I've been a rail photographer for forty-seven years now. One day back in the mid-1970's I learned that our next door neighbor was a railfan, (what was that?) and after seeing some of his photos I started taking pictures of railroad related subjects while still in high school. After graduating, I purchased a decent 35mm camera and began shooting Kodachrome slides exclusively in 1980. Seeking adventure, I left my hometown in Michigan and moved to Colorado in late 1982 where I resided in the Denver area until 1994. Shortly after moving to Colorado, I purchased a pair of Nikons and with the advice and instruction of some great rail photographers I met there, I shot everything rail related within a 300 mile radius plus numerous trips to various places all over the United States along with Canada and Mexico.

In 1994 I moved again to southeast South Dakota and accepted a position in the maintenance of way department operating track machines on an Iowa & South Dakota shortline. A year and a half later, a job offer to work as a railroad conductor took me to the Kansas City, Missouri area where I've resided ever since. Realizing that long days and many sleepless nights on trains was not for me, I left the railroad and accepted a position with TSM Inc., (later acquired by Westinghouse Air Brake Co. / Wabtec Division) as a Field Service Technician working on the Electronic Air Brake System / EABS. I worked with a team of support staff maintaining test trains equipped with the ECP System on a number of railroads including Amtrak, BNSF, Conrail, CP Rail and CSX.

Another position with long hours in rail yards and riding trains that took me all over the U.S. and Canada but one that turned out to be very interesting, exciting and allowed me unrestricted access to photograph in many places otherwise considered off-limits to railfans. With Wabtec's closure of our Kansas City facility, I was offered a transfer to the northeast but my reluctance to relocate over a thousand miles from my home in the midwest meant my employment in rail related positions ended. It was fun while it lasted and I'll always treasure the memories of the many places I worked at, the places I traveled to and all of the interesting rail subjects I've had the good fortune to photograph. These images are my lasting legacy of over four decades, (and still counting) of time spent, camera in hand, never far from trains with flanged wheels rolling on steel rails.