Joe G. Collias, 1928-2015

Thanks for the link to his obituary.  It revealed a lot about him.

Thanks, Tom.  

He was a very nice person and an absolutely irrepresable steam enthusiast. I ran into him in Iaeger, WV about 1988. He was riding a N&W 1218 excursion and I and my girl friend tried to pace the train by car (an absolute fools errand, as the road was no where near the right of way and we had been thrown around so much by the hill and dale, curving road that we almost had a case of the bends!). He was all set to bale out on the excursion and ride with us for more action! But I told him he was getting a lot more action on the train. My girl friend and I drove back at a much more leisurely pace.

         About 10 years ago Joe did a presentation at the Naperville RR Prototype Modelers seminar on the Mike & Ike's (Missouri & Illinois RR) railroad car ferry operation between MO and IL, on the Mississippi R. Fascinating, as the ferry employed a cable system, not unlike a cable car.

         I will bet many people on this board have at least one of Joe's excellent books. He had a very infectious writing style, that really captured the drama of steam railroading.

The only books of his that I saw were THE LAST OF STEAM and THE SEARCH FOR STEAM.  They were very influential to me, at least, around 1970.  A loss to us all.........

Joe also did books on Katy, Frisco, Texas & Pacific, and Mopac (2) steam power. 

Your right Mark, Joe was a nice guy.  I met and talked to him from time to time in St. Louis.  He was always polite and very interesting.  

I'm sorry to hear he has passed away.  

Sad to hear of his passing. He was one of the greats like Bob Collins. Joe Collias's "Last of Steam" was one of my first railroad books. I still have it, extremely well worn.