The Author

I first became aware of the train wreck in Woodbridge in 2001, when Frank LaPenta was organizing a 50th anniversary memorial. Frank and I were members of the Historical Association of Woodbridge Township and he had been among the first on the scene after the accident - he still clearly remembers seeing a dead body on the embankment. I was working as a graphic artist at a print shop in town and offered to help create the program for the memorial service he planned for the Methodist Church on Main Street, a block from the scene. They had opened their doors to victims and weary rescuers. A phone bank had been brought in to handle the calls of worried families.

I decided to include a list of the dead and spent hours scrolling through the microfilm reels of period newspapers at Rutgers University's Alexander Library in New Brunswick. The basic human drama of a disaster and the selflessness of the rescuers who descended in droves was captivating. Then came the investigations and questions about what exactly happened and why.

At the time, I was also working on my first book, "James Parker: A Printer on the Eve of Revolution" about the man who established New Jersey's first print shop. Parker (1714-1770), a Woodbridge native, worked in the pre-Revolutionary period when "the press" was evolving from meaning just the apparatus one printed with to journalism. For more information about this book, please visit www.CommonBondHistorians.com

The process of researching and writing was one I so enjoyed that I realized at long last, albeit at middle age, what I wanted to do when I grew up! Before my first book was even done, I knew there would be more in my life and the train wreck emerged as the subject for my next efforts.

Writing is not a completely new activity for me. One of my other major interests has been amateur astronomy. I have written for a variety of magazines and journals and even published my own, The Practical Observer, for twelve years. These days, I have started a new, free, online magazine dedicated to New Jersey history, Garden State Legacy - see: www.GardenStateLegacy.com

Just as writing the Parker biography required me to immerse myself in 18th century pre-Revolution politics and culture, The Broker requires me to immerse myself in the railroad culture of the first half of the 20th century. I have begun a reading list to give myself a better grounding, but a major function of this blog is to invite railroad historians to share their knowledge and experience.

In a future posting, I will summarize the information I have collected to date.