George Woodman Hilton, retired professor of economics at the University of California at Los Angeles and a prolific author of books on transportation history and economics, including the definitive works on American narrow gauge railroads, cable cars, and the Maryland & Pennsylvania RR, died on Aug. 4, 2014. He was 89 years old.

Born in 1925, Hilton graduated with an A.B., summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College in 1946, and earned an M.A. in 1950. He attended the London School of Economics from 1953 to 1955 and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1956. He was professor of economics at the University of California, Los Angeles until his retirement.
Hilton specialized in transportation economics. He practically identified himself with competitive organization of the railroads and prided himself on his contribution to the abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Of his fifteen books and countless articles, many were on transportation history. Many of these are considered the definitive work on their particular subject: The Great Lakes Car Ferries, The Cable Car in America, The Ma & Pa, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, American Narrow Gauge Railroads, Monon Route, The Electric Interurban Railways in America, and Lake Michigan Passenger Steamers.

I met George at the Steamship Historical Society meeting in Toronto in 1996[?], and corresponded with him. His work continues to be a great inspiration to my career and writing.

I am thankful for his contributions, and sad that there will be no more.

Thank you, Dr. Hilton.

His May 1972 Trains Magazine article on Erie coach travel is a favorite of mine, among the best material that I've read.

If you can find a copy, the final paragraph is especially poignant, now that he has passed on.

JR

Dr. Hilton's book on the Ma & Pa was the very first item I purchased to celebrate my first paycheck from my first job back in 1965. It has been used quite a bit over the years as a definitive history of the railroad. -- Ray

I think I have all of his books... all treasured...

We were both technical reviewers for Bruce McGregor's The Birth of California Narrow Gauge... I didn't get to meet him, but was particularly honored to work with him, even if remotely...

Many of his books had a common organization... review a transportation technology and its development history... Place it in a historical context and so, why it was destined to fail... If only the builders of cable lines could have known about electric railways, if only the builders of interurbans had known about the rise of the automobile... Then a listing/directory/history of users of the technology...

Only yesterday a friend used his American Narrow Gauge to answer a research question...

He will be missed

Randy

Hilton's American Narrow Gauge Railroads is a monument of scholarship. No other work even comes close. He succeeded not just in presenting a summary history of every single narrow gauge railroad in the US (!) and placing the Narrow Gauge Movement of the 1870s in broader historical context going back to the Festiniog, but also explored some of the physical and economic liabilities of narrow gauge railroads in terms of freight transfer at break of gauge and load capacities of narrow gauge rolling stock, leading into some impressively detailed information on wooden car construction and mechanical appliances and the limitations thereof. (Hilton's description of the Eames vacuum brake system is the best I've seen anywhere.) It's a book that belongs in the library of anyone with a serious interest in railroad history.

-Philip Marshall

George Hilton was also the acting Curator of Transportation at the Smithsonian during sabbatical year 1969-1970, when Jack White was on leave researching and writing his American RR Passenger Car Book. He and Jack were close friends and often provided material for books one another were writing at different times. He had a passion for steamships and ferries that is often overlooked by his railroad readers.

-K.R. Bell

What I enjoyed about Hilton is that most of his subjects failed economically, but were extremely colorful while they lasted. We're talking narrow gauge, cable cars, Great Lakes carferries and the Ma & Pa. I suppose you could include the Monon in that list, since much of it has also disappeared.

About 35-40 years ago Klambach tried a publication about airplanes and airlines. It was a quarterly and only lasted a year or so.

Dr. Hilton wrote a lead article for one of the issues. If I recall correctly, it had a title like "why airports are crowded and airplanes empty." He reviewed and criticized the way the airports priced landing fees, etc. They started with parking fees and retail space rentals and then used the landing and gate fees to complete their revenue needs. He thought they should price landing rights by the time and demand to avoid all the airlines trying to land and takeoff at the same time.

Boy, that was something that stuck in my mind.

Another item that I remember is that Hilton spoke once at a Pacific Railroad Society monthly meeting. The buttons on his blue blazer were in the style of the B&O.

I haven't read through one of Hilton's books yet, but I have read other stuff that involves him. Electric Interurban Railways is on my shelf since I have been gathering resources in transportation policy history. Railroad history is subject to a lot of idealization, but Hilton seemed to put events back in their context. The bizarre execution of a lot of more recent popular infrastructure related policy could be reevaluated by reviewing his work.

I'm very sorry to see that Mr. Hilton has left us. I've always gobbled up his stuff. Anything that Mr. Hilton wrote was authoritative. His book (with John Due) on interurban railroads is a "must read" for anyone with any interest in the subject. No, there aren't a lot of pictures, but it's a serious economic history of this fascinating (and short lived)industry.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hilton in connection with some work he did for the C&NW. Much of our non-business conversation had to do with his then upcoming book on the Eastland disaster, which I got as soon as it was published. Yes, he tended to write about somewhat obsure transportation subjects (interurban railroads, cable cars, narrow gauge railroads, night boats, etc.). But no one did this better than he did. His works are absolutely fascinating for anyone with a serious interest in transportation.

One of the advantages of the internet is that is really makes the used book market accessable to people all over. You can pick up many of Mr. Hilton's fine books from the usual online reatailer/auction sites.

The interurbans book is particularly interesting. Bradford Snell, the attorney who fathered the "GM Streetcar Conspiracy" cited it in his report to Congress in the 1970s. Hilton later testified that Snell has misrepersented the work. Of course, Snell's fantasy still attracts a lot of believers, and Hilton's serious study of the industry gets little to no mainstream attention.