The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society was founded in 1921 and is the oldest organization in North America which promotes research and encourages preservation of documentation and photographs of business history, finance, labor history, and biography as well as the technology of railroading.  An awards program recognizes those who make outstanding contributions in such pursuits.  Most significant among those awards is the Gerald M. Best Senior Achievement Award, named in honor of Jerry Best, and generally given annually for significant and long-standing contributions to the writing, preservation and interpretations of railroad history.  James L. Ehernberger received this award on April 20, 2024 at the Cheyenne steam shop.

  As a teenager, Jim's involvement with railroad history began over 70 years ago by photographing and documenting the last days of steam on the Union Pacific, Colorado & Southern, Rio Grande, and Burlington lines in Wyoming and Colorado.  That expanded with him collecting his own and other photographer's historic views of railroad operations primarily in the west, but all over the country.

  Over the past 25 years, in an effort to insure that these views are accessible to future researchers, Jim's photo collection of more than 100,000 negatives, over 50,000 photos and several thousand color transparencies has been gifted to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming.  Also included are thousands of railroad-produced publications, manuals, rule books, timetables, maps, plans and myriad other research files and documents.  This work is still going on.

  Jim's career with Union Pacific from 1953-1988 consisted of over 40 different positions including call boy, crew dispatcher, secretary to the superintendent of the Wyoming Division, train dispatcher and manager of rules and safety!  This and his own extensive research provided information to author, co-author, compile and produce almost 70 books and dozens of articles, often illustrated with his own photographs.  He is regularly cited and credited for information and images by other authors and editors, from his first photos in Trains Magazine in 1955 to several books by Lucius Beebe to photos still appearing today in all types of publications.

  On May 17,1953, on the very first Rocky Mountain RR Club steam excursion with the Union Pacific, Jim met members Richard Kindig, Otto Perry, and several other well-known photographers.  This led to his immediate joining of the Club, and later serving multiple stints as president, director, and other offices over many decades.  He is again a Board member this year.  He has also served as president, director and business manager of the U.P. Historical Society, is a life member of the Colorado RR Museum, and maintains membership in a dozen other RR historical organizations.