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David Morgan's Biography

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Posted by dakotafred on Monday, November 30, 2015 8:30 PM

daveklepper

And his retirement is explained. No wonder he left so quietly.  I hope he is at peace with the Eternal regarding his sickness.  I would wonder "why?" and assume he did also.

 
As a reporter, I tracked John Kneiling down once for a question on intermodal.
 
This was after he had been sacked by Trains and after DPM had "retired" and then died. Trains still had his phone number, and I got through to him rather easily.
 
After my business was done, I asked Kneiling a few questions about his Trains days, offering my theory that Morgan had got rid of him as a favor to Kalmbach, before the new editor came aboard and had to suffer the opprobrium for doing it.
 
As I recall, he had no comment on that, but did offer that Morgan was let go himself because his emphysema simply didn't allow him to do a day's work any longer.
 
For what it's worth.
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Posted by MICHAEL WALSH on Saturday, November 28, 2015 10:37 AM

On Friday, 6 October 1967, I had the privilege of hearing David P. Morgan speak in London (the city in England) at a meeting organised by Londoner Victor Goldberg, a great enthusiast for North American railroads.  Victor was reputed to go about with a golf bag full of US timetables, and to be ever ready to whip one out and expound at length.  Morgan, his wife and Rosemary Entringer were on a visit to Europe, and had agreed to speak to an ad hoc group brought together by Victor.  It was a unique opportunity for most of us to hear, in the flesh as it were, from one of the great writers on railroad matters.  My recollection is that he was rather downbeat on the future of railroading in the US, certainly as far as passenger service was concerned.  The overall impression was of a quite reserved and serious individual, who was nonetheless courteous and informative towards his audience, some of whom, I am sure, may well have asked some rather silly questions.  There can't be too many left who were at that meeting, 48 years ago, so it an event perhaps something worth adding to the Morgan record.  For me, it is one a very few meetings from that period of which I have any memory whatever, so he certainly made a strong impression.

Michael J. Walsh.

Dublin, Ireland.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, November 21, 2015 9:19 AM

There's a Pentrex DVD out that I'm sure all DPM fans will be interested in.  It's called "The New York Central Collection Combo".  One of the segments is a 1955 broadcast of the TV series "Omnibus" hosted by Alastair Cooke. It was broadcast live from Grand Central Terminal and concerned the "Twentieth Century Limited" and one of the commentators was David P. Morgan, who does a fine extended on-camera commentary about the "Century" and GCT and it's operations.  No editing, it's the whole show and if you've always admired DPM this is as close as you're ever going to come to meeting him.

The other NYC segments are excellent as well.  I recommend this one highly!

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Posted by Norm48327 on Friday, November 20, 2015 5:37 AM

I, too, read Flying back then but had no idea they were related.

Norm


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Posted by erikem on Thursday, November 19, 2015 10:54 PM

I remember reading Len's column about DPM when it appeared in Flying - was very grateful that the editors of Flying for publishing Len's tribute to his brother.

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Posted by wanswheel on Thursday, November 19, 2015 2:29 PM
Be sure to try to read "About this issue" where he mentions his brother Len and Rosemary Entringer and also "Departure Lounge" by DPM.
 
 
 
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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, November 19, 2015 2:08 PM

Wanswheel, thanks.   I think I like Len a lot too.   Two great brothers.

And his retirement is explained. No wonder he left so quietly.  I hope he is at peace with the Eternal regarding his sickness.  I would wonder "why?" and assume he did also.

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Posted by dknelson on Thursday, November 19, 2015 1:39 PM

I remember seeing Airliners International from Kalmbach that DPM edited but it was short lived as I recall.  A more successful magazine from Kalmbach on transportation was Ships and Sailing.  I do not know about DPM's involvement with that magazine but they ran some great photos that I assume are in the Kalmbach archive.

I think there'd be interest in a DVD of Ships & Sailing's entire run and I'd think the year or so of Airliners International could be thrown in.  (I don't have a comparable interest in Kalmbach's old "Better Camping" magazine.)

Dave Nelson

 

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Posted by NorthWest on Thursday, November 19, 2015 9:09 AM

Indeed. Thanks for posting, wanswheel. It seems that many of us are fans of many kinds of transportation.

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, November 19, 2015 8:19 AM

Mike, thank you for finding that tribute by DPM's brother. I never had any idea that he had such an interest--nor, especially that he had written a book about travel by air.

Johnny

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:21 PM

Dakota, try the link on a previous posting on this thread.  Should work.  Happy reading.

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Posted by dakotafred on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 8:19 PM

A big admirer of DPM, I am more than ready to read and buy. But where, please, can one find the particulars? Where to buy, number of pages, price, etc.? Whether it's a really interesting read, getting into the man's personality, or just a corporate gloss?

His old mag doesn't review books anymore, so I don't hold out hope of finding the info there, and a Google search reveals nothing.

Trains? Anyone?

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Posted by Firelock76 on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 5:43 PM

What great pictures of of DPM in the steam engine cabs.  He looked like he BELONGED there! 

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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 5:35 PM

Thank you, Brian. Rreading it brought back many memories, from the April 1952 issue I found on a newsstand through all the subsequent issues; of talking with Rosemary Entringer and Frank Schaeffer in September of 1968; of talking with the Editor in 1972 while on a steam excursion out of Birmingham.

Johnny

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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 3:37 PM

Don't forget a link for the curious to follow:

http://trn.trains.com/bonus/dpmlp

 

Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

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David Morgan's Biography
Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 4:24 AM

A must read.  If you have not read it and can do so, please do.  It is inspirational, and you will learn to love the guy, if you did not by being a reader during his life and period as Editor.

What exactly led to his retirement did not seem to be adequately answered, however.  He left without a retirement party, yet kept in touch and gave advice when appropriate.  Anyone know?

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