Month: March 2022

  • Fall 2014: Young Photographers, St. Louis

    $7.95 Examining the future of railroad photography, writer David Lester answers the question of whether the younger generation is losing interest in railroad photography with, “Not a chance.” Lester interviews six photographers ranging in age from 18 to 30 in his cover feature, which assesses their interests and priorities, and displays the great passion they…

  • Railroaders visited by famed actor Gary Sinise

    Academy Award nominee Gary Sinise, former star of television’s CSI, visited Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography, the Center’s collaborative exhibition with the Chicago History Museum, earlier this spring. Sinise is standing next to an image of his grandfather, Indiana Harbor Belt (IHB) conductor Daniel Sinise. As part of photographer Jack Delano’s 1942–1943 assignment to document…

  • Summer 2014: Feininger in Utah, Grohmann’s railroad art, Chicago exhibition

    $7.95 The Summer 2014 issue’s cover feature by BYU professor James Swensen profiles photographer Andreas Feininger’s work at the Utah Copper Company’s railroads in November 1942 for the Office of War Information. It also includes an in-depth look at the railroad art in the permanent collection of the Grohmann Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, written by…

  • Like a Mushroom, Conversations Can’t Stop Growing

    In the twelve years the Center has offered Conversations about Photography, it has grown from one day to three. And now, in 2014, it has posted attendance records for the third year in a row. The event has become the one of most important in the world for railroad photographers, and advance registration has become…

  • Railroaders: a Hit

    Smashing. That one word sums up the Chicago opening of the Center’s and the Chicago History Museum’s Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography exhibition on April 3, 4 and 5. Well over 1,200 visitors viewed it on those three days—200 on Thursday for the museum’s opening reception for members, 350 on Friday for the Center’s own…

  • Railroaders Exhibition Opens

    On April 5, the Center’s largest project to date, Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography, opens at the Chicago History Museum, the Center’s partner on the exhibition. The project reveals the humanity, heroism, and diversity of the Chicago railroad community whose work was instrumental to the war effort during World War II. In 1942, photographer Jack…

  • Spring 2014: Kooistra’s photography, Gloff’s art, railroads in musical theater

    The Spring 2014 issue begins with a cover feature on Blair Kooistra, a railroad photographer who is currently a BNSF Railway dispatcher and previously worked for twenty years in newspaper photojournalism. His work focuses on the American West from the 1970s to the present. Kevin P. Keefe, Center board member and vice president of publishing…

  • Issue 35, Victor Hand’s photography, Awards, Chicago train crews

    Profile of world-traveling steam photographer Victor Hand, a presenter at the 2014 Conversations about Photography conference. Hand pioneered international travel and steam photography among American rail enthusiasts. Stunning imagery from the winners of the 2013 John E. Gruber Photography Awards Program, including a two-page spread of Ronald Olsen’s jaw-dropping view from a Chinese steel mill.…

  • Railroad Art Today

    Photography is not the only form of contemporary art depicting rail transportation. In spring 2013, the Center embarked on a survey of non-photographic art. Our survey resulted in responses from nearly 200 artists, primarily people working in paint, ink, or graphite, and an expanded issue of Railroad Heritage. See our Flickr gallery of sample work…