Willaim S. Young

[henry6]

A dear friend and gentleman passed away early Wednesday morning, August 8th.   William S. Young.  Many of us first encounterd BIll when he was writing the Short Lines column for TRAINS Magazine back in the late 50's into the 60's.  The late Wade Rendle introduced me to BIll in the late 60's and a 47 year friendship began.  Bill was a slave to details and accuracy in whatever project he involved himself in, which was mostly writing about trains, railroads, and railroad people.  When growing up in Cranford NJ, his local railroad, the Rahway Valley, sparked his interest in railroads and trains which led him to meet the people who made the trains go: those in the caboos, the engine cab, the wayside buildings, and the head offices.  He second favorite railroad became the D&H digging its heels into the grade from Lanesboro, PA to Ararat, PA  the other side of the family farm. The road from the farm to Susquehanna also brought through the arches of the Erie's Starrucca Viaduct who's history is well preserved in about a dozen editions of  Starrucca: The Stone Bridge.  He published a magazine (Railroading) expanding some articles and issues into full fledged books, most notable: Tunkhannocvk: the Great White Bridge; Short Line Oddesy; Covered Wagons, The PA's Story; books about the Unadilla Valley Railroad.  His early photographs were seen in TRAINS Magazine and Luscious Beebe books because of the same attention to detial in composing pictures as he showed in his writing.  He leaves behind several cousins at that farm near Starrucca, a lot of good friends in the universal rail fan and railroad community, and a huge legacy of railroad writings and photos which all of us can learn from in both form and content.  If there was one thing he and I would disagree on, was the value of his work and its popularity over all.  But there sits a pile of orders for all his books on his dining room table yet to be filled...books that were first published 40 and 50 years ago.  William Simerell Young.  Proof the good lasts.