William D. Middleton, 1928-2011

Noted railroad author, photographer, and historian William D. Middleton, a contributing editor to the Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp. Rail Group publications Railway Age, Railway Track & Structures, and International Railway Journal for many years, died June 11 in Livonia, N.Y. He was 83.

A prolific journalist, Middleton wrote or co-wrote Railway Age’s Urban Rail, Light Rail, and Regional/Commuter Rail Planner’s Guides, which were later consolidated into the magazine’s Passenger Rail Planner’s Guide. He also contributed numerous feature articles covering all aspects of passenger and freight railroading. He was co-editor, along with George M. Smerck, of Transit Connections, which Simmons-Boardman published in the mid-1990s. Middleton also organized a series of rail transit engineering conferences for RT&S.

During his lifetime, Middleton wrote or co-wrote 23 books. Among his best-known works are “The Interurban Era” (1961), “The Time of the Trolley” (1967), “When the Steam Railroads Electrified” (1974), “South Shore: America’s Last Interurban” (1970), and “North Shore: America’s Fastest Interurban” (1968). More recently, Middleton published his personal memoir, “Yet There Isn’t a Train I Wouldn’t Take” (2000), and, with his son William D. Middleton III, a biography, “Frank Julian Sprague: Electrical Inventor and Engineer” (2009). Along with co-editors Smerck and Roberta L. Diehl and guiding an 18-person editorial board, Middleton produced the “Encyclopedia of North American Railroads” (2004, Indiana University Press).

Middleton also was a frequent contributor to Trains magazine, producing more than 80 articles beginning in 1957. His photography appeared numerous times in Trains, Railway Age, and other publications.

Middleton was born in Davenport, Iowa, on March 25, 1928. His father, William, was a National Indian Service physician. His Scottish grandfather, also named William, was the first chief physician for the Rock Island Railroad.

Middleton graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1950 with a degree in civil engineering. He earned a graduate degree at the University of Wisconsin, then spent 30 years in the U.S. Navy in a career that included service in Korea, Japan, Turkey, and Morocco. After the Navy, he became chief facilities officer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He retired in 1993.

Middleton’s wife of 53 years, Dorothy, died in 2009. He is survived by two sons, Nicholas, in Seattle, and William, in Livonia.