Railroad Heritage

The Center publishes the journal Railroad Heritage® as well as books. Publication of Railroad Heritage began in 2000 and has grown steadily, expanding to a quarterly production schedule in 2012 and the current 68-page format in 2021. Members receive the journal by mail every March, June, September, and December.

Proposals and submissions

The Center welcomes article ideas for Railroad Heritage, particularly for the series “Railroads and the Art of Place.” Also of interest are articles that draw on images from the Center’s collections as well as articles about railroad art other than photography (such as paintings, drawings, sculpture, and other forms of visual media). The current lead time for submissions to Railroad Heritage is about one year. Please send a brief summary (a paragraph or so is a good starting point) by email to info [at] railphoto-art.org.

Please note that the following issues of Railroad Heritage are out of print and unavailable for purchase: nos. 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 40, 45, 46, 47, 54, 57, and 80. In most cases, we can provide electronic copies as PDF files. Please send an email to info [at] railphoto-art.org for more information.

Railroad Heritage news

  • Summer 2019: Award Winners, Bodine, Cunningham

    Summer 2019 is the third consecutive issue to which we’ve added twelve pages to our usual forty-eight. They feature the winners of the 2019 John E. Gruber Creative Photographer Awards, which received the second-highest number of submissions in its history. Additional content spotlights a conference presenter–Jennifer Bodine writes about pictorialist photographer A. Aubrey Bodine; an…

  • Spring 2019: After Promontory

    The Spring 2019 Railroad Heritage is a special, 60-page issue about the Center’s After Promontory project on transcontinental railroads. Editor Scott Lothes provides a behind-the-scenes look at the project, which started in 2017 and launches this spring for the 150th anniversary of the completion of the nation’s first transcontinental line. Articles by Alexander Benjamin Craghead,…

  • Winter 2019: John Gruber, the First Transcon, Carlos Kirovsky

    We mark the passing of CRPA founder and photographer John Gruber with a sampling of his rail images and tributes from friends and colleagues. John A. Kirchner showcases the rail paintings of Brazilian artist Carlos Kirovsky. Photographer Drake Hokanson discusses shooting the first transcontinental route between Omaha and Sacramento. David Lester reflects on the Young Photographers…

  • Summer 2018: Katherine Botkin, Catherine Gibbs

    Katherine Botkin “married into” railroad photography and came to make the pursuit her own, having visited more than twenty countries in search of steam. She shares her story and experiences in her cover feature, “What I did for love.” Artist Catherine Gibbs uses railroad imagery to explore themes of both loneliness and hope with vivid,…

  • Spring 2018: McNair Evans, Stewart Buck, Award Winners

    David Lester provides a stimulating commentary on McNair Evans’s thought-provoking photographs as they reflect shared experiences within the American cultural landscape. Evans is a Guggenheim fellow and a featured presenter at Conversations 2018. Kevin P. Keefe highlights the outstanding and vivid pastels of artist Stewart Buck. Winners of the 2017 John E. Gruber Creative Photography…

  • Winter 2018: Evanston Roundhouse, William G. Gordon

    For the first issue of 2018, photographer and writer Joel Jensen provides an in-depth look at the restoration and repurposing of the former Union Pacific roundhouse in Evanston, Wyoming, a remarkable example of a community embracing its railroad heritage. Photographer Wayne Depperman reflects on his trackside “friends,” the motor car indicators, which also took him…