User:Centpacrr
My contributions to Wikipedia are mostly (but not exclusively) made in two general areas: professional ice hockey in which over the last four plus decades I have worked professionally as an executive, broadcaster, historian, writer, and been extensively published (three books and hundreds of articles), and early North American railroad history about which I have also been published extensively (four books and many articles). In addition from time to time I may also contribute writings and/or images in a variety of other fields in which I have professional experience and/or particular personal interest including digital image restoration, aviation (I am also a pilot), steamships, early radio and television, opera, early Air Mail, "Zeppelin" mail and other areas of postal history, and topics relating to the history of Philadelphia, PA, San Francisco, CA, and the States of Pennsylvania, Maine (particularly Belfast and Waldo County), and California. Many of the images I contribute come from my various postal history and railroadiana collections (The Cooper Collections) as well as original digital images that I have created on those and a variety of other subjects. I also contribute frequently to Photography Workshop project of Wikipedia's Graphic Lab offering my skills gained over the years as the sole owner and operator of DigitalImageServices.com.
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[edit] Professional Ice Hockey
My main hockey contributions are in the areas of professional ice hockey history as they relate to the NHL and AHL in general, and in particular to teams, players, arenas, etc, which are (or have been) located in, or associated with, Philadelphia and Hershey, PA, and Portland, ME. I have worked in pro hockey in Philadelphia, Hershey, and Portland (Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL), Philadelphia Firebirds (NAHL), Hershey Bears (AHL), Maine Mariners (AHL)) for four decades as a freelance writer, newspaper reporter, book author, PR man (1976-77 Philadelphia Firebirds), historian, statistician, and in radio/TV broadcasting. I have written well over 2,000 articles (mostly for newspapers, magazines, and team programs of the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), Philadelphia Firebirds (NAHL), Hershey Bears (AHL), Richmond Robins (AHL), Maine Mariners (AHL), and others. (Some of these appear on my informal hockey history website, HockeyScoop.net) I have also written three books on hockey -- "Conditioning for Hockey: Year Round" (co-authored with Pat Croce) (New York: Leisure Press, 1983); "The Hockey Trivia Book" (co-authored with Gene Hart) (New York: Leisure Press, 1984); and ten chapters in "Professional Sports Teams Histories - Hockey" (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1994).
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In addition to my hockey broadcasting work, I have appeared in extensive interviews in two TV documentary films on the NHL Philadelphia Flyers: "History of the Philadelphia Flyers" (Warner Home Video, 2007) which was produced by NHL Productions, and "The Broad Street Bullies" (HBO Sports, 2010) which ran on HBO in both the US and Canada throughout May and June, 2010. In my various capacities I have worked and/or attended over 3,000 professional hockey games. I am currently co-producing and co-writing a feature length documentary film on the life of the late Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster and long time "Voice of the Flyers" Gene Hart with whom I worked for decades and who was my co-author on the 1984 book, "The Hockey Trivia Book". The film, which will be entitled "All Hart", is being produced by Green Creek Films.
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This user is a member of WikiProject Ice Hockey. |
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[edit] Early North American Railroad History
With regard to railroads, I contribute primarily to articles which relate to general 19th century U.S. railroad topics, the First Transcontinental Railroad (aka the "Pacific Railroad") about which I have been the author, editor, and/or a major contributor to nine books published between 1997 and 2011, and most specifically to the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) from which my Wikipedia username (Centpacrr) is derived and of which my great great grandfather, Lewis Metzler Clement, was Chief Assistant Engineer, Acting Chief Engineer, and Superintendent of Track during his 19 years with the company between 1862 and 1881. My first railroad history book, published in 2005, was "Riding the Transcontinental Rails: Overland Travel on the Pacific Railroad 1865-1881" (Philadelphia: Polyglot Press, 2005; 445 pages. illustrated).
This project was followed in 2009-11 by a three volume set of illustrated large format books on the classic railroad routes of North America (US and Canada) produced by Bookcraft, Ltd of Stroud, England, for which I was both a principal writer as well as the Consultant Editor for the overall project. The first volume, published in March, 2010, is entitled "The Classic Western American Railroad Routes" (New York: Chartwell Books (US) / Bassingbourn: Worth Press (UK), 2010; 320 pages, illustrated) and is an all-color "coffee table book" (it weighs in at five pounds) which contains more than 400 color images, maps, detailed articles, and dozens of feature pieces totaling close to 100,000 words on eight key classic passenger railroad routes in the western U.S. and Canada during the period from 1865 through the first half of the Twentieth Century: the Union Pacific/Central Pacific/Southern Pacific Overland Route from Omaha to San Francisco; Southern Pacific Sunset Route from New Orleans to Los Angeles; Northern Pacific Route from St. Paul to Seattle; Santa Fe Route from Kansas City to Los Angeles; Denver and Rio Grande Western Royal Gorge Route from Denver to Salt Lake City; SP Shasta Route and Coast Line from Seattle to Los Angeles, and; Canadian Pacific Route from Calgary to Vancouver. The second volume in the series (of which I was Consultant Editor) is "The Golden Age of Canadian Railways" and was published in September, 2010. The third and final volume of which I was both co-author (eleven sections) and Consutant Editor is "The Classic Eastern American Railroad Routes" which was released in May, 2011. Together the three "oversize" (12" x 10") volumes in the series contain a total of 832 all color pages, several thousand illustrations, and weigh in at over 13 pounds.
In addition to my four (of seven) books on North American railroad history, I have also written, created, and/or contributed many hundreds of articles, images, maps, exhibits, graphics, document transcriptions (with my annotations), and other materials to our family operated 10,000+ page railroad history website, the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum.
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This user is a member of the Trains WikiProject |
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[edit] Miscellany
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This editor is not an administrator and does not wish to be one. |
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| POST NO AWARDS | I do NOT accept "Barnstars" or other forms of WP "merit badges" as these are not why I contribute to Wikipedia. |
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This user lives in or hails from Philadelphia. |
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This user is interested in philately. |
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This user runs Mac OS X. |
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| incl | This user is an inclusionist. |
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This user is a Wikigraphist at the Photography workshop. |
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| This user is a member of the Association of Inclusionist Wikipedians
The motto of the AIW is Conservata veritate, which translates to, "With the preserved truth". |
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[edit] Links to Some of My Related Websites
- The Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum (My family's 10,000+ page website on CPRR and US railroad history which has been on line and growing since February, 1999.)
- TranscontinentalRails.com (Re my book: "Riding the Transcontinental Rails: Overland Travel on the Pacific Railroad 1865-1881")
- BMLRR.com (My illustrated history of the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad in Waldo County, ME)
- ThePalaceHotel.org (My illustrated history of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA)
- HockeyScoop.net (My historical essays and images on Philadelphia and Hershey hockey history)
- DigitalImageServices.com (My professional digital image restoration services site)
- Some of my railroad photography
