Tag Archives: Amtrak

Summer 2025: Canadian streamliners, Chicago Union Station at 100, and more

Canadian streamliners, Chicago Union Station’s 100th anniversary, and Amtrak trains skirting Long Island Sound headline the latest issue of Railroad Heritage, the Center’s quarterly member magazine. Inside you’ll find:

  • Trans-Canadian Classics: Seventy years after their debut, Justin Franz spotlights two of North America’s most famous passenger trains, Canadian Pacific’s Canadian and Canadian National’s Super Continental, accompanied by spectacular photographs from the Center’s archive—including gems by Ronald C. Hill, Victor Hand, Jim Shaughnessy, J. Parker Lamb, Henry Posner III, and John Bjorklund.
  • A City of a Station: A striking black-and-white photographic essay celebrating Chicago Union Station’s centennial year featuring images from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Thrill to classic scenes in and around the station, with trains from the Pennsylvania Railroad, Burlington, Milwaukee Road, Amtrak, and more. It’s headlined by in-depth portrayals by John Gruber and Wallace Abbey, with additional images by Jim Shaughnessy and Victor Hand, plus an essay by Scott Lothes.
  • Railroads and the Art of Place: Al Crossley takes us to southeastern Connecticut’s Rocky Neck State Park along Long Island Sound, where the trains of Amtrak and Connecticut DOT pass through a beautiful, tranquil shoreline beloved by beachgoers, joggers, wildlife—and railfans. 
  • In her “Out of the Archives” column, Adrienne Evans dives into the latest addition to the John Gruber Collection: 228 19th century photographs made by traveling railcar studios that brought photography to the masses along the nascent U.S. rail network between 1858 through 1920.
  • Conversations 2025: Coverage of this year’s annual conference and its amazing presentations, with plenty of photos from the May 16-18 weekend.
  • The Extra Ingredient—People: Inga Velten interviews rail preservationist, art collector, and Center supporter John Atherton.
  • The Kalmbach Art Collection exhibition in Milwaukee, a tribute to the late J. Parker Lamb, and new staff member Shelby Shull … plus more news.

Become a Center member today to get four issues a year!

Summer 2024: Burlington steam, Amtrak’s color evolution, Cimarron gold & more

The Summer 2024 issue of Railroad Heritage–the Center’s quarterly magazine–began mailing to members’ mailboxes in early June. Inside you’ll enjoy:

  • Norman Carlson writes about the 1950s-1960s Burlington steam program, accompanied by spectacular John Gruber photographs;
  • The art of creating Amtrak’s new Phase VII livery, by Justin Franz, with a photographic look at the passenger railroad’s paint scheme evolution;
  • Cimarron Gold: Rick Malo explores railroads and the art of place on the Kansas prairies;
  • A pause to manage growth: Adrienne Evans writes about the Center’s review of its photography collection policies and how members can share their thoughts;
  • A preview of The Art of Trains, a New York City exhibition showcasing highlights from the extraordinary collection of Peter and Christine Mosse, running July 11-August 23 at Hirschl & Adler;
  • Meet Lisa Hardy, the Center’s new program administrator;
  • Event and exhibition news, reviews, and more.

Above, Aboard, and Beyond: Unique Perspectives by Rail

Saturday, November 13, 2021, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm (U.S. Central Time)

Join the CRP&A for an upcoming weekend event on Zoom featuring three fantastic photographers exploring unique perspectives by rail.

Download the program HERE

Jennifer Al-Beik

Finding My Track: Rail Photography as a Creative Outlet

Jennifer Al-Beik shares perspectives as a newcomer to the hobby of railroad photography.

Jennifer Al-Beik is a veterinarian by trade and took up a passion for railroad photography after her son became interested in railroads. As a newcomer to the hobby, Jen now enjoys rail photography as a creative outlet and takes images from both the ground and from the air by drone.

Stacey Evans

Passengers
Glimpse the American landscape from the seat of Amtrak passenger Stacey Evans. Using the train as a moving studio tethered to the earth gliding on a predetermined path, Stacey makes photographs focused on regional similarities and differences while composing how we occupy, shape, and transform the land. Her archive has over 29 train trips in America, plus a few in Scandinavia and France. Over the years, she’s collected various themes ranging from swimming pools, to power supplies, agriculture, intersections, and fading light, to name a few. She will share her unique perspective not accessible by foot, plane, or car.

Stacey Evans grew up in Waynesboro, Virginia, a small town made diverse by its variety and combination of different landscapes – rural, urban, industrial and suburban. Over the years, she has worked to translate her formative visual experiences and demonstrate the role landscapes play within culture. She studied photography at Virginia Commonwealth University and received a BFA in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She works as an artist, educator, and photographer. She is the Imaging Specialist and Project Coordinator at the University of Virginia Library, a Statewide Educator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and a resident artist at the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville. Her artwork is exhibited regionally and nationally.

Scott Lothes

John Gruber: B&W Photography, 1960-1964
Scott Lothes, the executive director and president of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, will share selections and highlights from the illustrious collection of our co-founder John Gruber (1936-2018). John was not only a great rail photographer, but also an author, scholar, grandfather, and staunch champion of other artists as well as the field of railroad photography itself. We have the privileged opportunity to preserve and provide access to his legacy. John’s collection contains over 108,000 images as well as boxes of manuscript materials related to his publishing projects and the founding of the Center. Digitization of John’s collection began in 2020.

 
This event is free.

 

The WJNP (White River Junction to Newport, Vermont) on the Vermont Rail Systems at Norwich, Vermont seen by drone in April 2021. Photograph by Jennifer Al-Beik.

 

Schedule, U.S. Central Time

Amtrak’s Evolving Image

Wednesday, August 25, 2021
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. (U.S. Central Time), on Zoom
Registration closes on Tuesday, August 24 at 4:30 p.m. (CT)

Now Available on YouTube

Amtrak Brand Communications Manager Matt Donnelly joins the Center for Railroad Photography & Art to discuss the development of Amtrak’s brand over the last 50 years. Donnelly will discuss Amtrak’s earliest attempt at developing a paint scheme, the creation of its iconic liveries of the 1970s and 1980s, and the challenges of creating a consistent image on a diverse fleet of railroad equipment.

Originally from Auburn, New York, Matt Donnelly is a career railroader, joining Amtrak in 2005 after graduating from the State University of New York at Oswego. He’s worked in field and corporate positions, including as a ticket agent in the Syracuse and Rochester, New York stations, as a trainmaster in Washington Terminal, in product development overseeing the Capitol Limited, Cardinal and Silver Service, and auditing. He is currently Amtrak’s Brand Communications Manager based out of corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C. Matt studied dark room photography and has been published in various rail industry publications over the past twenty years.

This event is free.

 

 

Amtrak’s first timetable, and one of the first pieces to publicly display the newly created Amtrak name and logo. Copyright the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.