Fred Frailey has led a dual life as both a financial journalist and perhaps the nation’s best-known writer about railroads. He has written dozens of cover stories for Trains magazine (most recently its current issue), and authored five railroad-related books, including “Twilight of the Great Trains,” about the collapse of passenger-train service before the advent of Amtrak.
Fred worked for the Chicago Sun-Times, the Kansas City Star and the Sulphur Springs Daily News Telegram in Texas before spending 16 years at U.S. News and World Report. He started at U.S. News as Chicago bureau chief at age 26, then was a labor writer and transportation writer before becoming an assistant managing editor, ultimately directing its business coverage. In 1987, Fred joined the staff of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine as deputy editor, the number-two position, where he oversaw investment coverage. In 1994, he created an annual newsstand publication, Kiplinger’s Mutual Funds, published each January. Frailey was the editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance from 2000 – 2009.
This program is generously underwritten by Martha Head.