Box 17

Mr. Overby recounts stories of what he recalls.

Mr. Payne hitchhiked and rode the rails. He gives a good description of these travels and tells how he learned from it.

Mr. Rance sings the song,”The Old Man River.” The tape does not say who is singing or who is playing the piano.

Mr. Reynolds is telling his story during conversation on a CB radio. There are interruptions in the conversation and many listeners to the stories he is telling.

Mr. Romatowski is interviewed by a younger woman. He always worked and never had to beg for food.

Mr. Steele gives a short, but very good overview of his story. He rode the rails for two years and seems to have observed much poverty.

Mr. Tallent speaks rapidly and puts a lot of detail into his story. He does remember and names the train lines he rode. The railroad names are underlined.

Mr. Thornall does not speak or give any information about himself or his personal history. He also sings with accompaniment.

Mr. Vicks had a difficult life in general and his stories tell of the hardship of the rails and the depression. Mr. Vicks carried a harmonica with him on his travels and he shared his music wherever he went.

Mr. Vicks is a songwriter with Frank and Eugene his son. There is very little information about riding the rails in this tape, but there is a good deal of music, some of which has been published. Mr. Vicks sings songs, tells stories, and twelve not so clean jokes. There is not very much said about riding the rails. He taped four sides of tape of which this is the fourth and final tape of the four.