TILDEN — Fred Ritter Jr. loved trains.
Although he never worked for the railroad, he took hundreds of photographs of them while also farming and raising a family near Tilden.
After his death in 1975, the railroad photos, all neatly pasted into albums, languished among his other treasures in a room in the “grandparents” house that he and his wife, Ella, built on their farm so their son, also Frederick, and his family could live in the original farmhouse.
After Ritter died, family members occupied the house until a few years ago, when it was cleaned out and a “pickup truck” load of photographs were discovered, said Patricia Ritter Miller of Lincoln, Fred Jr.’s granddaughter. She and her brothers sifted through the photos, keeping those that could be identified and discarding others. But when they found the five scrapbooks full of railroad photos, Miller knew they had to be saved.
“They were all pasted into scrapbooks … but not all of them were labeled,” she said.
Miller said she doesn’t know how or why her grandfather developed his love for all things dealing with trains. He and his parents came to America from Switzerland in 1893 when Ritter was just 6 years old. They passed through Ellis Island and probably took the train to Nebraska, Miller said. That journey could have sparked his interest in railroads.
While many of the photos were taken in Nebraska, the collection also includes photos of trains and depots from around the country. Some of those photos may have been taken during the family’s yearly vacation, Miller said.
In addition to taking photographs, Ritter loved to travel. In fact, his goal, Miller said, was to take his family to all 48 states, which he did. So almost every summer, the family packed their car with camping gear and headed to some new destination.
“He loved to travel … and was always reading and learning,” Miller said.
After she and her brothers discovered the photos, Miller contacted Jim Reisdorff, the publisher of South Platte Press in David City, which specializes in producing books about railroads. After reviewing the collection, Reisdorff decided to create a book including some of them, which is titled “Train Photos from Nebraska, The Vernacular Rail Images of Fred Ritter Jr.”
“What I was trying to convey with Ritter’s book was a tribute to the many snapshot photographers … who were out there in the 1930s to 1950s, taking photos of subjects such as trains. Sadly, not many of their photo collections survived after they passed away.” Reisdorff said. “Ritter’s collection serves as an example of how many train buffs managed to follow their hobby in an era before there was today’s modern technology.
Ritter’s photographs of depots as well as trains were taken at a time when steam engines, passenger trains and small-town railroad depots were being phased out in Nebraska, Reisdorff said. “Hence, the book is also a tribute to his foresight in wanting to photograph such scenes before the trains and depots were gone.
Although the book has been published, Miller is still trying to figure out what to do with the scrapbooks full of photos. Once she’s solved that puzzle, she’ll move on to her grandfather’s stamp collection.
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