Page 17 - All Scale Rails Magazine Issue 4 September October 2015
P. 17
www.AllScaleRails.com
If you had an affection towards big rigs,
train locomotives, heavy industry, freighters, Bill’s Orchard Story
sunrises or flowers, then you had made a
One day, Bill’s truck driving job took him
friend in Bill. His photos appeared in bro-
out to an orange field. There were trucks
chures, calendars, and advertisements; he was lined up the side of the road, waiting for the
hired by the Port of Milwaukee to do the pho- farmers to bring their wagons filled with
tos for promotional brochures and advertise- boxes of citrus out of the farm fields to load
ments. There are books on the histories of
onto the trucks. One of the farmers was go-
trucks that would not have been possible if it
ing from truck to truck and asking if anyone
weren’t for Bill’s love and passion for the big
would be able to drive right into the field.
trucks. That way, the pickers could just put the box-
The most important thing to Bill was the
es directly into the truck and not have to
sharing of his work. He was not out to make
load them onto a wagon, pull the wagon to
a profit, only to hear and see others’ reactions
the road, then unload them and reload them
to his photos and the response was often over-
into the back of truck. Most drivers didn’t
whelming. The subject matter alone was usu- want to, so they decided to wait it out. Bill
ally enough to peak someone’s interest, but agreed to drive his truck into the orange
when Bill gladly shared a back history about field, right up between the trees. In no time
that particular locomotive, truck or boat, only
at all, the truck was loaded up with fresh
then could you realize just how special his
citrus and a couple of cases found their way
collection was. Some of the locomotive and
into Bill’s cab: a gift of gratitude from the
truck photos in Bill’s collection are the only
farmer for helping him move his perishable
ones known to exist.
products quicker.
UP 1240 Marsh Job Milw., WI 12-28-01 by Bill Bedell
Issue # 4 2015 17
