Biography

[brathke at juno.com]

I thank Fred Schneider for suggesting - nearly three months ago - that we
post bios.  I started mine in July, and things seemed to get in the way,
but here it is:

Like Fred S. and Fred Bruhn (the second bio submitter), I was born before
Pearl Harbor, which means that I have recollections of blackouts, air
raid wardens, ration tokens and the double-end orange trolleys in
Pittsburgh.  I grew up on Spring Hill, about a block from the end of the
#5 line on Rhine Street.  I have commented on my experiences riding in
the motorman's seat at the rear end, collecting transfers and releasing
sand to the dismay of the motorman at the other end.  The Spring Hill
loop was built in April, 1946, and then PCC's took over, so my memories
of the double-end cars have to be from 1944-45.

My family was always into photography, and I inherited hundreds of photos
of my parents, grandparents and great grandparents going back to the
1880's.  My great grandfather was a fireman during the Johnstown flood,
and I have an 8X10" photo of him beside a horse-drawn fire engine there
in 1889 - sorry, no trolleys are visible in the photo.  I'm now
cataloging these prints and sharing them with family and a Spring Hill
community website.

In 1950, I started to take photos with a 620 snapshot camera that I got
for selling punch-cards (a kind of lottery device  that was advertised in
the back pages of comic books - anyone remember them?).  I took some
railroad photos with that camera, but the railroads just happened to be
in some scenic views that I took; I took my first "intentional" railroad
photos in 1954, and some of these are on the Fallen Flags website.  After
a couple of new 620 cameras that were only slightly better than the 1950
freebie, I got a 35mm Kokak Pony IV in 1959.  Occasionally, I still use
my Pony IV as a backup, but since 1967 I've been using Nikon equipment.

I graduated from Duquesne University with a B.A. in Journalism, and
worked for a now defunct North Side newspaper.  In 1964 I went to work
for BBDO, the fourth largest advertising agency in the world, and in
1971, another big agency, Marsteller.  A lot of my agency experience was
in Pittsburgh and Cleveland with rail accounts - Timken, WABCO, U.S.
Steel and L.B. Foster Co.  I wrote brochures, newsletters and promotional
programs, and even a couple of books.  My 1982-83 railroad history series
for L.B. Foster won the rail industry's Golden Spike Award.

All this time (since the mid-40's) I've collected railroadiana,
specializing in the B&O, but not neglecting other Western Pennsylvania
railroads, and of course, PRC.  I have an extensive 75-year collection of
B&O Magazines and system timetables, so I'm sometimes asked to do
research work for people writing books on the B&O.  

I estimate that I've taken about 50,000 photos, about 10,000 of which are
of railroads and about 7,000 are trolleys.  Many of the railroad photos
are on the Fallen Flags website, but only about 30 of my trolley photos
are there.  I haven't yet decided how I will take my trolley photos
public.

Back to my job: in late 1983 I moved from Pittsburgh to Chicago.  I am
advertising manager at ITT Industries here, responsible for eight ITT
companies between New York and Illinois.  These companies'  websites are
also managed in my department, and we continue to explore new areas of
electronic commerce.   Today, our photography and literature production
is all electronic, and it's been a couple of years since I even opened
the file cabinets containing company photos.  I still takes slides and
photos with my personal cameras, though.

I've been married 28 years.  My wife, Eleanore, is from Carrick, and we
rode the last 53-Carrick trolley a few months before our wedding, and we
then lived in Brentwood, off of Brownsville Road near the 53 loop, by
then a bus loop.  

We have three children: our daughter, Colleen, is a graphic designer at a
large investment bank in Chicago and she also creates websites.  I think
- no, hope - that MY website is next on her list..  Our older son,
Jarrett, is a pilot and is in commercial aircraft sales to European
airlines.  Our younger son, Glenn, graduated from high school, and will
start college here in January.  All of us appear in some of my railroad
photos on the Fallen Flags website - you just have to look for us.

I've been a member of PTM for years.  I started when it was PERC, went to
meetings downtown in 1966, was inactive for awhile, and have been a
member continuously since 1972 - I think.  It had to be '72 since I
attended the thank-you dinner that the Greentree Marriott held for museum
members that year; I believe that Harold Geissenheimer was dinner speaker
that night.  I'm also a member of the Illinois Railway Museum here, and
the B&O Railroad Historical Society.

And for 15 years I've been involved in Boy Scouts as an Assistant
Scoutmaster, and lately as a merit badge councellor (aviation,
communications, electricity and religious awards).

I think I wrote more than a page.  Thanks for reading.

Bob 9/19

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