The author, Ken Lothridge, first hired out in 1973 for the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Fort Worth, TX, as a brakeman/conductor working the freight trains. The Union Pacific Railroad merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad in the 1980's and he became a Union Pacific conductor. In 1993, he moved to California and went to work for Amtrak passenger service, where he worked until 2005. Lothridge wrote and published the first of his "A Conductor Tells..." books in 2003. His "Unauthorized Train Stories" book received great praise from his readers, as well as the editor of Trains magazine, Writer's Digest, the editor of Johns Hopkins University Press, the editor of South Platte Press, and the President and CEO of Amtrak, Mr. David Gunn. His second book, "A Conductor Tells Unbelievable TRAIN STORIES," is a continuation of the crazy, funny, and informative train stories he and his fellow co-workers experienced while working the rails.