Obituaries 151

Irish Railway Record Society

Obituary

RICHARD D KEHM

Shortly after we, (Midland Publishing Company), had published our first colour book on the railways of Ireland, I had a very kind letter from an American, one Richard D Kehm, who resided in Maryland, near Washington DC Shortly after an exchange of letters with him, an air mail envelope turned up one day and inside was a catalogue of the films he had made during his time in Ireland during the early 1950s when his father was appointed as a military attaché to the US Embassy in Dublin at that time. He had recorded lines and loco-motives at a time when very few on this side of the Atlantic had cine cameras. Richard and I met and became great friends. He would often stay with us on his visits to the UK, which usually incl- uded a trip to some of his old haunts in Ireland. He allowed Midland to publish two volumes of his films on Irish Railways, to critical acclaim.

The teenage Richard joined the IRRS and travelled the country with the Society, and independently, recording much of what he saw on 8mm cine film. Where many amateur railway film makers shot a few moments at each location, Richard often stayed at an interesting location for an afternoon recording all the comings and goings. For example, one can look at his films made at Amiens Street in 1952 and relate the train movements to the public time-table, and the same goes for a sequence he recorded at Kildare, one of his favourite spots.

Richard Kehm died at his home in Maryland on 18 June 2002 and was buried at the war veterans cemetery in Saratoga Springs,NY. His contribution to the recording of the actuality of the Irish railway scene in the 1950’s is a very great one and for those of us who knew and admired him, he will be sorely missed.