Ossie Train

(June 8, 1915 – January 22, 1988)

John V. Baltadonis, left, and Ossie Train at Philcon 1983. Photo by and © Andrew I. Porter.

Oswald Train, a fan born in the UK, immigrated to the United States and became involved in fandom in Philadelphia starting around 1935, when he helped found the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. He was one of the fans who attended the First Science Fiction Convention on October 22, 1936.

During World War II, he was the sole member of PSFS left in town and tried to maintain some club activity. He was a member of FAPA.

Train was the main figure behind Prime Press. In 1968, he founded Oswald Train, Publisher, which mostly published detective fiction, though it did publish some SF.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Fantasy Fiction Telegram [1936–38] (with others)
• The Fantasy Collector [late ’40s–early ’50s] (for FAPA)
• Fantasy Herald [late 30s] (with John V. Baltadonis)
• Imaginative Fiction [late ’30s]
• Third Science Fiction Convention Booklet [1941] (with John Baltadonis and Milton Rothman)

The majority of the attendees of the world's first science fiction convention in 1936, from left: Oswald Train, Donald A. Wollheim, Milton A. Rothman, Frederik Pohl, John B. Michel, William S. Sykora (holding the NYB-ISA flag), David A. Kyle, and Robert Madle. They're standing in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Photo by Herbert E. Goudket.

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Person

1915—1988

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