About the Editors

SEASONED JOURNALISTS

RT&S is edited by full-time, professional journalists who understand engineering and maintenance-of-way. Their coverage of the market is so timely and so valuable that our readers report they read RT&S not just because it is good reading, but because it is must reading.


David Lester

David Lester, Editor-In-Chief
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David C. Lester has been writing about the railroad industry for more than 25 years. He studied transportation and logistics at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgia State University in Atlanta. David completed a career in health care information technology and consulting in 2012 and has focused on railroading full-time since then. He has written for Trains, Railfan & Railroad and other rail publications, and has contributed to two books. He served as Managing Editor of Railway Track & Structures from 2019-2022. He is a member of the Transportation Research Board and the Lexington Group in Transportation History. He specializes in technology and economic issues.


Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
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Jennifer McLawhorn is an East Coast native and recent graduate from Old Dominion University with a master’s degree in Humanities and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. Her earlier work dealt with interdisciplinary research across the fields of film studies and feminist theory. Having spent time in academia, she has developed her writing and editorial skills to bring with her to the publishing industry.