Steam & Excursion > Don Hunter Knew How To Capture A Simple Lunch Break With Steam!

I have known a number of very fine steam railroad photographers in my time.  Among the very best was Don Hunter of Eugene.  This simple photos shows his mastery of the craft.

Don was the head of the audio-visual department for the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon from 1947 until he retired in 1977.  Over the years he took hundreds of thousands of crisp color slide photos around Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.  He also was a master at sound recordings of all kinds, including some fantastic recordings of steam railroading.  Some of these made their way onto records Don produced over the years.

Don made several trips over to Toledo, Oregon in the late 1950's to capture Oregon's last all steam logging railroad, the Georgia Pacific operation out of Siletz, Oregon. During his trips he captured the last use of disconnect trucks by any logging in the U.S. as well as the sights and sounds of true steam logging.

When I first visited Don's home some 25+ years ago my attention was captured by this simple photo that Don had hanging in his train room in his basement.  I loved how Don had captured the simple ritual of 2 steam crews sharing their lunch together trackside at Camp with their 2 locomotives steaming quietly in the background waiting for them to finish so they could get back to the chore of logging by rail. 

Don passed away earlier this year just shy of his 102nd birthday.  He leaves a wonderful legacy on both film and sound tapes that will preserve for future generations the true sights and sounds of steam railroading at it's finest.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/16 03:27 by LoggerHogger.

---

I agree with you, Martin.  That is a very moving image.  Gerry

Never have I seen such a well done picture of steam most do not include any action by the crews. Great shot.

Aw, the old metal lunch buckets.  Been years since I have seen one of those.

Is the engineer eating a Yoplait? Is he a time travelling wizard?

Well worth some color restoration.

Cheers,
Jack

---

Thanks Jack.

Martin

More on Don Hunter.   He was also the official photographer for the PNWC-NRHS 1984 4449 Louisiana trip.  I understand he made three sets of his just under 2000 slides.  John Holloway purchased one set of these slides, I know not where the other two sets reside.  John graciously allowed me to have Costco scan these slides with one set of DVDs going to PNWC archives, one to John and one to me.  Not a bad slide in the bunch.   I did not know that Don had gone to end of track.   
​yes, another great picrture Martin.    Arlen

I'm ashamed to say the first thing I noticed as well was that it looked like he was eating a yogurt. Great image though.

Taylor

Posted from iPhone

tomstp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Aw, the old metal lunch buckets.  Been years
> since I have seen one of those.

That caught my eye right off too, and the hat on the guy at far left; great!

Andy

Probably a mason jar of soup.

What a great snapshot in time.  Looks like lunch today is a sandwich wrapped in wax paper, soup, and a thermos of coffee.