America's Colorful Railroads by Don Ball, Jr. is page after page of beautiful full-color locomotives and trains,
both steam and diesel. Ed's. note: The text is absolutely mesmerizing, you won't be able to put it down.
DON BALL, JR.
Don Ball, Jr., was born in 1938, and lived in Chester, Vermont. He was a railway employee, consultant, photographer and author. His eight books included Portrait of the Rails, Railroads, an American Journey, and America's Colorful Railroads. He was director of the Steamtown Foundation, which operates Steamtown U.S.A., a railroad museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and formerly of Bellows Falls, Vermont.
Don Ball was fascinated by railroads all his life. In his books, he described his railroad journey, in both words and a distillation of the thousands of superb photographs he made. In his book "Railroads: An American Journey", he highlights his own railroad adventure, really the story of his life, beginning with a nostalgic recollection of his small-town Kansas boyhood. Through the years that followed, he combed nearly every state -- to photograph the last mainline steam locomotive or to get an elusive shot of some short-line railroad. Along the way, his informed view of the present and future of railroads emerged. An observer of the railroad scene his entire life, he offered practical suggestions and had a bold vision of what may lie ahead. In his re-creations of both the romantic moods and workaday world of America's railroads, Don Ball's eye for drama and profound knowledge of railroading made each picture tell a story.
Sadly, Mr. Ball died of a heart attack at the age of 48 on 15 October 1986, in a Norwalk, Connecticut hospital, leaving behind his wife, Linda; his son, Fenner and his daughter, Whitney, and other family members.
If you've ever had the opportunity to read one of his books, you know exactly what is being said here. If you have not read one of Don's books, you owe to yourself to do so.
