All the Livelong Day
is a creative nonfiction narrative by Richard Neil detailing theThanksgiving Wreck at Woodstock
, on
November 25, 1951.
The
true account is narrated by the son of the fireman on Southern Railway's Second 47,
The Crescent,
southbound from Birmingham to Meridian, Mississippi to New Orleans
. The story details the train wreck and the characters involved,
The Greatest Generation of post-World War II.
The author is a forester and describes the
southern flora
as well as the
Klamath National Forest mountains of Northern California.
The book begins with the author being stationed in
Eddy Gulch Fire Tower
in summer of 2021, a summer of intense
wildfire.
He returns home to
Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama,
on a perch below
Vulcan
, a cast iron statue of the god of forge and metalworking. The story is told from there, beginning on morning of the wreck. In fine detail, the narrative tells of the fireman's ride to
Birmingham Terminal Station
and of the train ride south, a ride onboard engine, until
the trains meet head-on in Woodstock
. T
he fireman's wife and brothers drive from Woodlawn, a community in Birmingham, to Woodstock
on night of the wreck to try to find out who's alive and who isn't.
National Transportation Safety Board transcripts allow the participants to tell their story in their own words using their actual testimony.