James D. Dilts

James D. Dilts, a former Baltimore Sun reporter who has written books on architecture and railroads, combined these interests iin his latest work, "The World the Trains Made; A Century of Great Railroad Architecture in the United States and Canada." His award-winning "the Great Road" told the story of the building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the nation's (and the world's) first long distance, general purpose railroad. The author's "A Guide to Baltimore Architecture" (with John Dorsey) and "Baltimore's Cast-Iron Buildings" (with Catharine F. Black) presented the full range of Baltimore's built environment. His lifelong interest in jazz led to the formation, with friends, of "Jazz in Cool Places," a concert series that showcased name jazz artists in some of the city's renowned interior spaces. Construction has begun on his other major project: to restore and reopen Baltimore's dormant Peale Museum, the oldest museum building in America, as the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture, a hub for cultural innovation and storytelling about the city's diverse people and places.