Former Baltimore Sun reporter and author had a passion for railroads, historic preservation and jazz
By Frederick N. Rasmussen, The Baltimore Sun, 13 May 2018
James D. Dilts, a former Baltimore Sun reporter and author who wrote widely on railroads, architecture, historic preservation and jazz and led the effort for the restoration of the historic Peale Museum in Baltimore, died at Union Memorial Hospital on Tuesday from heart failure and multiple myeloma.
The Evergreen resident was 81.
“Jim was an iconic figure to anyone even remotely interested in the B&O and its embryonic fits and starts. His masterwork,‘The Great Road,’ is a must read. His early history of the railroad is unparalleled,” said Courtney B. Wilson, executive director of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum and a longtime friend.
“His written works, love for Baltimore and its buildings, his kind words and contagious laugh will keep him alive and in the hearts of many,” Mr. Wilson said.
Herbert H. Harwood Jr., a noted railroad author and historian and a retired CSX executive, called Mr. Dilts a “first-class historian.”
“Jim’s book on the B&O is a virtuoso job,” said Mr. Harwood, a Cross Keys resident. “You can’t pick at it one way or the other.”