PASSINGS: George W. Hilton

George W. Hilton

UCLA professor chronicled railroad and shipping history

George W. Hilton, 89, a retired UCLA professor, author and transportation economist known for his study of railroads and shipping, died Aug. 4 of heart failure in Columbia, Md.

In 1962 Hilton joined the faculty of UCLA, where he taught economics and transportation regulation until retiring in 1992. He was the author of 15 books.

“George was a great historian for lost causes and great failures,” said Herbert H. Harwood Jr., a retired CSX Corp. executive, and a nationally known railroad historian and author. “That resulted in the definitive histories of the American narrow-gauge railroads, the electric interurban railway industry, cable-powered street railways, overnight steamships along the coasts and in the Great Lakes.

George Woodman Hilton was born Jan. 18, 1925, in Chicago and raised on the city’s South Side. His father was a hospital administrator and his mother was a homemaker. During his childhood he became transfixed by trains and ships.

A summa cum laude Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1946 and a master’s degree in 1950, Hilton attended the London School of Economics from 1953 to 1955 and earned his doctorate in 1956 from the University of Chicago. He taught at the University of Maryland and Stanford University before arriving at UCLA.

Among his books were “The Ma & Pa: A History of the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad” (1963), “Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic” (1995) and a book on baseball, “The Annotated Baseball Stories of Ring Lardner” (1995).

“American Narrow Gauge Railroads” (1991) cataloged the estimated 350 narrow-gauge railroads that traversed the country, including the North Pacific Coast, which ran from Sausalito up through West Marin County; the South Pacific Coast, from Alameda to Santa Cruz; and two lines that still operate as tourist attractions, the White Pass & Yukon in Alaska and British Columbia and a Colorado railroad that is now called the Durango & Silverton.

Times staff and wire reports

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