Zoom program: Catching up with emerging rail photographers

Join us Tuesday evening, November 12 for “Rails of Inspiration: Past Scholarship Winners and their Railroad Photographer Heroes.” In this Zoom program, you’ll meet three talented young photographers – Eric Hudson, Samuel Phillips, and John Riley – who offer fresh perspectives on railroad photography. All received scholarships several years ago to attend the Center’s annual “Conversations” conference and showcase their work.

This program was recorded and will be posted soon to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@railphotoart

We’re excited to catch up with them on Tuesday, November 12, at 7:00 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific). Eric, Sam, and John will present their railroad photography from recent years, talk about their heroes, share how the conference inspired them and their hopes for the future. Join our free program at the link below and expect a night of exciting contemporary photography!

Tuesday, November 12, at 7:00 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific)

Photos (top to bottom): Norfolk Southern’s Virginian heritage unit at Fostoria, OH, by Eric Hudson; CSX in Clinchco, Virginia, by Samuel Phillips; Reading & Northern 2102 at Peacock’s Lock Viaduct outside Reading, PA, by John Riley.

Zoom event: Burlington’s Spectacular Steam Program

Join Norman Carlson and Scott Lothes for a look at the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s mid-century steam excursions and a preview of the Center’s upcoming book, Burlington’s Spectacular Steam Program, featuring the photography of John Gruber.

Carlson, railroad historian and CRP&A board member, and Lothes, CRP&A executive director, will host the public Zoom program on Monday, October 7, at 7:00 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific). The softcover book, scheduled for a November 1 release, is authored by Carlson and Justin Franz, rail journalist and CRP&A board member, with design and editing by Lothes.

View the program now on YouTube.

For steam programs in the 1950s and 1960s, no railroad could compare to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Lovingly known as the “Q,” the road operated an incredible number of steam-powered fan trips after the rise of diesel locomotives. From July 3, 1955, to July 17, 1966, the Q ran more than 260 steam-powered excursion trains! Heavyweight coaches, stainless steel Vista Dome cars from the California Zephyr pool, suburban bi-level cars, open gondolas, and more could be found on the wildly popular trains.

Among the numerous steam locomotives called upon to power the excursions, CB&Q’s Northern 4-8-4 5632 and Mikado 2-8-2 4960 became beloved celebrities. For many young people, a Q fan trip was their first experience of seeing a steam locomotive in action or riding behind one of them, and it was an eye-opening experience … and also for everyday Americans, who gazed in wonder.

John Gruber, the Center’s principal founder and one of railroading’s great journalists, was there to capture the story on film. Where most fans focused on images that recreated classic steam scenes, Gruber photographed the steam runs as modern cultural events, making the people as much the story as the trains. Join us for a night of spectacular railroad photography and a trip back in time!

Hudson locomotive 3003 performs a photo runby at Barstow, Illinois, during an Illini Railroad Club trip on September 1, 1957. Photo by John Gruber, Gruber-01-71-010.

A boxcar sitting on a siding in Rochelle, Illinois, offered a prime vantage point for photographers of 4960’s trip from Chicago to Rockford, Illinois, for the Illini Railroad Club on August 20, 1961. Photograph by John Gruber, Gruber-03-034-032.

Fall 2024: Railroads & Public Art, Portland’s Switchers, Big Boy, and more

The Fall 2024 issue of Railroad Heritage, our quarterly journal, focuses on the “Art” in the Center’s name. But that’s not all … highlights of this beautiful magazine include:

Railroads and Public Art: From Montana to Texas to New York, Justin Franz looks at creative public art installations that pay tribute to railroads, their people, and their history;
Portland’s Switchers – Railroads and the Art of Place: Kyle Weismann-Yee explores BNSF and Union Pacific urban switch jobs with fifteen years of photographing the back streets and forgotten sidings of Portland, Oregon;
Painting for a Cause: Elrond Lawrence interviews artist Jim Potterton of Santa Cruz, California, whose dynamic artwork celebrates railroads while helping efforts to save a former Southern Pacific line;
A special edition of “Out of the Archives” goes underground with Adrienne Evans and Inga Velten, who show us many of the MTA Arts & Design program installations across New York’s subway system and commuter lines;
Steaming West with the Big Boy: The Center followed UP 4014 across Nevada to California, hosting a special member event in Roseville; Elrond Lawrence takes you along for the fun.

Also: The Art of Trains exhibition in New York City, our fantastic “Conversations” conference in June, the arrival of the Kalmbach Art Collection, Center news, and more!

CRP&A member exclusive program: Steinheimer’s Sierra Crossing

Join us for an inside look at the Richard Steinheimer & Shirley Burman Steinheimer Collection!

Tuesday, September 17, 2024
7:00 pm Central Time on Zoom
5 pm Pacific, 6 pm Mountain, and 8 pm Eastern

In a rush of locomotives climbing through smoky snow sheds, plowing “Sierra cement,” and carrying passengers over “the Hill,” Associate Archivist Heather Sonntag has viewed volumes of Richard Steinheimer’s visual storytelling across Donner Pass. She’s digitized frame after frame of his adventures on Southern Pacific’s legendary mountain crossing between Roseville and Truckee, California. In this exclusive Zoom program for Center members, see how Heather experienced this historic line through Stein’s slide photography of Donner that spans nearly fifty years, from 1951 to 1998.

