I guess what is fun about scanning these old photos, beyond just reliving younger years, is it's fun to see the stuff I was doing while cutting my eye teeth with my first "good camera." I think a lot of us remember those days where we took off for the tracks with our camera around our knecks, a couple of rolls of film in the pocket of our jeans and the latest issue of TRAINS as our teacher and guide.

I feel lucky that I was there when the merger took place, when the Milwaukee was still alive and we had the great photo essays of Stein, Griffith, Hastings, Benson and the rest regularly published to give us the ideas and incentive to get out there and shoot. It's different now, no doubt about it. I even find it harder and harder to get motivated to photograph the railroad. I'm glad there is a younger generation making their art known.