Krambles also designed the power distribution and dispatching for the State Street Subway and pioneered the construction and operation of rapid transit trains down the median strip of newly constructed urban expressways.

“All through his career, he realized that the transit and rail industry needed to encourage people to enter the profession,” says Art Peterson, Krambles’ nephew and a member of the fund’s board of directors.

Krambles had a lifelong love of electric railroading. He was a founding member of the Central Electric Railfans’ Association (CERA) in 1938 and is credited with coining the term “railfan” to refer to fans of the railroad. CERA sponsored chartered train trips and other programs devoted to the enjoyment of railroading and is still in existence today. The organization’s major activity is publishing books. More than 130 have been published since 1938, many of which were produced by Krambles himself. Krambles amassed what is believed to be the largest private collection of transportation photographs, and these, along with other documents from his archives, have been widely reprinted in a variety of historical and engineering publications. He lectured around the world and applied his considerable artistic talents to the illustration of technical papers, books and articles on rail transport.

When Krambles passed away in 1999 at age 84, his estate bequeathed a substantial sum to the scholarship fund. Members of its board of directors, all of whom had strong personal and professional associations with Krambles during his lifetime, established the George Krambles Endowed Professorship in Rail and Public Transit as a testament to his energy, dedication and commitment to the future of the industry.

University of Illinois was a natural choice for this professorship because of its long legacy as a railroad engineering school, says Mike Franke, Senior Director of Amtrak’s Midwest High-Speed Rail Initiative and a member of the scholarship fund’s board of directors.

“Historically the University has had a very strong railway engineering department,” Franke says. “Really, from its beginning it was a stronghold in that arena—education as well as research. The University amassed a huge number of not only publications but research materials and has an established network with the railroad and related supply industries. It has a library that’s second to none in North America in terms of railway resources. Those resources haven’t gone away, so all the ingredients are there.”

This investment in rail education at Illinois comes at a crucial time for the industry, which is facing a serious personnel shortage, says Norm Carlson, president of the scholarship fund and a close friend of Krambles’. Currently a transportation consultant, Carlson retired as worldwide managing partner of the transportation practice of an international professional services firm.

“The biggest strategic issue we’ve seen is the lack of qualified people across the board,” Carlson says. “Our goal is to set up a succession pattern. The professorship is to invest in a person who is a teacher, scholar and mentor; the annual scholarship is help to finance and develop a student who can become a protégé. We hope some of the students ultimately will become leaders in industry or leaders in academe. The endowment fund is to build on this and to attract more resources so that we can do more things going forward.”

The gift stands as a fitting tribute to a man whose ashes were spread from the back of a CTA train. Carlson tells this story of the day: “After most of the people left the train that day it headed for the storage yard. Those remaining recalled that whenever George operated a train it was either at stop or full speed; there was no in-between. As one last tribute, the operator put the power on full while coming down a hill with the whistle blowing its clarion call. Very quietly he said, ‘George, thank you for all you have done for so many. This one is for you!’”