Favorite Author and my Guest Today: Kaki Warner talks Trains!

Welcome with me Kaki Warner—a RITA award-winning author and my friend.

Although she now lives on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains in Washington, Kaki grew up in the Southwest and is a proud graduate of the University of Texas. Her years spent riding horses and enjoying the expansive vistas of Texas became the inspiration for the backdrop of her first novels—the wide-open spaces of historic New Mexico Territory. 

Kaki and her husband Joe now live in a hilltop cabin overlooking the scenic Methow Valley in Washington where Kaki spends her time gardening, hiking, reading, writing, and soaking in the view from the deck with her husband and floppy-eared hound dog. Sounds ideal, no?

Long before Kaki and I met and became fast friends at a writer's conference in Seattle last year, I was a fan of her wonderful Western romances. She brings the West to life along with some endearing heroes and heroines. Warner’s Pieces of Sky, book 1 in the Blood Rose trilogy won the RITA award for Best First Book, a real achievement.

Her latest books from the Runaway Brides trilogy feature scenes where the characters ride on the Transcontinental Railroad. Kaki tells me she got the idea for the railroad connection from her husband who is a “railroad freak.” Well, so am I, and I can’t wait to hear what she has to say as she talks 19th century train travel!

Train Travel After the Transcontinental Railroad

Good morning! And thank you, Regan, for inviting me to help celebrate Western Historical Romance month on your blog! 

Since several of my books center around the railroads (especially Bride of the High Country and my upcoming August release, Behind His Blue Eyes), I thought I’d share some of the weird and interesting facts my research uncovered about train travel after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.

Even though rail service had been available in the east for three decades, cross-country passenger hauls were scarce in the early 1870s. Amenities, even scarcer. No bathrooms, for instance. But that was OK since the trains had to stop every twenty miles or so to fill the tenders with water or add coal or wood. If the passengers were lucky, there might be an outhouse beside the tracks. And if they had a dime, they could purchase a box lunch from an enterprising local beside the track, or enjoy a hot meal of beans, bacon and a stale biscuit. Then back on the train and the hard, wooden benches for another lurching, bouncing twenty or thirty miles. YIPEE.

But when I wrote Bride of the High Country—wherein the fiancée of a railroad mogul flees their wedding with a valise full of stolen railroad certificates—I wanted my characters to travel in style—i.e. Pullman Palace Cars.

Pullman Sleeping Car of 1859

These railcars were as plush as rooms on a gambler’s riverboat, complete with velvet couches, drop-down beds, carpet and wooden inlay around the windows. In addition, each four-berth Pullman boasted a lavatory with a “necessary”, which emptied directly onto the tracks (and you thought it was hunters who decimated the buffalo—HA!). And many of these luxury runs also included a parlor car and dining car, which served mostly-edible meals when your plate wasn’t sliding into your lap as the train clickety-clacked along.

Ah, the beautiful scenery and fresh air. If only you could see out of the soot-streaked windows or breathe through the billowing smoke wafting back from the locomotive. Still, it was faster than a three-month trip by wagon. Plus, you got to shoot at stuff from the rear platforms as you careened along at ten, twenty, or even thirty miles an hour. What a treat! 

FACT:  Each Pullman Car was owned and operated by the Pullman Company (not the railroad), and was serviced by a white-jacketed ex-slave universally named “George” in deference to his employer, George Pullman.

The West would have been a vastly different place without the influence of the railroads. For one thing, they offered incentives (like cheap land) to encourage people to settle along the right-of-ways (which had been granted to the railroads at no charge by the government), thereby building a permanent market for the goods they were hauling.

Transcontinental Railroad

They also carved routes through impossible country, built thousands of trestles, bridges, culverts, and tunnels, or—since anything steeper than a 3% grade was prohibitive in fuel, construction, maintenance, and equipment costs—they laid tracks miles out of the way to avoid obstacles, thus opening up even more country. Such as Heartbreak Creek, in Colorado Territory, which is the setting for my August release, Behind His Blue Eyes, wherein a man trying to escape his past finds himself caught up in a search for a serial killer bent on keeping the railroad from coming through the canyon. Oh, yeah, and there’s also a love story. It is a romance, after all.

FACT:  In constructing the Transcontinental, Irish immigrants laid tracks west from Nebraska, while Chinese workers came east out of Sacramento—and they arrived at the EXACT SAME SPOT at Promontory Summit!  Amazing! And the Chinese laborers (mostly farmers imported by the Central Pacific) later contributed to the development of the California vineyards and the highly productive farmland in the Central Valley.

