A LATTER-DAY CHAMPION OF STEAM.

Kalmbach Publishing report the death of current Trains editor Jim Wrinn.

Jim Wrinn, who aspired since his youth to be the editor of Trains magazine and served in the role for more than 17 years, died at home on March 30, 2022, after a valiant 14-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 61.

Wrinn’s longevity in the editor’s role was second only to that of the legendary David P. Morgan, who led the magazine for more than 33 years and died in 1990 at age 62. Morgan’s editorship and writings deeply influenced Wrinn, who began reading Trains in 1967 at age 6.

Those years saw the transition of railroading into wholesale freight transportation, with fewer idiosyncratic carriers, fewer small-town industries for local train watchers, and continuing travails involving public support of Amtrak, Canada's VIA Rail, and the metropolitan Commuter Rail authorities.  But among the developments that often made Trains read more like Railway Age, there were the steam locomotives.

Wrinn also showed a flair for the big moment, capitalizing on important news developments and effectively using a variety of media platforms. Case in point: the revival of Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 “Big Boy” No. 4014. Over the course of three years, Wrinn oversaw blanket coverage that included online reporting and numerous articles in Trains; two Big Boy special issues; live video updates from the field; and updates from the 4014’s coming-out party at Ogden, Utah, in May 2019.

And the on-point observation that railroads connect people.  (Is there any other business that can claim the same level of popular enthusiasm decoupled from daily use?)

In addition, he championed preservation railroads.

Wrinn’s passing is being keenly felt across railroading, especially among the many writers, photographers, and professional railroaders with whom he collaborated. Theirs was a special kinship, born equally of a love of railroading and storytelling.

This summer, find yourself a preservation railroad and go to it.  R. I. P.