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

  • Fall 2017: Richard Koenig, Political Cartoons

    Photographer Richard Koenig reflects on “Growing up in Railroad Vacuum” and the value of mentorships with his story and photographs from Indiana and Illinois in the late 1970s. Koenig now teaches art at Michigan’s Kalamazoo College and is working on a project about the original transcontinental railroad. Mark Aldrich, a retired economics professor from Smith…

  • Summer 2017: J. Craig Thorpe, Conversations, Digitizing

    Artist J. Craig Thorpe presents his work and art’s role in portraying the future of railroading in his cover story, “Painting the Possible.” Thorpe was a featured presenter at Conversations 2016, and we are delighted to provide this extension of his highly-regarded talk at the conference. In an expanded edition of the regular “Out of…

  • Spring 2017: Normandin, Heckman, Award Winners

    Artist Adam Normandin, a featured presenter at Conversations 2017, is the subject of a profile by David C. Lester. We offer a glimpse of the work of Canadian Pacific photographer Joseph William Heckman, who worked for the railway’s engineering department from 1898 to 1915. A new book by Ralph Beaumont covers Heckman’s photography extensively, and…

  • Winter 2017: J.B. Jackson, Fogg on the P&LE, Gotthard Posters

    You may not have heard of J.B. Jackson, but his impact on railroad photography has been profound. In the Winter 2017 issue of Railroad Heritage®, Alexander Benjamin Craghead takes an in-depth look at Jackson, his path-breaking work in geography and landscape studies, and his influence on how we view railroads. That includes the work of…

  • Fall 2016: Connecticut Archive, Missabe Yellowstones, St. Maries River

    The Fall 2016 issue of Railroad Heritage® debuts a new look to the magazine—the first extensive redesign in its sixteen-year history. On the cover is Robert LaMay’s night view of Shore Line East F7A no. 6690 in the shops at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1992. LaMay’s photography resides at Archives & Special Collections of the…

  • Summer 2016: Glacier Park, Boxcars, Conference, Endowment

    Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service with an in-depth look at the relationship between the Great Northern Railway and Glacier Park in Montana. Author Justin Franz shares an engaging story, lavishly illustrated with his own contemporary photographs and historic images from the unparalleled collection of GN historian Scott Tanner. Artist Charlie Hunter…