Steam & Excursion > Unfortunatley More Of These Men Were Not Recorded On Film!

The early railfans of the steam era did a very respectable job in recording as much of the passing of steam power as possible given the limitations of the economy, slow film and the limitations on travel to record these steam locomotives. Nearly lost in all of this was the chance to record the steam crews of the day.

Fortunately there were a few railfans like Ralph Demoro that managed to find the time and film needed to record some of the steam crews while they were still in their prime. Here is one such portrait.

On July 19, 1934 Ralph traveled to Santa Cruz, California to record the summer trains that the Southern Pacific was sending to that resort town filled with summer tourists. It was there that Ralph asked engineer Coburn and Fireman Brandt to pause in their servicing chores on SP #2912 long enough to capture this fine portrait.

Coburn sports a pipe he is smoking while Brandt in enjoying his afternoon cigar as Demoro preserved the moment for all time. Well done.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/17 04:21 by LoggerHogger.

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Very nice. Ralph was one of the few who took lots of Bay Area images prior to WWII.

Thank you Martin -- Tony this makes me think of Frank Maffei -- anyone know how he is? Thx -- B

Nice shot. Strange looking headlight. I've always been thankful to whoever took this picture of my Dad oiling around a Frisco 4400 before leaving Newburg, MO in 1944. I have another shot taken of him and the crew at Rolla, MO about 1918.

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I love people pictures from back in the day. Sadly, it is almost impossible to get pictures of railroaders at work today. Can't imagine an engineer and conductor posing in front of a big GE today that's not on an excursion.

It's still going on today. Every time I see pictures of my job posted on here, you can never see me or any of my crew.

Last summer, I took a 6,000 mile road trip, by myself, and visited all kinds of neat historical sites and took thousands of photos. But, when I got home, I realized that I'd neglected to take photo's of the people I'd run into, on my journey, and, in hind site, they were the real interest along the way. I can get on Google and find the same pictures that I took of a Civil War battle field or Mark Twain's boyhood home but not of the old couple running the corner market in Podunk, Kentucky (it's a real place) whom I had a pleasant discussion with, about the local tobacco industry. I always end up kicking myself for overlooking the human element.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/17 09:45 by crackerjackhoghead.

doge_of_pocopson Wrote:
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> Thank you Martin -- Tony this makes me think of
> Frank Maffei -- anyone know how he is? Thx -- B


How about that! I was thinking of Frank just yesterday. We haven't heard from him in many months.

you make a good point Martin...back even in our history each picture was a economic decision that started for me with whether to fork out for a 24 or 36 exposure roll and then wait for what seemed like forever to shoot it all, each picture was a $ decision, then another two weeks or so to get the results. and I sure agree, that including people in most pictures is a plus.... Arlen