(rshsdepot) Profile on List Member Seth Bramson

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Transportation fan packs road trip in home

By Kristia Bared
Miami News Service
Posted June 2 2002 in South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A passenger train flies by a series of motels located next to the Florida
East Coast railway tracks. The early morning sound wakes angry sleepers and
small children. But one particular child jumps up and down in his bed
excitedly yelling, "Here she comes, Daddy! Here she comes!"

Forty-five years later, Seth Bramson still gets excited at the mere sight of
a train.

He owns what he claims to be the world's largest collection of Florida
transportation memorabilia, all of which is housed in two rooms and most of
his office at his Miami Shores home.

Bramson is animated as he walks through the house pointing to some of the
highlights in his collection: original postcards advertising the FEC
Railway, a Collier's magazine announcing the opening of the FEC Railway in
1912 and the oldest known Florida map (Feb. 6, 1836) that shows a railroad.
He also has a Dec. 27, 1895, letter written by Henry Flagler to the
president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad stating: "I am extending my railroad
to Biscayne Bay."

"This collection is considered one of the 10 largest collections of United
States railroad and trolley memorabilia in private hands," Bramson said.

Becky Smith, curator of research material at the Miami Historical Museum,
said it is difficult to verify Bramson's claims, but quickly adds: "I doubt
if anyone has a larger collection. It's enormous."

Bramson insists that the most remarkable thing about his collection is not
its size, but its value. "The importance of the collection is not just the
monstrousness of it, but the value of what has been saved. In some cases, it
is the only one of its kind remaining," he said.

From garbage cans to antique shows to eBay, Bramson finds items for his
collection everywhere. At railroad shows he wears buttons proclaiming: "We
buy Miami memorabilia and Floridiana" to attract sellers.

The secret to searching for items, he says, is collecting singlemindedly. He
knows exactly what area he is interested in, and collects only from that
area.

Bramson said he rarely sells his items, and when he does, it is those of
which he owns more than one. "I mostly buy because my job is to preserve."

Bramson traces his passion for trains to age 2, when he and his father, a
neon sign salesman, would sometimes stay at the motor courts or motels
located along the railroad. He was born in New York City, but the family
moved to Miami Beach after World War II.

"Every morning, we would drive north on U.S. 1, and every Saturday morning
on the west side of Biscayne Boulevard there would come those beautiful FEC
streamliners with the magnificent red and yellow diesels," Bramson said.

Stepping into a hobby shop in West Palm Beach when he was 12, Bramson found
himself in heaven. There he found booklets produced by toy train
manufacturers, and his knowledge of makes and models began.

"When I started I was taking stuff out of garbage cans, and little by little
the collection seemed to grow," he said.

He didn't limit his collection to Miami. In 1957, while visiting an aunt in
Chicago, he returned with boxes of photographs and train-related articles.

Bramson donates some of the 1 million items in his collection to
exhibitions, but he emphasizes the benefit of visiting a home collection
such as his. He extends invitations by appointment only.

"I find that a lot of people prefer to come and research here because it's
much more pleasant than museums, which are often difficult to access," he
said.

A former professor of tourism and hospitality management at St. Thomas and
Johnson and Wales universities, Bramson said he changed careers in September
to start a consulting business in hospitality management and transportation
memorabilia and antiques.

He has used his expertise to write several books, including Speedway to
Sunshine, released in December 1984. He is releasing a revised and enlarged
edition of the book. He is also working on two more books, Sunshine State
Trolleys, a history of Florida's street railways, and Jewels in the
Sunshine: the Flagler System Hotels.

Bramson said he considers it his responsibility to preserve history,
continuously adding to its assemblage. Last year alone he bought three main
collections. He attributes much of his ability to collect and preserve in
his home to his very understanding wife, Myrna."Maybe one of the best things
that has happened to me is that my bride is a pretty good egg, and she's
been involved in it the whole time. Very little complaining, just support."

His wife, a former elementary school teacher understands the items'
importance to her husband. "We definitely need more space. But the china is
beautiful, and Seth loves it," she said of the china from dining cars.

Bramson, who also collects Miami and South Florida memorabilia, said he is
particularly passionate about the rarity of his items, from the ID card
out-of-town and "colored" visitors had to hold to work in Miami Beach, to
the book published for the 1928 Klanvocation of the Klu Klux Klan in
Washington D.C.

"There are hundreds of other pieces that are at that level of rarity. This
stuff never loses its value ...," he said. "What has been collected and
saved here is irreplaceable."

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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