I grew up in California, and was very close with my Grandfather who was a "railfan" before there really was such a thing. Cajon Pass, The Tehachapis, Cuesta Grade, the coast line down to San Diego and up to San Francisco and the northwest. At 16, I got my first real job, and it was a dream for me, working in the train department of the largest hobby shop in the country at that time. Eventually, I
was able to buy a Pentax K1000 fully-manual 35mm film camera with a 50mm lens and start to learn how to take pictures, mostly focused on trains. I made some great friends through the shop and we had some grand adventures together chasing & shooting trains and making memories in my teenage years in the late 1970's and as I moved into my 20's in the 1980's. Film & processing were expensive (as was better gear) and I didn't have much money, so I learned to wait for the best locations, angles, lighting and subject matter. All those things matter far more than having the best equipment (but that's fun to own and use, too). Later, I spent a few years as a commercial photographer, pre-digital, and had my own studio. Unlike today, where with digital cameras, with near-unlimited storage and post-processing tools, we learned the hard way - we simply couldn't afford to take hundreds of shots to edit to one good one (and 35mm film came in 36 shot rolls). We spent a lot of time waiting at the best spot for the best lighting, listening to the railroad radio on our scanners, hoping a train would arrive to complete the scene. Fast forward to 2025, and I am now retired after a long career in marketing, where I was lucky to travel millions of miles around the world. Early in 2025, while looking for something in my basement, I found binders filled with archival sheets of Kodachrome "selects" that I had saved (and not looked at) for 40+ years. I recently had them scanned and am restoring them (as needed) and have started this page to share that work from all those years ago. I hope to share a few images every week, until I run out (or find more!). I hope you enjoy them, and I'd love your feedback.
