Author, Railroad Executive Jeremy Taylor Dies

Railroad author and retired railroad executive Jeremy Taylor died on June 23 at his home in Indiana. He was 95.

Taylor was the author of A Sampling of Penn Central: Southern Region on Display.

The book provided photographs and detailed captions of various points on the mainlines and branch lines of the Columbus, Cincinnati, and Southwest divisions of Penn Central as well as the Peoria & Eastern Railway.

His railroad career began in 1952 with the New York Central. In the introduction to his book on Penn Central, Taylor wrote that upon being assigned to the Southern District headquarter in Indianapolis in 1953 he was told to take two weeks to familiarize himself with the railroad.

That included riding the head end of trains and visiting yards and engine facilities at major terminals.

He would later take the same approach to documenting in photographs the operations of the Southern Region of Penn Central.

Taylor published five books, including works focusing on Conrail, the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, and the Clinchfield Railroad.

During his time in Indianapolis, he was in charge of transportation operations for the NYC. After being transferred to New York City for a time, he turned to Indianapolis in May 1967 where he served as general manager of the Southern Region.

Taylor later left PC in 1969 for a job as vice president-operations of the Long Island Railroad where he worked until 1977.

Tags: Jeremy Taylor, Penn Central