ALL THE LIVELONG DAY

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