Month: March 2022

  • Fall 2026: Painting Cass Shays, Water, Route 66, Seattle’s Monorail Murals, and more

    $9.75 The Fall 2026 issue is a rollicking road trip with the railroads of Route 66, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in November! U.S. 66 largely followed the GM&O, Frisco, and Rock Island west until reaching central New Mexico, where it began a historic journey beside the Santa Fe / BNSF Railway to California. Author…

  • Zoom program: Crossing the Mojave Desert with Steinheimer

    The Center’s September 15th Zoom presentation is a long-awaited look at the California desert photography of the great Richard Steinheimer! We’re diving into “Stein’s” collection to show you his photographs of the Santa Fe Railway during the 1970s and ’80s across the AT&SF Needles District, with an additional look at nearby Cajon Pass … all…

  • Collection Tracking: California’s Mojave Desert with Richard Steinheimer

    “For the Santa Fe there is always the desert,” wrote Richard Steinheimer in the August 1977 issue of Trains. That line opened his landmark photo essay, “Mojave Crossing,” which explored the wild and remote land of the Mojave Desert, and Santa Fe’s busy Needles District between Barstow and Needles, California.

  • Collection Tracking: Chicago’s 21st Street with Wally Abbey

    Chicago is the railroad hub of North America and the most-represented city in the archives of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. We’ll likely return to the Windy City several times over the course of this blog; for this initial look, the focus is 21st Street Crossing and the photography of Wallace W. Abbey.

  • Zoom program: The Lost Railroad Art of Elizabeth Tone Summers

    The Center’s August 11 Zoom presentation was a fascinating story about long-lost railroad artwork uncovered after forty years. Emily Mizokami, assistant archivist at the California State Railroad Museum (CSRM) Library and Archives, shares her recent discovery of original rail art by Elizabeth “Betty” Tone Summers. Mizokami found the artist’s pieces scattered amongst other records while…

  • Summer 2026 Railroad Heritage: The Poetry of Railway Bridges, Out of the Archives, Conversations 2026

    $9.75 Lovers of bridges and railroad photography will be overjoyed with the Summer 2026 issue of Railroad Heritage, our quarterly journal. In this unique issue, we devote most of it to the single topic of railroad bridges. Author Todd Halamka approaches the subject with an architect’s eye through his stunning photography, spanning the U.S. and…

  • Zoom program: Traqueros in Chicago and the Midwest on July 14

    Over a century has passed since the first wave of Mexican immigrants arrived in Chicago, many directly recruited by railroad companies. However, the history of Mexican and Mexican-American traqueros (railroad workers) in the Midwest remains overlooked. Through a community collection process and archival research, Ismael Cuevas will discuss the curatorial process of his inaugural exhibition,…

  • Collection Tracking: Switzerland’s Lötschberg Pass with Karl Zimmermann

    On July 13, 1977, Karl Zimmermann disembarked from a Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon (BLS) train at Hohtenn, a lonely station on the southern flank of Switzerland’s Bernese Alps. The station sits 800 feet higher than the village it serves, a necessity dictated by the railway’s 2.3% climb out of the Rhône Valley toward the southern portal of the…

  • Zoom program: The Poetry of Railway Bridges

    This program was recorded and is available at the link below. Lovers of bridges and great railroad photography will be thrilled with our June 30th Zoom program, featuring Todd Halamka, author and photographer of the Summer Railroad Heritage cover story, “The Poetry of Railway Bridges.” Join Todd as he expands upon his epic feature article…