ANOTHER FACT: The standard width between rails was determined by the Romans when they built stone roads in England. Four feet, eight-and-a-half inches was the width between the wheels of a two-horse chariot. Over time, those wheels wore such deep grooves into the stone that later wagon-makers had to space their wheels to fit them. Then somebody figured wheels roll easier metal-on-metal, so they laid down metal-capped wooden rails, put flanged, metal-treaded wheels on their horse-drawn wagons, and soon coal was rolling out of Newcastle at record rates. And all because of the width of two horses’ asses pulling an old Roman chariot. Who knew? 

So there you have it. More than you ever wanted to know about the joys and hazards of riding the rails west. Here’s my question for you: Have you ever taken a cross-country train trip or slept in a Pullman? Would you do it again?

Leave a comment, and your name will be entered to win one of two three-book sets of my Runaway Brides Trilogy. Good Luck! Thanks for coming by, and my thanks to you, too, Regan, for letting me chat with your followers. 

Since Kaki graciously agreed to answer a few questions, I’ve a bit of an interview to serve up. I think you’ll find it interesting. Here it is:

How does your new trilogy, the Heroes of Heartbreak Creek relate to the Runaway Brides trilogy, which is also set in Heartbreak Creek, Colorado Territory?

The Heroes trilogy continues with most of the same folks from the Brides trilogy, but with a new hero and heroine in each book. The starring characters of Behind His Blue Eyes are Audra and Ethan. But we also catch up with the Brodies and Rylanders, see a bit of Thomas Redstone, and at the end, are introduced to Rayford (Rafe) Jessup who is hired by Ash as his wrangler (he’s somewhat of a horse whisperer. Sorta.)

Rafe is the hero of Book 2, Something In His Smile (the one I’m working on now). The heroine is a ruined Englishwoman, Josephine. In this book, the Kirkwells (Ash and Maddie), Pringle (who Mrs. Throckmorton insists accompany Ash as his manservant—HA!), and Rafe and Thomas all go to England and Scotland on a horse-buying trip for the thoroughbred/warmblood stable Ash is setting up in Colorado. Thomas joins them at the last minute when his visit with Pru in Indiana turns sour.

Book 3 (as yet without a title) centers around Thomas and Pru and will pick up when they all return to Heartbreak Creek and Thomas tries again to convince Pru to come home. By this time, he’s a bit more civilized and she’s a bit less the world-saver, so they’re ready (after some travails) to settle down. Mostly.

I envision a sub-plot involving Buster Quinn and Mrs. Bradshaw (first introduced In Bride of the High Country). Since that’s the end of the trilogy, there will be closure for T & P, as well as issues with other characters. Don’t know if I’ll continue from there.

You have the most interesting names for people and places. How do you come up with them?

I have a baby book that gives origin of names, which is a big help. I also try to pick old-fashioned names, or ones that aren’t currently “all the rage”. I also use names of friends and family members (like the grandkids). And others are names I’ve heard over the years and thought they were neat—like Brady, Declan, Tait, and Audra. The other two Wilkins brothers were named after American statesmen (because I liked the nicknames), and Rayford Jessup, Joe Bill and R.D. sound utterly Texan. Edwina and Pru are plays on their personalities (and also make good nicknames), and Thomas Redstone’s name is indicative of his dual heritage. The rest I just make up. But I’m always on the lookout for unusual names that sound authentic, but not too contrived.

Your descriptions of places and views from the trains are amazingly detailed. Do you do research for that? Take trips? Or, is your creative imagination working hard to accomplish this?

My husband and I take a lot of road trips, so I’ve seen most of the western states at least once. For places I’ve never seen (like Lucinda’s train ride through NJ and points west), I go online for maps and pictures of the terrain, as well as pics and maps of the bigger cities during that time frame. If need be, I research fauna and flora of the area so I get the wildlife and trees right. Plus, I make up stuff. 

You have captured the male perspective very well...how do you do that? Do you listen to men and pick up on the way they talk or is it, once again, imagination? (Whatever it is, it works!).

Thanks. I do a lot of observing. Plus, I had a brother, and I’ve been married for-freaking-ever. But I think most of it comes from my less than feminized personality. I have a lot of “male” traits (their virtues, mostly—all the bad stuff they can keep), meaning I rarely cry, I don’t suffer fools very well, I don’t wilt from confrontation (when necessary), and I’m fully capable of pulling out my own chair, opening my own door, loading my own gun, or killing a snake with my head (but that’s another story). Plus, I’ve been known to cuss. However, I refuse to bait my own hook—or fish, unless I have to. Nor do I hunt, like to watch NASCAR races, have a hat with beer cans on it, or cruise bars.

I just read that over. I think I need professional help.

I think you’re just fine, Kaki, and as one of your fans, I thank you for giving us such wonderful stories! For those of you who want to know more about Kaki and her books, you can find her HERE.