There appears to be some confusion about the Focus on Freight Cars series such that I thought it a good idea to pen a brief synopsis of the books so that people have a better understanding of the scope and extent. The series is the brainchild of Al Hoffman, who found the negatives through his friendship with the late Michael Urac, who owned the collection of negatives. Al conceived the idea of the books and approached Richard Hendrickson about writing the accompanying text and captions for volumes one and two, that I subsequently published.
The passings of Richard Hendrickson and Michael Urac left the torch to be carried by me, albeit in my lesser capacity than Richard, given his encyclopedic knowledge of freight equipment.
An extremely common misconception about the books is that they are the result of careful sorting and culling of subject matter. In reality, the books include only photos in the collection and none that are not part of the collection. This is one of the appealing qualities of these works; the images have not been published in any other format, with a few exceptions where they were shared for use in prototype data sheets for freight car kits and similar uses. To reiterate and reinforce, only what is in the collection is included in these books. The books are not intended to be interpreted as an all-encompassing study of freight equipment. They are merely what was captured by the photographer. One of the great values is that since the photos were to be used to create model kits, they include many exceptional detail images that are of great value to modelers and researchers alike, in addition to the general freight car "portraits" (my emphasis as I believe these detail photos are the great value of these books).
Segueing from the previous paragraph, it bears reiterating that the work collectively is not intended to be the definitive look at freight equipment of the era. A common query is why such and such a car from a specific railroad is not included. The reason is simple: if there is not a photograph of a car in the collection, it is not included. The reasoning is that basic. There are no slights or omissions intended.
Thanks Ted, that was a question I had but had not asked.
ReplyDeleteNow the hard question, do you have enough photo's and model information to publish any more books on Focus On Fright Cars?
ReplyDeleteHello. I would love to do a few more. I know that there are some other negatives, most notably of tank cars, that have not materialized. If they do turn up, I will gladly add additional volumes. There is a group of passenger car negatives that I have yet to print that will make their way into a book form eventually. No ETA on that yet, though. Cheers, Ted
DeleteThanks for the explanation, Ted.
ReplyDeleteTed, you might want to edit this post to indicate the date range for the Urac collection. Working from memory, I think it's about 1935 -38. To me, that's what makes this collection so extraordinary: clear, detailed shots from a decade when very few quality photos were taken (aside from builder's photos).
ReplyDeleteThanks Ted,for the explanation,I found number ten to be very insightful,as I learned more than I ever knew about tank cars. Although SP Class O-50-11/12 cars you didn’t mention if they had poling pockets in the bolsters. Keep up the good work
ReplyDelete