Everything about H Reid totally explained
Harold A. Reid (better known by his pen name
H. Reid) (
1925–
1992) was an American
writer,
photographer, and
historian. Reid is best known for his lifelong love of
railroading and related
photography and published work. An avid fan of
steam locomotives, he helped capture the last days of steam motive power on America's
Class I railroads, notably on the
Virginian Railway, and ending with the
Norfolk and Western in
1960, the last major U.S. railroad to convert from steam.
H. Reid helped establish
rail photography as a hobby. In
The Virginian Railway, published in
1961, he combined photography with a storytelling style and depth of facts which have helped the "Richest Little Railroad in the World" live on the hearts of its former employees,
railfans, and new generations of children who had yet to be born when it became a
fallen flag in a 1959 merger.
Childhood, education, marriage
H. Reid grew up with the
railroad. His childhood home in
Norfolk, Virginia was adjacent to the massive
Lamberts Point facilities with general merchandise and
coal piers of the
Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W). Author Lloyd D. Lewis who himself was a child when he first met Reid, relates that "H" (as he preferred to be called) printed a small
newspaper for his neighbors as child. He attended Elon College (now
Elon University) in
Elon, North Carolina and graduated from the
College of William and Mary of
Williamsburg, Virginia. He and his wife Virginia (née Ewell) Reid lived in Norfolk near the
Virginian Railway (VGN) tracks leading to
Sewell's Point.
Newspaperman, author, railfan
Reid was a
newspaperman by trade and worked a brief time in
public relations for the local
Norfolk County Public Schools in what is now the
City of Chesapeake. He began honing his art with black and white
photography with a Brownie box camera when he was a child in the 1930s. Black and white remained his favored medium even as color photography became popular in the 1950s. He contributed articles and photographs to
Trains magazine, and his work was noted by its longtime editor
David P. Morgan.
Following a long friendship with the Assistant to the General Manager of the coal-hauling
Virginian Railway, after that company's merger into the N&W in
1959, he wrote his epoch work,
The Virginian Railway, which was published by Kalmbach in
1961. In that book, Reid combined his some of the best of his photography with a storytelling style and depth of facts which have helped the "Richest Little Railroad in the World" live on the hearts of its former employees, railfans, and new generations of children who had yet to be born when it became a
fallen flag through merger in 1959. Reprinted three times, first and second editions of
The Virginian Railway have become valued as collectible items.
Reid's other published work include many contributions to
Trains Magazine, two other books,
Extra South, (1964), published by Starucca Valley Publishing, and
Rails Through Dixie written with Johnny Krause (1965), published by Golden West Books. His photography work has been featured in many other publications, notably several by Lloyd D. Lewis which include
The Virginian Era (1992),
Virginian Railway Locomotives (1993), and
Norfolk and Western and Virginian Railways in Color by H. Reid (1994), all published by TLC Publishing of
Lynchburg, Virginia. His photographs have been published in many other books.
Photography
Author Lewis describes Reid as a "consummate artist of the black & white image." At a time when many rail photographers concentrated on still photos taken from front and side profiles, Reid created unusual shots. Taken from above and below, Reid's photographs often included scenery or surrounding features in the genre described in depth in author
Leo Marx's 1964 book
The Machine in the Garden. Reid's photographs inspired such terms as "nostalgic" and "moody."
The travels of Reid and his friends in search of rail subjects took him to sites as far from Hampton Roads as
Louisiana,
New England, and the
Hudson River Valley in
New York. H. Reid was fortunate in many ways, among them, that steam railroading was still occurring in his lifetime, and that restrictions to photographic locations for safety and security reasons were more open than in modern times. That doesn't mean his work was easy. In those days, the hobby of rail photography was still emerging, and railfans such as Reid occasionally slept in logging camps and rose with the sun to catch the work of steam locomotives on the
short line railroads which were the last bastion of steam in the United States. Even in more populated areas, there are many tales told of H. Reid climbing embankments and standing precariously on signaling equipment to capture an unusual angle. To quote from a railway enthusiasts website, "Lest these tales of H. Reid be considered unbelievable, naysayers are directed to the photographic evidence."
Legacy
Although
O. Winston Link also captured sound recording and is perhaps better known for his black and white and exceptional night photography, H. Reid joins him in the ranks of rail photographers who captured and preserved photographic memories of America's age of steam railroading. Reid accomplished those goals and more as a writer and historian as well. As stated in the dedication of
The Virginian Railway Handbook written by Aubrey Wiley and Conley Wallace and published in
1985, "Because of the interest and love of H. Reid for the Virginian Railway, the memory and lore of that railroad have continued to live, even though many years have passed since...the identity of that road was lost in a merger." Readers of
The Virginian Railway and members of its active Internet enthusiasts group of over 625 members would surely agree in acknowledging the role of H. Reid, who helped define
rail photography as a hobby.
After a period of declining health, H. Reid died at his home in Norfolk on
October 19 1992.
Further Information
Get more info on 'H Reid'.
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