Jeff Vawter's love of trains began at age two when he received his first model train set with a figure eight track. From there his interests (and layout) grew to include steam engines, steampowered excursions, railway history and rail photography. Retired from a career in education, he enjoys pursuing his hobbies that include train watching and photographing, He has written a novel, "The Deltic Disaster and Other Tales" about a steam locomotive preservation effort in Great Britain. He majored in History at Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio and later studied at the University of Florida.
University of Washington. Libraries
The University of Washington is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
The University of Nebraska at Lincoln (Nebraska, UNL, or NU) is a public research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the state's oldest university and the largest in the University of Nebraska system. The state legislature chartered the university in 1869 as a land-grant university under the 1862 Morrill Act, two years after Nebraska's statehood into the United States. Around the turn of the 20th century, the university began to expand significantly, hiring professors from eastern schools to teach its new professional programs and conducting groundbreaking research in agricultural sciences. The "Nebraska method" of ecological study developed during this time pioneered grassland ecology and laid the foundation for research in theoretical ecology for the rest of the century. The university is organized into eight colleges on two campuses in Lincoln with over 100 classroom buildings and research facilities.
Union Pacific Railroad Company
The Union Pacific Railroad (reporting mark UP) (or Union Pacific Railroad Company and simply Union Pacific) is a freight hauling railroad that operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago and New Orleans. The Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of the Union Pacific Corporation; both are headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. The Union Pacific legacy began in 1862 with the original company, called the Union Pacific Rail Road, which was part of the First Transcontinental Railroad project, later known as the Overland Route. Two more Union Pacific railroads were formed after that, the Union Pacific Railway (the second company) which absorbed the original company in 1880 and the Union Pacific "Railroad" (the third company) which absorbed the Union Pacific Railway in 1897-1898. The third incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad which operated from 1897 to 1998 is referred to as Mark I and it makes up the bulk of the Union Pacific history.
Robert Turner has been researching, photographing and writing about transportation history since the 1970?s. He has written hundreds of articles and reviews and his photos have been widely used in books, magazines, exhibits and websites. He received the Canadian Railroad Historical Association?s Lifetime Achievement Award and the American Association for State and Local History?s Award of Merit for the excellence of his books, along with many other awards. A retired heritage consultant and a curator emeritus at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, Bob has traveled widely around the world photographing the last steam railways and early industries, while documenting the people, places and stories of this disappearing history and culture. Among other projects, since 1988 he has been Project Historian at the SS Moyie National Historic Site at Kaslo, BC, where a major restoration is underway on the world's oldest passenger sternwheeler. For his work on Canadian railway history he received the Canadian Railroad Association's Lifetime Achievement Award. Bob was writer in residence at Pierre Berton House in Dawson City in the spring of 2009. He lives in Victoria, BC.