Ron Ziel
Ron Ziel | |
---|---|
New York City, New York | |
Died | December 15, 2016 | (aged 77)
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Photographer/Historian |
Ronald Paul Ziel (July 17, 1939 – December 15, 2016) was an American railway historian.
Born in Manhattan, his family moved to eastern Queens in 1942, and eventually settled in Melville in 1949. He first became interested in railroads as a small child, when his mother would take him to watch the trains at the Long Island Rail Road stations at Queens Village and Bellerose.[1]
He attended
While at Pratt, Ziel joined the
In 1965, Ziel and his longtime collaborator George Foster published the book “Steel Rails to the Sunrise”. In the course of researching the book they met numerous railroad historians and photographers on Long Island, an experience that led them to form a Long Island chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The Long Island-Sunrise Trail Chapter was chartered in 1966, with Ziel serving as its first president, an office he held until 1969. Other founding members included Winfield S. Boerckel, F. Rodney Dirkes, Harold Fagerberg, Arthur J. Huneke and Robert Michel. Ziel was also the founder and first president of the Steam Locomotive 39 Preservation Fund, which was responsible for refurbishing LIRR Engine #39 and moving it from the Carriage House Museum in Stony Brook to a new location in Riverhead.[1]
Throughout his life Ziel has traveled to over 50 countries and has, by his own estimate, taken over 25,000 photographs of steam locomotives in regular service. In April 2005 Ziel moved from his long-time home in
See also
History of the Long Island Rail Road
References
- ^ a b c d e http://www.queenslibrary.org/research/archives/manuscripts/ziel.xml The Ron Ziel Image Collection at the Queens Library Archives
- ^ Ziel, Ron. 1963. The twilight of steam locomotives; [the complete story of the last steam locomotives in North America]. New York: Grosset & Dunlap
- ^ "Ronald Ziel Obituary (1939 - 2016) - Idaho Falls, ID - Post Register".
External links
- Ron Ziel Steam (The Official Ron Ziel Web Site) http://www.ronzielsteam.com/
- Steel Rails to the Sunrise