Steam photographer Mike Eagleson dies

GLEN RIDGE, N.J. – Famed steam photographer Michael A. Eagleson, who traveled the world in search of steam power as it retreated from service, died of complications of COVID-19 Jan. 6. He was in his late 70s. Eagleson was famous in the railway and steam locomotive enthusiast community, having traveled worldwide to witness and photograph steam in regular service.

A New Jersey native, Eagleson was an accomplished author and photographer, often traveling with his friend and fellow author, the late Ron Ziel. Among his books with Ziel were Southern Steam Specials (1972) and Twilight of World Steam (1973). Solo projects include Steam on the Anthracite Roads (1974) and Motive Power of the Jersey Central (1978).

Eagleson was close friends with fellow railroad and steam fan Victor Hand. The two met on a steam fantrip in Canada in 1959. “You never stopped laughing when dealing with Mike,” Hand recalls. “In all the years I knew him, we only had one disagreement I remember. We traveled extensively together overseas. He was one of my best friends. We had a lot of fun.”

Hand recalls a humorous story from 1969, when Ziel got the idea to rent a Ford Tri-Motor aircraft to pace Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 759, pulling the Golden Spike Centennial train. The idea was to recreate publicity photos from the 1920s when Transcontinental Air Transport ran coast-to-coast trips, using trains by night and Tri-Motors by day. “Ziel and Eagleson were in a Cessna, while I and some others rode in the Tri-Motor. Evidently, Ziel got sick, threw up, and the slipstream threw it back on Mike in the back seat. When we landed, they were hosing down the airplane!”

Fellow steam photographer Harold A. Edmonson traveled with Eagleson to Guatemala and Czechoslovakia in the early 1970s and would see him often on steam photo events around the world, such as “Pladampfs” in Germany. “He was easy to travel with,” Edmonson recalls. “He was one of the ‘eastern school’ of steam photographers, using traditional techniques from the 1940s and 50s, using primarily black-and-white film and large-format cameras. He was also a great night photographer. I remember he was fast. He could circle an engine with No. 5 flashbulbs in no time. He was also one of the first of the steam photographers to travel to China, making several trips there. He also traveled extensively to South Africa when steam was still in service there,” Edmonson says.

Eagleson served as a columnist for Railroad Magazine in the 1960s and 1970s. His “In Search of Steam” columns were “must reads” for steam fans seeking information on steam locomotives in the pre-internet age.

In 1969, Eagleson, Ziel, Hand, Peter Vander Veld and another fan purchased Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 No. 2839. After a long restoration, it was leased to Southern Railway for steam excursions in 1979-80. Eventually it was sold and today is in a museum in California.

Eagleson is survived by his wife Florence and a daughter.