Donald Tank said the railroads were probably the major factor in the development of the western United States.

Tank, a retired railroad man from Minot, was employed by the railroad from 1949-1990.

He said the railroads hauled machinery, people and materials. “Sometimes nowadays the railroads are kind of inconspicuous. People don’t see them much anymore but you’ve got to remember they did play a large part in the development of our country,” Tank said in a mid-2005 interview for a CD “In Their Own Words” Minot Rails Remember made by the Railroad Museum of Minot.

Interviews of the late Gordon Eugene Harder and the late John Haugen, also retired “rails,” are included on the CD.

The men tell about their work, wages, unions, working on the railroad in the winter, how their work impacted their families’ lives and more. Their stories also reflect the experiences of hundreds of workers on the Soo Line, Canadian Pacific, Great Northern and the Burlington Northern, now BNSF.

The CD is available from the Railroad Museum of Minot.