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Founder of Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties dies at 82
Jackson, thanks so much for relaying this story. I don’t know how many of Mary Jane’s postcards I purchased on Southern steam trips as a teenager in the 1970’s; cards which I still have today. The cards depicted local equipment (including steam), as well as equipment from far away places like New York and California (at least far away to me in the 1970’s). I always thought it was interesting that a lady’s name was on the postcard, as the percentage of women interested in railroading in the '70s wasn’t as high as it is today (from what I could tell). Also, I never realized that she produced aviation cards. I’m sorry to hear that she’s gone, but I will never forget this name and the neat postcards produced by her.
Dav
David, Mary Jayne Rowe is one of the unsung heroes of railway preservation, as is her husband John. All of us who like trains–or airplanes–are in their debt. The first thing I ever had published was a caption on a Mary Jayne’s postcard for a locomotive we had preserved at the Florida Railroad Museum, south of Tampa. I was 14 at the time. Mary Jayne learned my age and went out of her way to compliment me on the quality of the caption. I’ll never forget that. --Jackson McQuigg
Unlike David, I had never heard of Mary Jayne, probably because I was raised in CA, and we thought Mary Jane was another name for the crop grown in the emerald triangle.
Obviously her passing is a loss to civilization even though she had stopped publishing.
Who doesn’t have postcards from Mary Jane? Me too! Bought some of mine at Jack Showalter’s first operation.