"Days of life that seem so unimportant, seem to matter and to count much later on." Words from the last studio album by Genesis, and it pains me to think it was released almost 20 years ago. Martin, your "new" golden oldies may have been just regular-day stuff back then, but now they're every bit as enjoyable and valuable as your more recent work from the Cascades and Montana. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back through some of my own early photos, or photos in books or magazines or museum collections, which may look so ordinary or simplistic from a photographic standpoint, but because of how they document long-forgotten motive power or cars or track arrangements or buildings or operations they end up being priceless treasures. For me, historic photos have become as vital to my railroad research as written information and original documents. A close examination of pre-1960s pictures of the Coeur d'Alene branch lines or steam-era scenes on Marias Pass, in conjunction with original track charts and other material, has given me a much better idea of how things used to be, and has shown me that much of what has been written about such places in some high-profile books has been wrong. If a picture is worth a thousand words, just imagine, Martin, how many stories these pictures of yours have to tell.