Page 4 - All Scale Rails Magazine Issue 4 September October 2015

www.AllScaleRails.com
Editorial
I have to say a couple of
things. Bill was always there
to help and share his pas-
sions. He would stop in a
heartbeat whatever he was
doing to help someone in
need, from a friend to a com-
plete stranger. I met him at
the hobby shop where he
worked part time after my
wife introduced us. He had
tons of stories that I was priv-
ileged to hear. Early on, he
would help answer any ques-
tions I had about wiring and
other modeling questions I
had.
Then one day he invited me
out railfanning with him and
it changed my life. He knew
all the right places to go for
the best shots at the prime
times of the day and what
each one of them was called
on the railroad scanner. As I
took pictures, he would give
me advice and show me the
photos he had taken on his
camera. He taught me how to
line up the shot and which
side to stand on. Later on, he
would help me to understand
the settings on my camera
and how to adjust them for
different conditions. So
many times I would stand
right next to him and take a
4 All Scale Rails
photo of the same exact thing
at the same exact time. Fun-
ny thing is, mine never turned
out as good as his! Photogra-
phy came as easy to Bill as
breathing does to the rest of
us. I learned so much from
him and I truly wish I could
have learned more, but time
didn’t allow me to go out as
much as I would have liked.
Every time I went with him,
he had stories about his life as
a truck driver and about the
places he would go to and the
people he met along the way.
When I was out with him, he
would tell those stories until
we came across a truck that
he had to shoot. Then he
would start swapping war sto-
ries about trucks and truck
driving with the driver of the
rig.
He had such passion about
the boats on the lakes, trains
and the trucks on the road.
He was also a walking ency-
clopedia; if you had a ques-
tion about something and
called Bill, you could be sure
he would have an answer.
Bill had his favorites, ones
close to his heart. To this day
I still refer to a Peterbilt with
a straight hood and stack
pipes as a “Bill truck.”
Being around him to see his
passion and enthusiasm for
the things he would photo-
graph, you couldn’t help but
get a little interested in them
too. He was the only person
I ever knew that could take
a shot of a laker boat tied up
to the dock, unloading salt,
with a flower in the fore-
ground and turn it into a
work of art that many would
consider framing and hang-
ing on their wall.
Bill always wanted to share
his passion either by teach-
ing, telling stories or show-
ing the photos that he shot;
as long as he could share
with the rest of us.
-Kevin