[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

(erielack) The legendary Homer Hill



One of the most intrepid rail photographers passed away today, Homer Hill of 
Bernardsville, N.J. He is survived by his wife, Jean, and son, David.   

Homer was a very active photographer and a lithographic printer by trade as 
the proprietor of Hill Press in Bernardsville.  He specialized in black and 
white, and he loved steam locomotives in general and the Lackawanna in 
particular.  He began shooting in 1933 with a box camera at the Chicago 
Railroad Fair. He once loaned me his early negative collection, and negative 
No.1 was a steamy 1933 image of 4-6-0 camelback 1051 taking water at Dover 
having just arrived with the passenger train from Chester.  Homer's medium 
format work covered the Lackawanna in many North Jersey areas, but his 
thousands of negatives covered steam and diesel action photography primarily 
on the east coast and all across Canada.  He loved Canada.

One trinket Homer always displayed with pride was a ticket from the very 
first day of the Lackawanna electric m.u.s -- he played hooky from school to 
ride that first train.  He also rode the Tri-State Chapter's famous "Last Run 
of the Lackawanna M.U.s" excursion.

Homer was as nice and likable as a person could be.  If somebody had a 
difficulty with Homer, it was that somebody's problem.  He was one of the 
earliest members of Tri-State, and then later help to form the Jersey Central 
Chapter NRHS.  As the owner of a print shop, his expertise in printing the 
newsletters, books and other coorespondance was invaluable. The Block Line, 
Jersey Central Lines and those early Railpace magazines wouldn't have been 
possible without Homer and Jean.  He wrote and published at least one book of 
his own photography, and he printed several postcards of his own work. He 
loved to travel by rail, and had been working with Madison Travel in his 
retirement arranging exotic rail tours for anyone or group who would ask.

The term legendary these days is a little misused and overused by today's 
advertising people and sportcasters.  Yes, Websters says it means 
"...celebrated or described in legend," but the Homer-era writers always 
reserved that term for people who are no longer with us.  Homer had lived 
past 80 and had heart problems for many years, but his accomplishments and 
good deeds toward the railfans and railway preservation are so numerous and 
spanned more than 50 years.  His monthly "round table" dinner meetings that 
have been hapenning for close to 20 years I hope will continue, and I hope to 
make the next one as the participants will certainly spend the night 
celebrating Homer's life.  I know I will think of Homer often.  As a man and 
a lover of railroading, Homer is truly legendary.

Mike Del Vecchio

 ------------------------------------------------------------
Visit the erielack photopage at http://el-list.railfan.net

------------------------------