Books

Books complement the Center’s traveling exhibition program and showcase images from the Center’s archival collections. To accompany the Railroaders exhibition, the Center published a 200-page, hardbound catalogue that won national awards. In 2019, the Center produced After Promontory: 150 Years of Transcontinental Railroading in partnership with Indiana University Press. Other books focus on photographers whose work is in the archive, including monographs about Wallace W. Abbey, Donald W. Furler, David Kahler, and J. Parker Lamb. More recently, the Center has published about topics including the Burlington steam program and Rio Grande’s narrow gauge lines.

Proposals and submissions

The Center currently does not accept outside book proposals but welcomes article ideas for Railroad Heritage, particularly for the series “Railroads and the Art of Place,” as well as presentation ideas for our conferences and webinars. Please get in touch with us by sending an email to info [at] railphot0-art.org.

Latest book news

  • The Kalmbach Art Collection

    The Kalmbach Art Collection: Pairing Words and Imagery showcases the artwork of Kalmbach Publishing Co., which donated their collection to the Center for Railroad Photography & Art in 2024. Fifty-three original paintings and drawings comprise the collection, their creators a who’s who of railroad artists including Howard Fogg, Gil Reid, and Ted Rose. The 80-page,…

  • Burlington’s Spectacular Steam Program

    In the 1950s and 1960s, no railroad could top the steam program of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. The “Q”—as its many admirers affectionately knew it—operated more than 260 steam trips that carried more than 100,000 riders and left impressions on countless more trackside admirers. With well-honed photojournalistic sensibilities, John E. Gruber covered at least…

  • Rio Grande Steam Finale: Narrow gauge railroad photography in Colorado and New Mexico

    In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the nation’s greatest railroad photographers journeyed to southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico to document the final years of the Denver & Rio Grande Western’s spectacular narrow-gauge railway. They were driven by a fever for which there was no cure: the chance to photograph half-century-old trains operating on…

  • Continuity & Change: The Lure of North American Railroads

    Continuity & Change: The Lure of North American Railroads is a dazzling publication by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art that explores the photography of contemporary railroading in North America and the passage of time. 230 photographs and thirteen essays delve into a wide range of topics: railroads and nature, pathways of commerce, passenger…

  • The Railroad and the Art of Place: An Anthology

    The imprint of the railroad on the North American landscape remains indelible across space and time. A handsome hardcover book from the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, The Railroad and the Art of Place: An Anthology, examines the industry’s history and physical presence to match its status as an economic or cultural force. Noted editors and authors Jeff…

  • Call for Submissions: Continuity & Change – Photographs of Railroads in the 21st Century

    We’re looking for images that capture the essence of rail transportation in the 21st century. What does contemporary railroading look like? What aspects of rail transportation remain evergreen, recognizably connecting our world with the world of the past? What is new, exciting, different, hopeful, or full of promise? What has been irrevocably altered, or what…