by 2nd trick op
It's emblematic of the changing nature of our favorite interest, I suppose, that it wasn't until I saw a copy of this month's Trains that I learned of the passing of Richard Steinheimer ... rail photojournalist.
"Stein" was one of the last, if not the last of the prominent photographers (Winston Link, Don Wood, Robert Hale, Robert LeMassena, and many others), who chronicled the fall and rise of the rail industry in the latter half of the Twentieth Century. The simple fact the the emergenge of new technology now makes it possible for so many more of us to participate makes his contrbutions all the more precious
You have to have been around for a while ... or at least, have done your research ... to remember that back in the late Fifties, Richard Steinheimer produced a study of Espee night operations that, while not as famous or as integraied into non-railfan life. duplicated Link's far-better-known N&W essays. For those of us who came of age in the Sixties, his new forays to Utah, the Northwest, and even PRR's electrified freight operations, were a relief from the steady diet of depressing news, and a reminder that there were still places where big-time railroading fit the market.
And a few of us noticed the man could write, too; i recall a short, touching tribute to a former love interest penned in the dismal years of 1973 or '74.
Reportedly, the ashes of Richard Steinheimer were scattered on the slopes of Cajon Pass ... site of some of his finest work and prominent enough in "our world" that one site came to be known as "Stein's Hill". It would not be possible to come up with a more fitting memorial.
"Stein" was one of the last, if not the last of the prominent photographers (Winston Link, Don Wood, Robert Hale, Robert LeMassena, and many others), who chronicled the fall and rise of the rail industry in the latter half of the Twentieth Century. The simple fact the the emergenge of new technology now makes it possible for so many more of us to participate makes his contrbutions all the more precious
You have to have been around for a while ... or at least, have done your research ... to remember that back in the late Fifties, Richard Steinheimer produced a study of Espee night operations that, while not as famous or as integraied into non-railfan life. duplicated Link's far-better-known N&W essays. For those of us who came of age in the Sixties, his new forays to Utah, the Northwest, and even PRR's electrified freight operations, were a relief from the steady diet of depressing news, and a reminder that there were still places where big-time railroading fit the market.
And a few of us noticed the man could write, too; i recall a short, touching tribute to a former love interest penned in the dismal years of 1973 or '74.
Reportedly, the ashes of Richard Steinheimer were scattered on the slopes of Cajon Pass ... site of some of his finest work and prominent enough in "our world" that one site came to be known as "Stein's Hill". It would not be possible to come up with a more fitting memorial.
What a revoltin' development this is! (William Bendix)
