Trains that Passed
in the Night
The Railroad Photographs of O. Winston Link
From 2005 through 2017, the CRP&A circulated an exhibition of O. Winston Link’s remarkable views of steam railroading on the Norfolk & Western in Appalachia, many made at night with synchronized flash bulbs. Eleven venues in ten states hosted the show.
Lead image: Hawksbill Creek Swimming Home, Luray, Virginia, 1956. Photograph by O. Winston Link and copyright W. Conway Link
For O. Winston Link, the steam railroad was a vital ingredient to “the good life” in America, an essential part of the fabric of our lives. It is this quality—of life, not machinery—which he captures so artfully in his photographs. Link, a Brooklyn, New York, native and commercial photographer specialized in complex images of factory and industrial plant interiors. Beginning in 1955, he undertook a remarkable personal project to apply his photographic expertise to the last great steam railroad in the United States, the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) in the heart of Appalachia.
Link’s photographs showcase the final years of steam on the N&W. They are regarded as one of the best records of this long-vanished type of locomotion, yet the broad appeal of Link’s photographs is derived not so much from the images of the steam locomotives themselves, but from the way in which their inclusion expresses the photographer’s deeply felt respect for the quality of life that the steam railroad reflected and supported for so many years in the United States.
In fact, the emphasis in Link’s photographs is often placed more directly on life along the railroad line than on the locomotives and trains themselves. In many of these images a locomotive or train is found in the background only, often subtly. Given the time frame the images were recorded (1955–1960), Link’s railroad images also offer a unique look back at the automobiles, small towns, and yes—even the hairstyles and fashions in vogue a half-century ago.
The last Norfolk & Western steam locomotive was taken out of service in May 1960. Link returned to New York following the last of his many trips to Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina (the states in which his 2,400 Norfolk & Western Railway images were recorded) and continued his career as a commercial photographer. His subsequent portfolio of work included documenting construction of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York Harbor, and doing photography for Volkswagen of America as well as a number of advertising agencies. Link died of a heart attack on January 30, 2001, near his home in South Salem, New York.
View the presentations
The CRP&A has hosted two online presentations about Link’s work:
- On July 18, 2022, Tom Garver gave his presentation Trains that Passed in the Night: The Railroad Photographs of O. Winston Link, which he first delivered at the CRP&A’s Conversation 2005 conference and then at several gallery talks in conjunction with this exhibition. Garver passed away less than a year later, on June 9, 2023.
- On July 9, 2024, Ashley Runyon, curator of the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, Virginia, presented Technical Genius: Behind the scenes with O. Winston Link
About the exhibition
Installation of Trains that Passed in the Night during its opening reception at Purdue Universities Gallery in West Lafayette, Indiana, on January 7, 2013. Photographs by Scott Lothes
Hosting information
Trains that Passed in the Night went out of circulation in late 2016 following its exhibition at the Cokato Museum in Minnesota, its tenth venue. All of us at the CRP&A extend our great thanks to the venues who hosted it, the people who made it possible, and everyone who came to see it.
Specifications
- 36 black-and-white prints in the normal version, 50 in the extended version
- 21×25 inches, matted and framed original prints, signed by photographer
- One introductory panel and exhibition labels for each print
- 180 or 250 linear feet
Past venues
- Oliver Jensen Gallery at The Valley Railroad Company, Essex, Connecticut, May 26, 2017, to October 29, 2017
- Cokato Museum, Cokato, Minnesota, May 30 through September 5, 2016
- Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum, Temple, Texas, June 5 through August 26, 2015
- Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 26, 2014, through February 8, 2015
- Grohmann Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 17 through April 27, 2014
- Purdue Universities Gallery, West Lafayette, Indiana, January 7 through February 17, 2013
- Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, February 19 through June 19, 2011
- Midland Center for the Arts, Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art, Midland, Michigan, October 2 through December 23, 2010
- Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, August 7 through September 27, 2009
- California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, California, 2007
- Southeast Missouri Regional Museum of Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, 2005
In memory
Thomas H. Garver, 1934–2023, organized Trains that Passed in the Night and produced it in collaboration with the CRP&A. Garver served as Link’s photography assistant for a year in the late 1950s and later worked as Link’s business agent. He authored the text for the second book of Link’s N&W work and was the organizing curator of the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, Virginia. Prior to his passing, he donated more than 20 original Link prints from his personal collection to the Center’s permanent collection.
