. Railway Man describes the emotionally devastating draw-down of steam traction on British Railways. Three steam sheds remain: Carnforth, Lostock Hall and Rose Grove. The end comes when the last steam train runs on 11th August. The total steam ban is unbearable. Mitchell Deaver's brainchild, the Return to Steam Committee, tries to get steam back on British...

Following Railway Boy and Railway Man Mitchell Deaver now describes in Transatlantic Railwayman his adventures as a former British Railways employee thrust into the midst of American railroading. Mitchell Deaver begins a new career in 1989 with the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad, where he learns the rudiments of American railroading: hand signals, radio use and how to couple and uncouple freight cars. Hundred-car coal trains are an important aspect of work on this short line. In 1994 Mitchell Deaver moves to Conrail, where he trains to become a conductor on long-distance freight trains...