CALHAN, Colo., Feb. 15, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Little Train That Would Not Die (now available through AuthorHouse) is a true story about the indomitable American spirit. Antoinette Gibbons takes readers through two centuries as she interweaves the lives of innovative citizen and soldier General William J. Palmer, legendary lawman Bat Masterson and singer Gene Autry with her own family, friends and fellow advocates for the historic railroad that has graced the mountains between Colorado and New Mexico since 1880.
The story begins with an obscure but important Indian battle high in the Colorado Rockies, the "1848 Battle of Cumbres Pass." From there, readers are treated to the rapid, yet toilsome progress of the late 1800s as a great railroad was built to bring prosperity to this remote region of America. History unfolds into the 20th century, when the heroic efforts of ordinary men accomplished the impossible in the 1960s and 70s.
As important as this story is in American history, it is highly personal for Gibbons, whose father played a vital role in preserving Engine 483. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is their living monument of hope to future generations. The Little Train That Would Not Die reveals the lives and labor of these dedicated men, and it also details Gibbons' involvement in the restoration. At 9 years old, Gibbons rode in an open car gondola the first time they fired up Engine 483 under its new name as the C&TS Railroad, or as it was lovingly called, CATS. She spent summers riding the rails, clearing sage brush and playing in the high mountains of Colorado. Later, she worked alongside men as a boilermaker apprentice, learning to weld, use a cutting torch and drill and set rivets.
"I only got paid a dollar an hour and the work didn't last long, but for that moment I had a chance to touch and change history," Gibbons writes. "It is my hope that a piece of those years have been captured on these pages and that this train will go to future generations, forever being The Little Train That Would Not Die."
Gibbons' writing career began when she joined the Longmont Writer's Club in Longmont, Colo., in 1991. Encouraged and nurtured by this community, she became the club's president within two years of joining. She has worked for the Berthoud (Colo.) Recorder and as a field interviewer and manager with the University of Michigan's Social Research Institution. The creation of this book has been five years in the making. Her first book, The Story of the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad and Engine 463, was published in 1995. She currently lives on 100 acres of ranchland in the eastern plains of Colorado with her husband, three sons and a plethora of animals. Plans for her next book are in the works.
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