The railroad is in Jim Rowland’s blood.

“My earliest memory that I can recall is seeing a Conrail train here in Egypt, looking down from the Egypt cemetery with my dad,” Rowland said. “The Ironton Railroad has been part of my family going back to when my dad was growing up and his dad took him down to watch the engines and he got to ride with some of the crews. Then when I was born, my dad took me.”

From that, Rowland developed an interest he has now passed to his son.

“That’s where I got an interest in railroading,” he explained. “The Ironton was one of my favorite railroads.”

Committed to sharing that passion, Rowland has coauthored a book on the railroad that he grew up with — the Ironton Railroad.

Rowland, a 1996 Whitehall High School graduate who now teaches in Maryland, is one of four coauthors of “Cementing a Reputation: The Ironton Railroad.” Peter A. Brill, Kermit Geary Jr. and Olev Taremae joined Rowland in authoring the book.

“I have known Pete for a number of years all through railroad organizations, and he has helped me with different research projects I have had,” Rowland said, adding Brill has a knack for finding things other people do not. “I said (to him that) I’ve done so much research on it. I’ll kick it over to (Pete) to add to what he has. This is, I would say, the happy result.”

As magazine editor of the Railroad Historians of the Lehigh Valley, Rowland enjoys researching the local railroad industry and local history and sharing that with the greater community.

“My approach has always been that if this was of interest to me, there has to be somebody else interested in this besides me,” Rowland said. “What are the things I couldn’t find? What can I do to put them all into one?”

Rowland’s approach goes beyond the facts and figures, focusing on the stories and the people behind the dates and numbers.

“I don’t want things to just be a cold recitation of facts,” he said. “That’s boring. I always like to get the stories. Without getting the interviews, the anecdotes, the funny instances that happen, you are just regurgitating facts that everyone knows. It is inescapable at times but there is more there that supports the facts and makes it come alive.”

The book walks readers through the complete history of the Ironton Railroad and the industries around it, beginning with its chartering in 1859 and continuing all the way through its abandonment in the 1980s.

Accompanying the facts and the stories are photographs, newspaper articles and other supporting documents, such as a photograph of the last train to ever run on the Ironton Railroad.

“It turns out the guy who shot that photo still lived around here and another mutual friend of mine knew how to get a hold of him,” Rowland said, noting he remembered seeing the photo as a child. “Very few people photographed this railroad in action when it became Conrail because it was always during the week and people were working. Finding stuff in the later era was hard, but you never know when you are going to find gold.”

The book focuses on the railroad’s operation and the industries that relied on it, like the cement industry, which Rowland has also researched and written about in the past.

“In 1904, 17% of all the cement mills in the United States were located within five miles of each other, all on the Ironton Railroad,” he explained.

For Rowland, understanding the Ironton Railroad and the accompanying industries provides a gateway to understanding the history of Whitehall and the surrounding communities for his generation and those that have come after.

“There is not much of a connection anymore to our industrial past because it is gone,” he said. “Most people my age, we saw more of the remnants. We did not see it in its heyday. But we knew just from looking around, there was stuff here. This book, hopefully with the articles and documents, will help build some connections to take you back in time to see why something is where it is.”

Rowland said he appreciated the support of his family and friends in pursuing his passion to research and share this information.

“I have been a published author many times, but it is an honor to be able to contribute to my hometown’s history,” Rowland said. “I would like to think that I am giving something of value to the historic record. It is my contribution to all of the people that put a lot of their time and effort into me. This is my way of thanking them. Their efforts, what they poured into me, now I am able to return for someone else.”

The book is available on the bookstore page of the Railroad Historians of the Lehigh Valley’s website, lehighlines.org.