Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Huxtable, Nils |
Notes |
Born in Wales in 1948, the author emigrated to the U.S. nine ? years later. Leaving behind a British Railways network served by ? more than 15,000 coal-fired steam locomotives, he fed an appetite ? for trains with a diet of Daylights and other Southern Pacific ? streamliners. Sadly, he had arrived in California too late to ? witness the last stand of those cab-forwards, 2-10-2s and 4-8-4s. Aided by income from part-time jobs and abetted by indulgent parents, he began spending summers in Britain and Continental Europe. But steam operations there were declining as fast as long-distance passenger service in the U.S. And since-at the time-an Argus C3 was merely an adjunct to riding steam-hauled trains, why bother to imitate what other, more experienced "globally-minded" photographers like Mike Eagleson, Harold Edmonson and Victor Hand were doing better He had only to buy their books. It was Japan that finally opened the author's eyes to the attractions of steam in settings other than stations and roundhouses. A Pentax K1000 purchased in Kyoto resulted in some acceptable images, encouraging further efforts. The Sacramento Railfair of 1981 re-kindled the author's interest in North American railroading. The mainline steam revival of that decade supplied subject matter-a restored GS-4 4-8-4, for example-he could only daydream about during childhood train-watching sessions at Glendale. |
