All Aboard! And a chance to win!

by

We’re so happy to have Kathleen Lawless with us. Fun, fun!

In the late 1850’s the idea that a Bostonian could one day buy a train ticket to California and be there in less than a week was hard to imagine. Railroads connected thriving Eastern cities like New York and Philadelphia, with people and freight to move. The West was 2,000 miles of mostly wilderness plagued by the physical challenges of deserts, and mountain ranges with snowy passes and steep river canyons.

Luckily, visionaries and entrepreneurs saw the potential, knowing that if the area became accessible, settlers would follow. It didn’t happen overnight, but in January, 1893, the last spike of the Great Northern Railway was in place. 40,000 miles of track had been added to the Western railroads in the 1880’s.

This final settling of the West provided great fodder for my writer’s imagination, fueled by my visit to several magnificent mountainside hotels built in the late nineteenth century along the various rail lines in Canada and the US. It was hard not to be awed by their splendor and majestic bearing, looking perfectly at home amidst the breathtaking scenery. I was particularly enamored by the ones that looked like something out of my childhood fairytales, inspired by Swiss Chalets and nestled into the mountains.

This train is far more modern than those transporting the early settlers and their Mail Order Brides, but I feel certain the spectacular scenery through the mountains hadn’t changed much.

Major railways created these magnificent buildings as a way to entice wealthy passengers to travel across the continent. Since their passengers expected and could afford nothing but the best, the rail lines provided it; from opulent parlors, sleeping cars, and fine dining, to ostentatious accommodation along the way.

Before long, the middle class also began to travel. Hoteliers were quick to offer more modest accommodation at lower prices. As more and more people started to travel, railways traveling through the mountains found building dining spots to feed their passengers more economical than pulling a dining car up the steep terrain. When it became obvious many passengers would happily stay and explore the area, these early locations also grew into railway hotels, with entire towns springing up around them.

Thus, Silver Springs Junction was born, complete with a cagey entrepreneurial grandfather who built his dream hotel in the mountains and willed the town around it into existence. Having raised his four orphaned granddaughters, the old boy is eager to see them married off. The problem is the sisters themselves, strong-willed, modern and independent women, not terribly interested in marriage or a traditional life. What’s a well-meaning grandfather to do?

The Gambler, Book 1 of The Spinster Takes a Groom is available for preorder here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPMCJVZB?tag=pettpist-20

with a release date of March 12th.

Readers first met the four sisters at the end of Lila, from the Rescue Me, Mail Order Brides. Add your comments below because one lucky reader will win a copy of Lila.

Thanks for stopping by. If I piqued your interest in my writing, please feel free to download Kissing a Cowboy, a chapter sampler of pretty anything cowboy I’ve ever written. Heat levels of my books can vary from sweet to spicy, but the sampler makes it clear which is which.

There is no obligation, and no email collection if you choose to sample my stories. Feel free to share the link with your cowboy-loving friends.

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/jcvjun2198

USA Today Bestselling Author Kathleen Lawless blames a misspent youth watching Rawhide, Maverick and Bonanza for her fascination with cowboys, which doesn’t stop her from creating a wide variety of interests and occupations for her many alpha male heroes.

With over 50 published novels to her credit, she enjoys pushing the boundaries of traditional romance into historical romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense and women’s fiction.

She makes her home in the Pacific Northwest and loves to hear from her readers.  http://www.kathleenlawless.com

Sign up for Kathleen’s VIP Reader Newsletter to receive a free book, updates, special giveaways and fan-priced offers.    http://eepurl.com/bV0sb1

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60 thoughts on “All Aboard! And a chance to win!”

  1. Such a fascinating time with those railroads and travel to the West.

    Even little railroads had destination hotels for leisure, catering more to the wealthy.

  2. Trains are fun to watch, and reading about the “taming of the west” can be fun and educational. Thanks for sharing these tidbits!

  3. Railroads certainly changed the nation and especially the West even introducing time zones.

  4. Sometimes I’d like to take a trip back in time. I don’t want to stay, but visit. A few days on the Railroad would be interesting. The trains moved so slow at first, it’d probably feel very leisurely to us. That said, we also didn’t have the same safety standards, and robbing a train wasn’t unheard of, so maybe it’d be exciting too. 🙂

    • I’m with you! I see the romance in the idea, but I’m sure there were hardships and dangers as well.

    • I also love stories about the West. I particularly like to think about the possibities for women to be more independent.

  7. Welcome today. This must have been so exciting to see rail roads come into existence back then. Of course there were probably many who didnt want them to come anywhere near them also. Thanks for sharing and for sharing the book. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

    • Thanks for the welcome Lori. You probably know more than I do about how quilting has changed thrugh the years.

