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Over the weekend I was surfing the internet, and
decided to check up on the McCloud River
Railway. I was rewarded with the venue of your
photos and history of the MRR.
I thought it might be of interest to you to that
I had the pleasure of designing the logo that
flanks your title page. My father, Lester C.
Krames was the Assistant General Freight Agent
for the Santa Fe Railway, San Francisco in
charge of solicitation for the Pacific Coast and
Western Canada.
He was a friend of Flake Willis, President and
General Manager of the McCloud River Railway
back in the early 1950s. At the time Mr. Willis
was looking for an artist to design a logo for
the railroad. Naturally, my dad put in a plug
for me, and I submitted my designs. I had just
graduated from the Academy of Advertising Art in
San Francisco, after returning from service
(1946), and taking advantage of the G.I.Bill. I
started a career in a new sort of communication,
Television in January 1951, but also keeping a
hand in 'free lance art.'
Mr. Willis liked my design, and it was adopted.
Just another little footnote to the historic
annals of the McCloud River Railway.
I did stick with television serving KRON-TV,
Channel 4, SF (the NBC Affiliate) for 37 years
retiring at the end of 1987.
Lester A. Krames
I asked a
follow up question on the logo design,
specifically about the bear and was told:
To answer your question: I really don't remember
being given any restrictions or specific
directions. I pretty much had a wide open field
as to illustrate what the
McCloud River Railway was all about. Mt.
Shasta had to be a prominent part of the design
for it portrayed
Northern California obviously, and a
river seemed necessary. Timber had to be a part
of it, and the California Bear was appropriate
so that was my background thinking. I just had
to execute it, and that's what I came up with.
Thank you
Les, many of us have a soft place in our heart
for that fish munching bear!
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