This week on The Trackside Photographer, some thoughts on David Plowden's book, Requiem for Steam

http://thetracksidephotographer.com/202 ... tebook-39/

Edd Fuller, Editor
The Trackside Photographer
http://thetracksidephotographer.com/

Edd -

One of my favorite steam stories was written by David Plowden and appeared in one of his books. At the time, Mr. Plowden was employed by the Great Northern and during the Christmas season one year, he heard that GN had brought a couple of steamers out of storage to help with an uptick in mail being handled by the railroad that year. Plowden made arrangements to ride one of the trains heading east to St. Paul. The first train arrived at the location where Plowden had been working and as he looked over the engine from the station platform, he was tempted to ride the cab of that Great Northern 4-8-4. BUT, the big Northern was "double heading" with a diesel. So Plowden let it depart without him because the train following was powered strictly by steam. That train arrived shortly thereafter and the engine was one of the GN's 4-8-2's. The story of that run east, was fantastic. I can't remember which book the report was in, but I highly recommend it to readers if they can find it! In this case, Mr. Plowden's storytelling was as good as his terrific photography.

Les

Les, there are very few photographers who write as well as Plowden. His passion for his subjects really comes through the words, and the words enhance the photos. Thanks for your comment--Edd