Tales of the Rails gives a brief history of the Newfoundland Railway, particularly the period from the 1930s to the 1980s. It outlines some of the trials and tribulations encountered by the railway workers and tells of the men and women who carried on through both the hard and the happy times. Tales of the Rails is a tribute to the warmth, humour, and vitality of a people whose lives have formed a rich and vital chapter in the history of the Newfoundland Railway.
Clayton D. Cook worked with the Newfoundland Railway for thirty-three years, from 1936 to 1940 and from 1941 to 1969. He served the railway well through his years of service and, in this volume, commemorates the men, women, and machines with which he worked. Tales of the Rails is sure to be a mainstay for many future generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Clayton Daniel Cook was born at Port Union, Newfoundland, on September 28, 1921. He received his early education at St. Peter’s Anglican All-Grade School in Princeton.In 1936, at age sixteen, he obtained employment with the Newfoundland Railway Telegraphs Department, against the wishes of his mother, who wanted him to continue on to university. After four years with the railway, he left and obtained employment with an American company as a vehicle accounting clerk.In 1941, Clayton came back to the railway and gained employment in the train service (transportation) department, a job he held for the next twenty-eight years, before taking early retirement in 1969.After his retirement in 1969, he and his wife owned and operated a hotel/motel for some years before selling out, and he and his wife travelled extensively throughout Europe for a part of two years.In the 1980s, Clayton took an active role in the railway preservation movement and, in 1984, he literally fought a one-man campaign to save the historic Trinity Train Loop as an historical site and a monument to the men who built it back in 1909–1911.In the late 1990s, Cook was the recipient of many awards for his untiring work in the railway preservation movement. Awards came from the Government of Canada, the Government of Newfoundland, and the United Transportation Union (one of the largest railway unions in the world, based in Cleveland, Ohio), Members of Parliament, and others praising his work. In 1989, he published his first book on the Newfoundland Railway, titled The End of the Line, followed by Tales of the Rails in 1991, Tales of the Rails, Volume II in 1995, Tales of the Rails, Volume III in 1996, and The Bonavista Peninsula in 1999.He is a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography and Universal Career Institute. Clayton Cook resides in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Clayton D. Cook's profile page