This year marks the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I. Hear how the American rail
roads had a profound impact on the war effort both here and abroad.
Rudolph Daniels received his Ph.D. in Russian and Soviet Studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 1971. Since then he has taught at colleges and universities in the United States and in Germany. Daniels retired as Assistant Dean and Department Chair of Railroad Operations Technology at Western Iowa Tech Community College. He has written numerous articles and five books, including Sioux City Railroads and The Great Railroad War, on “US Railroads in World War One.”
More recently Daniels helped edit it the professional Railway Atlas of the United States, and is a script consultant for a recent Public TV production of the “Orphan Trains”.
His program “U.S. Railroad Operations During World War I” begins with a train call for Orange City as it happened years ago; it will bring back memories to many people. He also presents the programs in an antique conductor’s uniform.
When he was a child, Rudy, as he prefers to be called, could not decide whether he wanted to be a locomotive or caboose when he grew up. He still can’t decide. Nevertheless, he is currently known as Iowa’s “Super Conductor”.
