David H. Hamley, a professional engineer and Trains magazine author with a talent for writing about diesel locomotives, died Dec. 18 at a hospital near his home south of Pittsburgh. He was 84.
Born in Pittsburgh on Nov. 4, 1940, Hamley in 1965 earned a degree in engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and went on to a nearly 50-year career with Westinghouse Transportation and its successor Bombardier Transportation. During his work he specialized in train control and safety systems.
Hamley was a prolific Trains contributor in the late 1960s and early ’70s, writing on subjects as diverse as the development of Westinghouse’s heavy-load Schnabel car in the July 1973 issue and an account of the 1968 building of the Waynesburg Southern coal railroad in the September 1971 issue.
In the February and March 1972 issues, Trains published Hamley’s two-part account of the old Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad and its transition to the Wellsville, Addison & Galeton, the first story entitled “You Mean, There Really is a Sole Leather Line,” and the second “Where the First Generation Became the Second,” focusing on the WAG’s roster of F units.
Perhaps Hamley’s most notable contribution was his 22-page account “Ingersoll-Rand: Catalyst of Dieselization,” in the December 1971 issue, the magazine’s ninth annual all-diesel issue. In this definitive story, Hamley explored IR’s development of a pioneering diesel prime mover.
Hamley also found time to contribute to the old Railroad Magazine and assisted Jerry Pinkepank in research for Pinkepank’s landmark “Diesel Spotter’s Guide,” published by Kalmbach Books. Many of his photographs, most of them portraits of diesel units, went to Morning Sun Books.
He was also a longtime member of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, in Washington, Pa., southwest of Pittsburgh, where over the years Hamley served as president, vice president, and trustee. An avid bicyclist, he rode several thousand miles each year.
David H. Hamley is survived by two sons, two daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren; his wife, Shirley I. Hamley, died in 2022. The family chose private funeral arrangements and suggests that donations in Hamley’s memory be made to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.
Minor correction: David’s Ingersol-Rand article is in the December 1970 issue, not December 1971.
I don’t remember the byline, but a half-century later I do remember the articles. Brilliant writer and researcher.