She’ll provide an overview of Stein’s color work as it appears in the Richard Steinheimer and Shirley Burman Steinheimer Collection and notable publications. Focusing on the color slides in this extensive Donner series, Heather highlights a mix of iconic and previously unseen images that reflect Stein’s fearlessness, friendliness, and good fortune to document this favorite passage of railroad history, power, and people.

Register Here

Sign-ups will end on Monday, September 16 at 4:00 pm Central Time (2:00 pm PT). A Zoom link and log-in information will be sent Monday evening before the event.

Not a Center member? Visit our support page and join today! New memberships will continue through 2025.

Following Heather’s presentation, she’ll be joined by writer-photographer Elrond Lawrence, the Center’s Acquisitions & Marketing Coordinator and a lifelong Stein devotee, for final thoughts and an audience Q&A.

Please note: We expect the program to run past an hour’s time; it will be recorded and made available later to members with a private link. Thank you for your support!

Heather Sonntag joined the Center in 2020 as an associate archivist. She holds a doctorate in cultural history with a focus on 19th-century photography albums and a master’s of library and information studies from UW-Madison. She has interned with the Library of Congress and worked as an assistant archivist of visual materials at the Wisconsin Historical Society. The Richard Steinheimer and Shirley Burman Steinheimer Collection is Heather’s second to process for the Center, following the Ronald C. Hill Collection was her first.

Steinheimer’s snowy pre-dawn image of a westbound SP freight passing a spreader at Truckee, Calif., in March 1985. Steinheimer-Burman-AM-065.

SP trains at the Norden, Calif., snow sheds in March 1983. Photo by Richard Steinheimer, Steinheimer-Burman-D-132.

A sample slide from Heather’s upcoming presentation, featuring Stein’s Kodachromes with notes by him and wife Shirley.

Kalmbach Media donates historic art collection to Center

Introduction

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art has been named the recipient of Kalmbach Media’s historic art collection, totaling fifty-eight original paintings spanning the hallowed rail publishing company’s history since its founding by A.C. Kalmbach in 1934.

The announcement was made in August 2024 by Scott Lothes, executive director of CRP&A, who worked closely with Kalmbach executives in their search to locate the right permanent home and keep the collection together.

“Kalmbach is a name that has thrilled, educated, and inspired generations of railfans, photographers, and artists, and this collection couldn’t be a better expression of the Center’s mission to preserve and celebrate significant railroad art,” said Lothes. “It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility to care for the Kalmbach Art Collection, and to honor the work of so many artists and designers who poured their talents into illustrating the railroads that they loved.”

The Kalmbach Art Collection is filled with landmark work from renowned artists such as Howard Fogg, George Gloff, Gil Reid, Ted Rose, John Swatsley, and many others. The works were commissioned for use in Trains magazine and in Kalmbach Books—in many cases created by the company’s own designers and artists. Some works were viewed by tens of thousands of railroad fans, appearing inside the magazine, on its covers, or in best-selling books such as The Hiawatha Story and The Nickel Plate Story.

The collection was recently moved to the Center’s archive in Madison, Wisconsin, not far from Kalmbach’s offices in Waukesha. In late June, Kalmbach Media sold many of its marquee magazine titles, including Trains, Classic Trains, and Model Railroader, to Firecrown Media in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“The Center is beyond thrilled to be the recipient of the Kalmbach Art Collection,” said Bon French, Chairman of the Center’s board. “Not only is it a spectacular collection in its own right, but the art invokes many memories for those of us that frequented the hallowed halls of the Kalmbach offices. As the Kalmbach name will otherwise disappear, it’s great that we can preserve the legacy of a ninety-year-old company with a revered name through the collection.”

“We couldn’t have found a better home for our historic collection of railroad art than the Center for Railroad Photography & Art,” said Dan Hickey, Chief Executive Officer for Kalmbach Media. “We are confident that it is the best organization to both preserve the Kalmbach collection and share it with the public. Our founder, A.C. Kalmbach, would be very proud to know that the railroad art accumulated by Kalmbach Media and enjoyed by our employees for decades will also be appreciated by future generations through the expert stewardship of the Center.”

“I can’t imagine a better outcome for Kalmbach’s corporate art collection than to have it find a permanent home with the Center,” said Kevin P. Keefe, a Center board member and former vice president-editorial at Kalmbach. Keefe brought the collection to light in the mid-2010s when he detailed the most important pieces and their histories in a company report he authored prior to his retirement. “In so many ways, Trains and Kalmbach Books played indispensable roles in creating the world of railroad imagery we love so much, and the company’s original art is a big part of that legacy.”

“Over the years, there has been a strong bond between Kalmbach and the Center,” Keefe added. “The donation of this collection is a celebration of that relationship.”

Roaring through Rondout, watercolor on paper by Gil Reid, appeared on the cover of Kalmbach’s most successful hardcover book, The Hiawatha Story. Reid’s painting illustrates Milwaukee Road Class A Atlantic 1 in 1935.

Electro-Motive E7 for Train of Tomorrow, tempera on board, by Allen J. Brewster, as seen on the cover of the January 1979 issue of Trains magazine.

Arrival of the art collection at the Center’s archive in Madison, Wis. Pictured from left: Inga Velten, Lisa Hardy, Kevin Keefe, and Adrienne Evans. Photo by Gil Taylor.