The book centres on a railway house near an embankment at the end of a short boreen cutting through the esker ridge of the Ballinough Hills. Looking out past a level crossing onto the lonely expanse of Doury bog, it cuts a solitary presence in the surrounding landscape. On either end, its gable walls face towards the towns of Tullamore and Clara.

It was into this four-roomed home Kathleen Mary Gaynor, was born on 8th April 1914 - this is the story of her family, the trains and the people who worked on them.