Stories Alive

The Times has changed how it does obits and created a new position for an obit writer. The stories started this week. Two fine offerings so far.



Check out Andy Meacham on a guy who loved trains: By all accounts, Bob Frohne was obsessed with trains. At his behest, his wife, Minnie, would hang out the passenger window of their station wagon, a microphone in hand. As trains ambled down tracks that ran parallel to the road, Minnie would record every chug, thump and whistle.



It was a scene Minnie's nieces and nephews knew well. Their uncle Bob would often show them his collection of movies featuring trains - North by Northwest, Doctor Zhivago or Strangers on a Train - and force them to…