Who was Roy Campbell ?
In sidebar articles in 1947 Trains and The Model Railroader
magazines, Kalmbach Publishing Company introduced Roy Campbell to its
readers. Publisher Al Kalmbach hired 
longtime friend Campbell as the
company’s sales manager and goodwill ambassador following a
chance meeting on a Chicago to Milwaukee train. The job was a
hobbyist’s dream – Campbell traveled the country (by train,
of course), calling on railroad officials for Trains, on hobby shops and manufacturers for The Model Railroader, and on advertising agencies for both. He reported the results back to the magazines’ editors and staffs.
Roy Campbell’s background
made him ideally suited for the position. Born in Houghton, Michigan,
Campbell entered the insurance business at age 23 and worked his way up
to the presidency of The Wisconsin Accident and Health Insurance
Company. After the firm was sold, he successfully applied his
interpersonal skills to the real estate business. He was looking for a
new business venture at the time of his encounter with Kalmbach.
More importantly, Campbell was a
railroad hobbyist himself. He was vice-president of the Railroad
Society of Milwaukee and an avid railroad photographer. His artistic
photographs won awards at Milwaukee’s Layton Art Gallery and were
published in the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel.
In addition to his own photography, he purchased from and traded with
many other railroad photographers, amassing one of the largest and
finest private collections in the Midwest.
Mr. Campbell died in 1965 and his
collection lay dormant and largely forgotten for a quarter century. His
son attempted to sell prints via magazine classified ads in the
1960’s, but found limited success. His grandson David Campbell
requested assistance from friend and railroad author Tom Burg in
finding recognition for his grandfather’s collection. Merrill
Publishing Associates (MPA) was formed by Tom and Sharon Thatcher,
a writer and desktop publisher, to publish
from the collection. To date they have published several photo
CD’s and books. Ralph Wehlitz, a Master Model Railroader, is a valued
consultant. A series of ten books on Milwaukee Road steam locomotives
is being produced by MPA for the Milwaukee Road Historical Association.
Chicago’s Steam Suburbans was MPA’s first photograph book in its own line. A number of additional products are anticipated.
Thomas E. Burg received a
Bachelor of Science degree in 1966 from Wilmington College, Wilmington,
Ohio, and a Master of Science degree from the University of Idaho. He
pursued a career as a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, retiring in 1999. Always a railfan and historian,
Burg’s initial retirement project was the authorship of WHITE PINE ROUTE, The History of the Washington, Idaho & Montana Railway Company, published by the Museum of North Idaho in 2003. Since first
encountering the Roy Campbell Collection, he has sought to fulfill
David Campbell’s objective of giving its contents more
visibility.