The Fall 2015 issue of Railroad Heritage includes three main features, plus a new column. Photographer Victor Hand shares a gallery of his work from around New York City. There’s a memoir and photographs by Charles McCreary about growing up around trains in the Upper Midwest. Peter Mosse recasts his 2015 Conversations presentations with an in-depth look at the first hundred years of rail art, drawing from his extensive collection. To keep you better apprised of our archiving work, we launched a new column with this issue, “Out of the Archives.” The first installment looks at organization and metadata from the work of our two summer interns in Madison.

This issue is out of print. Get in touch with us about digital copies.

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 bring to the field. Incidentally, the cover photograph by Amanda Oakes is only the second time the work of a woman photographer has been featured on the cover of Railroad Heritage. Shirley Burman was the first. In conjunction with the 2014 annual meeting of the Lexington Group in Transportation History in St. Louis, there is an eight-page gallery of St. Louis railroad photographs by Center member Dick Neumiller, highlighting the Gateway City’s colorful railroads and especially its pre-Amtrak passenger trains. Three short features round out the issue. As part of our ongoing coverage of railroads and World War II in conjunction with our Railroaders exhibition at the Chicago History Museum, Center editorial consultant Jack Holzhueter shares his reflections on the patriotic imagery found in wartime dining car menus, which come from the collection of member John Kelly. Artist Elaine Wilson describes her project Charting the Wolverine of watercolors and maps highlighting Amtrak’s route across Michigan. Finally, as a follow-up to the spring issue profile on photographer Blair Kooistra, one of his former traveling and photography companions, Scott Bontz, shares his memories and photographs of their time together. Bontz has been never considered himself a railfan, and he brings an interesting perspective of an “outsider” to the pursuit of railroad photography.

$7.95, 36 pages, color and b/w

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 James R. Keiselburg, director of the museum. the issue devotes nine pages to reporting on the opening weekend of the Center’s monumental Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography exhibition at the Chicago History Museum in early April, including the complete remarks of Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo and extensive photography by Henry A. Koshollek. David Lester provides a rundown of the 2014 Conversations about Photography conference in May at Lake Forest College and the Chicago History Museum. The 2014 conference set a new record for attendance, and Lester’s writing and Koshollek’s photography gives you the full report.

$7.95, 36 pages, color and b/w

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 at Kalmbach Publishing Company, introduces the railroad art of George Gloff, who many know as a former art director of Trains magazine but who was also a talented painter of railroads. There is also an overview of railroad imagery in musical theater by Aviva Gellman, intern for the Center and a junior majoring in political science and theater at the University of Minnesota. You will also find information about the 2014 Conversations about Photography conference, the opening and the catalog for Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography exhibition at the Chicago History Museum, and the list of our 2013 donors.

$7.95, 28 pages, color and b/w

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. The tales of two Indiana Harbor Belt freight train crews of the 1940s, photographed by Jack Delano and researched extensively by the Center staff for the Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography exhibition at the Chicago History Museum. Learn how one crew found camaraderie through shared experiences while another struggled through great disparity yet still managed to move freight across Chicago’s tangle of railroads during the record-breaking traffic levels of World War II.

$7.95, 24 pages, color and b/w