  9. So what hotels are still in existence that you can visit today along the railroad?

    Your new series sounds fun.

    • The first one I visited was at Lake Louise, and it has never faded from my memory. I remember driving through the mountain passes, trying to imagine what those early work crews went thruogh laying the first set of tracks.

  10. Fascinating and extraordinary changes which the railroad provided. Wonderful novel which is a real treasure.

  14. Great subject matter! I’m looking forward to reading, “The Gambler”.
    The building of the west and the age of steam locomotives was an unparalleled time of American history. It is fortunate that today some of the “magnificent mountainside hotels” remain, a testament to those who had the foresight to blaze trails west. Saying my Dad was a railroad “junkie” would be an understatement. Riding the rails was his means of transportation, including going from Chicago to college in Idaho. Growing up I remember riding trains throughout the western United States and Canada, through some of the most majestic country to be found anywhere. Another memory of growing up is watching trains roll through town pulled by some of the largest steam engines ever built. An era gone by but not forgotten.

    • Thanks for sharing your memories about your Dad. I’ve taken trains in Europe, but a couple of North American trips are definitely on my bucket list.

  16. The railways really opened up the world to travelers. I can’t imagine how long a journey would take.

    • I think if all went well it was about a week from coast to coast. I think it would have been a marvelous adventure to be one of the wealthy, and very uncomfortable for those in third class.

  17. I have always wanted to visit Promontory, Utah where the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads met to complete the transcontinental railroad. Maybe one of these days I’ll get there.

  18. Very interesting post. I grew up in a place that had the highest railroad bridge that crossed over the KY river in the US. The railroad tracks went right behind our house so you could always here the train coming. This historical bridge is still there and in use today.

  19. Great post, Kathleen! I love trains so much that when I have insomnia I play train sounds and I’m lulled back to sleep.
    I’m sure I’ll love The Gambler as much as I’ve enjoyed all your other books!

  22. Reading about the railroad and it’s construction, took a very long time and also quite a few lives. Around nearly every corner, there was some sort of battle to be won. Indians, outlaws, others hoping to be there first, speaking of rival railroad companies. Many books I have written tell the tale of train robberies, lack of track to their destination, causing them to find alternate ways to proceed west. Your newest tale of the granddaughters sounds very exciting and I look forward to reading it as well as “Lila”.

    • It was not a job for the faint of heart, and that’s for sure. But thank goodness those early workers stuck with it.

  23. I enjoy reading about train travel. When I visited my grandparents in North Dakota they used to take us on walks by the train tracks there and tell me stories of how North Dakota grew with the introduction of trains.

  24. Thank you for sharing the history of trains in the Old West. The only time I have been on a train was in Germany.

  25. Hi, Thank you for sharing this information ! I love trains and have been in quite a few of them, I haven’t been on one for quite awhile , so I think it is time for a train adventure. How hard the people must have worked for when they were setting down the tracks. Your book series sounds Great. Have a great evening and a great weekend. Thank you for joining us today.

  26. It’s fascinating how they were able to clear all that land and those mountain passes for train travel!

  29. Railroads would change the way you think about traveling and maybe even help people with getting to their destination.
    All these books look like great reads especially in print. Look forward to reading.

    • So true. It has taken me a while to get books into print but it’s one of my many goals. I still prefer reading a paper book to an ebook.

  30. The trains out West in particular go through some spectacular country. Whether you are taking a modern train along regular routes or taking some of the historic train trips, You will be treated to beautiful scenery. We took the Durango to Silverton line many years ago. Unfortunately, it only went half way the time of the year we went. Next time my husband and I are out that way, we will hopefully be able to make the trip the entire way. There are several other historic routes out that way we would like to take. We have taken the train in Alaska to Denali and that too is spectacular country. On the same trip, we took the coastal train from Seattle to Vancouver. Nice trip. The trains through the Rockies in both the US and especially Canada are on our wish list. Train trips give you a very different view of the country. For those who are used to taking interstate highways, a train ride will give you a very different view of the country. You tend to see an view of the country as it was decades ago. We took the Raleigh, NC to New York City train and not only do you see the older parts of towns, and you pass through the industrial and freight centers of the cities, a side of them you would otherwise not likely be aware of.
    Thank you for bringing up some good memories.

    • Patricia, thanks for commenting. Trains are not just a way of travel, they are part of our history.

  32. Hi Kathleen, Looking forward to reading your new books. My family took a train YEARS ago from Chicago to Sacramento, Calif. We were on the Super Chief, it took us through the mountains & Donner Pass, which we viewed through the dome car. It was Awesome, still had snow on the mountains in June. The man in charge of that car told us some information about Donner Pass & the settlers that didn’t make it with all the snow fall. We enjoyed our trip & would do it again to take the slow way of travel.

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