J.J. Young, Railroad Photographer
“WHOOWOOOOOOOOO…WHOWOO…WHOWOO…WHOWOO! A hoot whistle cuts through the hazy shimmering heat of a steamy Ohio River Valley mid-July morning in Wheeling, West Virginia. Hey! Listen. A Humper’s just whistled out the th’ flag. He’s gonna take water at Bridgeport. Let’s go get ’em! (a ‘Humper’ is local slang for a B&O lake coal train working ‘over the hump’ from Wheeling to Holloway, Ohio). You grab camera and film and take off running. Down 14th Street, up Eoff Street, cut thru the Yellow Cab’s back lot, up Chapline Street past the post office, over 10th Street and across Market, attacking auto and pedestrian traffic like a Kamikaze trainee.” -J.J. Young
