Shooting the Diesel That Did it, presented by Kevin Keefe

Tuesday, October 25, 2022
7:00 p.m. (U.S. Central Time), on Zoom

The debut of Electro-Motive Division’s FT freight locomotive in 1939 and 1940 was a watershed for the railroad industry – the steam locomotive was on its way out. The FT’s first public appearances gave both EMD and the Santa Fe Railway a chance to show off their promotional muscle, and photographs would tell the tale. In a presentation inspired by Wallace W. Abbey’s upcoming Indiana University Press book “The Diesel That Did It,” we’ll look back on that moment when photographers recorded the start of a revolution. Presented by Kevin P. Keefe, co-editor of Abbey’s book along with Martha Abbey Miller.

Kevin Keefe is the retired vice-president-editorial for Kalmbach Publishing Co. and is a board member of the CRP&A. He served as editor of Trains from 1992 to 2000. As a student at Michigan State, he worked on Pere Marquette steam locomotive no. 1225, and he later authored a book about it.

This event is free.

During its 1941 debut run, Santa Fe FT 100 poses at Topeka with historic 2-8-0 No. 2414. Credit: Santa Fe Railway, Kalmbach Media Library.

Railroad Heritage, Fall 2022: Steinheimer, Awards, and more

The newly arrived Richard Steinheimer Collection headlines the Fall 2022 issue of Railroad Heritage…with plenty more great photography and stories, plus news, updates, and no ads!

Highlights include:

“Dreaming About What’s Ahead: Preserving the Richard Steinheimer Collection,” an in-depth look at the photography and legacy of our community’s greatest photographers, by Elrond Lawrence.
“Weather Effects,” the stunning winners of the 2022 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards; first prizes went to Ray Lewis for color and Christopher J. May for black-and-white.
“Portraits on the Plains: Winold Reiss’ paintings for the Great Northern Railway,” about an exhibition curated by members of the Blackfeet Nation at the Museums of Plains Indian in Browning, Montana, by Justin Franz.
In this edition of “The Railroad and the Art of Place,” Stan Trzoniec leads a photographic tour of the Delaware & Hudson’s Oneonta Shops.
Spend a week in Sacramento packing up the Steinheimer Collection with archivist Adrienne Evans in this highly entertaining and informative installment of our “Out of the Archives” column.
Get to know twin brothers and extraordinary railroad photographers Mike and Mark Nelson with the latest edition of “The Extra Ingredient: People” by Inga Velten.

There’s also an in-depth report about “Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography” at the Historic Pullman Foundation plus more on all of the Center’s traveling exhibitions and online events, a review of the new book “Moniker: Identity Lost and Found,” and tributes to three recently deceased members: Den Adler, Mark E. Entrop, and Peter A. Hansen.

If you don’t receive it already, join the Center and have four issues delivered to your mailbox each year.

$7.95, 68 pages, color and b/w; purchase individual copies:

An Evening with the Winners of the 2022 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
7:00 p.m. (U.S. Central Time), on Zoom

Available Now on YouTube

The 2022 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards was one of the most competitive contests we’ve had to date. With over 540 submissions for this year’s theme of Weather Effects, our panel of judges had a difficult job ahead of them to narrow down the entries to six placed photographs. In “An Evening with the Winners…” you’ll hear from the photographers behind the contest’s winning images.

This event is free.

First Prize

Christopher May, black-and-white
Ray Lewis, color

Second Prize

Chris Walters, black-and-white
Eric Williams, color

Third Prize

Dennis Livesey, black-and-white
Robert Arnold, color (unable to attend)

Christopher May, First Prize, black-and-white
Commuters await the arrival of an inbound Metra train at the Elmhurst, Illinois, train station on December 14, 2019.

Ray Lewis, First Prize, color
Two Jordan spreaders and two “snow-fighter” equipped GP38-2s battle to clear the snow off of the Lower Cascade Bridge near Troy, California, on February 11, 2009.

Virtual Launch Party: Preview Continuity & Change, our newest book

Tuesday, August 16, 2022
7:00 p.m. (U.S. Central Time), on Zoom
Registration closes on Monday, August 15 at 4:30 p.m. (CST)

Now Available on YouTube

Join editors Alexander Craghead and Scott Lothes for a virtual launch of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art’s new publication, Continuity & Change: The Lure of North American Railroads. The book explores the photography of contemporary railroading in North America through 230 photographs and 13 essays that dig into topics on railroads and nature, pathways of commerce, passenger railroading, heritage activities, workers, international connections, and how the passage of time marks both railroads and photography.

Craghead and Lothes will take you behind-the-scenes in the journey of both developing the concept of the book and realizing the final production. Continuity & Change: The Lure of North American Railroads was made possible due to the Center’s expansive and talented community of image-makers who answered an open call for submissions to illuminate the relationship of railroads and photography from the nineteenth century to today.

This event is free.

Publication release: September 1, 2022
Pre-order the book here!

Hardcover, 11×11 inches; 384 pages, 230 photographs
$65.00, plus $9 for domestic shipping

UP, Portland, OR, 2011
Kyle Weismann-Yee

UP, Amtrak California Zephyr, Lovelock, NV, 2019
Lou Capwell

Behind the Photographs of O. Winston Link – Thomas Garver

Monday, July 18, 2022
7:00 p.m. (U.S. Central Time), on Zoom
Registration closes on Sunday, July 17 at 4:30 p.m. (CST)

Now Available on YouTube

Thomas Garver, the former assistant/agent of Link and the founding curator of the O. Winston Link Museum, will present Behind the Photographs of O. Winston Link. Garver will discuss the life and work of Link as well as his remarkable photographs of the Norfolk & Western Railroad.

Thomas H. Garver is a retired art museum director, writer, and independent curator. In 1957-58, just out of college, he worked for O. Winston Link as a part-time assistant in Link’s New York City studio. Part of his assistantship included three trips, totaling about a month, to Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina to aid Link in the creation of his visionary five-year documentation of the Norfolk and Western Railway at the end of steam power on the line.

Tom Garver assisted Winston Link in the field, and subsequently contributed a chapter to Link’s first book, Steam, Steel & Stars, published in 1987. Tom was the sole author of the text for the second book of Link’s railroad photos, The Last Steam Railroad in America, published in 1995. In 1994, Garver became Link’s business agent, and following Link’s death in 2001, Garver served as organizing curator of the O. Winston Link Museum, located in the former N&W passenger station in Roanoke, Virginia. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

This event is free.

Train #2 arrives at the Waynesboro Station, Waynesboro, Virgnia, April 14, 1955. Courtesy of the O. Winston Link Museum.