The Boys' Story of the Railroad Series by Burton E. Stevenson

The Boys' Story of the Railroad Series is a four book series that was first published between 1905 and 1912. The books were reprinted into the 1930's. The stories involve teenagers working in and around the railroad. Each book contains six or seven glossy illustrations done by either John Goss, L.J. Bridgman or A.P. Button.

The author Burton E. Stevenson (1872-1962) wrote more than forty books in addition to these juveniles. As a youngster he published a monthly newspaper called The Boy's Own continuously for five years. Besides writing Stevenson was quite accomplished. He was the director of Library War Service with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. He also founded the American Library in Paris. He died at the age of 89 in Chillicothe, Ohio.


Stevenson's Railrroad series was published by L. C. Page and Compnay.
L.C. Page & Company published a number of juvenile series in the twentieth century. Mattson's guide lists 11 series and there are a number of others, mostly nonfiction, that were published also. Page succeeded Joseph Knight in 1897. In 1914 Page supplemented its list when it bout the plates of the Dana Estes Company. The Page books are generally oversized and well made. Probably the best known of its publications were the Little Colonel Series written by Annie Fellows Johnston.

The Books:
1.The Young Section Hand 1905
2. The Train Dispatcher 1907
3. The Young Train Master 1909
4. The Young Apprentice 1912