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The Attic is a personal museum,
drawing on the stash of items I've collected -- and am still collecting
-- in my railway and other travels. I'm including visits to museums
and shortlines, profiles of American and foreign carriers,
timetables, tickets,
menus, advertisements, brochures and
special trip reports. The subject is passenger railroading
and my hope is that the site's content will constitute a glimpse into
the past and present for those less able to enjoy as much travel as I have
over the past 45 or so years. I want to communicate some of the color of
the trains, stations and their owners, as well as what can, uniquely
I think, be seen through the window. My main love is photography and so
ultimately photos will come to constitute the mainstay of the collection.
Thanks to the Internet we can
share our interests in exciting new ways. That old timetable we picked
up 25 years ago, thinking someone might enjoy seeing some day, can now be
shown to thousands of fellow travelers over the web, not just on the kitchen
table or in a display case at a collector show. And, even better, that crumpled
piece of paper we saved can be put through the ringer of a modern editing
program and restored to some of its former glory.
I will start fairly simply with
basic items in several categories. As my scanner warms up and I find more
boxes of paper, slides and prints tucked away somewhere the collection
will grow. And, it will keep growing as I continue to enjoy passenger trains
in my travels, knowing that the odd pamphlet or piece of advertising will
find a willing audience, perhaps tomorrow, if not today. Once the first
tasks of presenting visual content are accomplished I will spend more time
adding page narrations, relevant links and other things to fill out your
knowledge of my subjects. So, check pages often.
Because this is a personal site
-- and for purposes of doing first things first -- I cannot post anything
that is not in my own collection, so please don't request that I add your
photos or scans to the site. Once I've emptied my attic onto it perhaps
we can expand our horizons and have a contributor page, but for now I have
my work cut out for me.
Finally, as debate rages about
the future of American passenger railroading -- a debate which is truly
national and reflects a growing consensus -- save among a new generation
of bean counters -- that we need all kinds of trains -- it is important to
see where we in the USA have come from and what is happening elsewhere in
the world. There are many wonderful web resources -- many of which are here
on TrainWeb -- which do just that. Hopefully my Attic will consitute
another page or two in the history of this best of all modes of transport.
And it will be an enjoyable site to visit. Please, if you find any
technical or historical errors please don't hesitate to drop me a note.
For additional
photographs as well as commentary on my travels and passenger railroading
be sure to visit the Friends of Amtrak site
and its Friends of Amtrak
Photo Gallery. I want to thank Craig O'Connell, FOA editor,
for encouraging me and for being such a passionate advocate
of preserving and expanding America's passenger rail network. For photographers
visiting the Attic, most photos taken since the winter of 2000 are from
Olympus digital cameras - first a 340, then a 2020z and D-560 and now E-300,
E-330 and E-510 dslrs. I am also using a Lumix ZS1 25-300mm pocket camera
and as of the summer of 2013 a brilliant little Olympus XZ-1 with super
fast lens and full manual capability. I use Adobe and FastStone
products for photo editing and scanning. Some of the photos are in pretty
rough shape after years of storage and the result of some poor original
processing. I've tried to fix them up as best I can. Oh, and I learn
as I go along!
I enjoy questions
and comments. I do own these pics and ask that you contact
me for permission if you wish to use them for anything other
than educational purposes.
Note that we have
added a new Poetry Corner which includes
some highly creative rail imagining. Our initial content is from a Turkish
poet. If you've written a poem about trains or rail travels let us
take a look.
Drop me a line any
time at ron.goodenow@gmail.com
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Ron Goodenow's Attic