Giant rusting hulks and empty docks appear in many an American film as cheap
backdrops for chases and shootouts. In End of An Era (W. W. Norton, pp 155,
拢35), the living ships, docks and people appear in David
Plowden鈥檚 powerful black-and-white photographs.
For the past few years, Plowden has been recording the decline of the
steamboats of the Great Lakes. But the change to diesel locomotive engines,
followed by the flight of freight to the roads, defeated the steam
tradition.
Plowden鈥檚 pictures of the last days of steam are beautiful and touching.
They should delight engineers and artists.
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