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  • Farewell and Thanks, Don Wood

  • Discussion related to railroads/trains that show up in TV shows, commercials, movies, literature (books, poems and more), songs, the Internet, and more... Also includes discussion of well-known figures in the railroad industry or the rail enthusiast hobby.
Discussion related to railroads/trains that show up in TV shows, commercials, movies, literature (books, poems and more), songs, the Internet, and more... Also includes discussion of well-known figures in the railroad industry or the rail enthusiast hobby.

Moderator: Aa3rt

 #264272  by 2nd trick op
 
Received word this morning on several Yahoo forums of the passing of Don Wood, best known for his superb, mostly PRR-oriented photos from the last years of steam operation.

In the winter of 1971-72, Mr. Wood also penned a personal recollection of his involvement with Jersey Central's last steam power, Camelback No. 774. I have long considered it some of the best writing ever to appear in the pages of Trains.
 #265682  by Phil Hom
 
Photographer Don Wood dies

MATAWAN, N.J. - Don Wood, 74, one of the greatest photographic chroniclers of the final years of North American steam in the 1950’s, died June 30 after a short illness at his home in northern New Jersey.

Wood had a career as a photographer for Bell Labs, but is known in railroad circles for his photos of steam locomotives and early diesels on the Pennsylvania, Jersey Central, Baltimore & Ohio, Nickel Plate, Canadian National, and Canadian Pacific railroads.

His thorough coverage of the New York & Long Branch commuter line in northern New Jersey, a joint Pennsylvania-Jersey Central operation and the last bastion of the PRR’s famous K4 Pacific type locomotives, is an indispensable part of the steam record. Wood’s work has been widely published, including in Trains, for which he holds the record for most cover photos by a single contributor (28).

Among the many books to which Wood contributed photos are two he authored: I Remember Pennsy (Audio-Visual Designs, 1973) and Locomotives in My Life (Audio-Visual Designs, 1974). The Pennsylvania Railroad Historical & Technical Society honored Wood at its annual convention in May 2002.