Member-exclusive program: CRP&A Collections Update

Join us Tuesday, December 17, for this members-only show! Executive director Scott Lothes will provide an update on the revisions we’re making to the Center’s photography collections policy, which will shape future accessions. He’ll share results and takeaways from the recent members survey about our collections work, as well as next steps for 2025 being considered by our board and acquisitions working group.

And of course, we’ll illustrate the program with favorite images from several collections, as well as newly processed images.

Register Here!

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

7:00 PM (U.S. Central Time), on Zoom; 5 pm PT / 6 pm MT / 8 pm ET

If you’re not a member, please join today to support our preservation work and receive our quarterly magazine Railroad Heritage.

Western Maryland F7 64 leads an eastbound at Helmstetter’s Curve in Cumberland, Md., on March 23, 1975. Photo by John F. Bjorklund, Bjorklund-92-07-04.

Pennsylvania Railroad 4-6-2 5497 leads an eastbound out of Chicago at 21st Street Tower in October 1950. Photograph by Wallace W. Abbey, Abbey-01-130-05.

Zoom program: Catching up with emerging rail photographers

Join us Tuesday evening, November 12 for “Rails of Inspiration: Past Scholarship Winners and their Railroad Photographer Heroes.” In this Zoom program, you’ll meet three talented young photographers – Eric Hudson, Samuel Phillips, and John Riley – who offer fresh perspectives on railroad photography. All received scholarships several years ago to attend the Center’s annual “Conversations” conference and showcase their work.

This program was recorded and will be posted soon to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@railphotoart

We’re excited to catch up with them on Tuesday, November 12, at 7:00 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific). Eric, Sam, and John will present their railroad photography from recent years, talk about their heroes, share how the conference inspired them and their hopes for the future. Join our free program at the link below and expect a night of exciting contemporary photography!

Tuesday, November 12, at 7:00 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific)

Photos (top to bottom): Norfolk Southern’s Virginian heritage unit at Fostoria, OH, by Eric Hudson; CSX in Clinchco, Virginia, by Samuel Phillips; Reading & Northern 2102 at Peacock’s Lock Viaduct outside Reading, PA, by John Riley.

Zoom event: Burlington’s Spectacular Steam Program

Join Norman Carlson and Scott Lothes for a look at the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s mid-century steam excursions and a preview of the Center’s upcoming book, Burlington’s Spectacular Steam Program, featuring the photography of John Gruber.

Carlson, railroad historian and CRP&A board member, and Lothes, CRP&A executive director, will host the public Zoom program on Monday, October 7, at 7:00 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific). The softcover book, scheduled for a November 1 release, is authored by Carlson and Justin Franz, rail journalist and CRP&A board member, with design and editing by Lothes.

View the program now on YouTube.

For steam programs in the 1950s and 1960s, no railroad could compare to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Lovingly known as the “Q,” the road operated an incredible number of steam-powered fan trips after the rise of diesel locomotives. From July 3, 1955, to July 17, 1966, the Q ran more than 260 steam-powered excursion trains! Heavyweight coaches, stainless steel Vista Dome cars from the California Zephyr pool, suburban bi-level cars, open gondolas, and more could be found on the wildly popular trains.

Among the numerous steam locomotives called upon to power the excursions, CB&Q’s Northern 4-8-4 5632 and Mikado 2-8-2 4960 became beloved celebrities. For many young people, a Q fan trip was their first experience of seeing a steam locomotive in action or riding behind one of them, and it was an eye-opening experience … and also for everyday Americans, who gazed in wonder.

John Gruber, the Center’s principal founder and one of railroading’s great journalists, was there to capture the story on film. Where most fans focused on images that recreated classic steam scenes, Gruber photographed the steam runs as modern cultural events, making the people as much the story as the trains. Join us for a night of spectacular railroad photography and a trip back in time!

Hudson locomotive 3003 performs a photo runby at Barstow, Illinois, during an Illini Railroad Club trip on September 1, 1957. Photo by John Gruber, Gruber-01-71-010.

A boxcar sitting on a siding in Rochelle, Illinois, offered a prime vantage point for photographers of 4960’s trip from Chicago to Rockford, Illinois, for the Illini Railroad Club on August 20, 1961. Photograph by John Gruber, Gruber-03-034-032.

CRP&A member exclusive program: Steinheimer’s Sierra Crossing

Join us for an inside look at the Richard Steinheimer & Shirley Burman Steinheimer Collection!

Tuesday, September 17, 2024
7:00 pm Central Time on Zoom
5 pm Pacific, 6 pm Mountain, and 8 pm Eastern

In a rush of locomotives climbing through smoky snow sheds, plowing “Sierra cement,” and carrying passengers over “the Hill,” Associate Archivist Heather Sonntag has viewed volumes of Richard Steinheimer’s visual storytelling across Donner Pass. She’s digitized frame after frame of his adventures on Southern Pacific’s legendary mountain crossing between Roseville and Truckee, California. In this exclusive Zoom program for Center members, see how Heather experienced this historic line through Stein’s slide photography of Donner that spans nearly fifty years, from 1951 to 1998.

She’ll provide an overview of Stein’s color work as it appears in the Richard Steinheimer and Shirley Burman Steinheimer Collection and notable publications. Focusing on the color slides in this extensive Donner series, Heather highlights a mix of iconic and previously unseen images that reflect Stein’s fearlessness, friendliness, and good fortune to document this favorite passage of railroad history, power, and people.

Register Here

Sign-ups will end on Monday, September 16 at 4:00 pm Central Time (2:00 pm PT). A Zoom link and log-in information will be sent Monday evening before the event.

Not a Center member? Visit our support page and join today! New memberships will continue through 2025.

Following Heather’s presentation, she’ll be joined by writer-photographer Elrond Lawrence, the Center’s Acquisitions & Marketing Coordinator and a lifelong Stein devotee, for final thoughts and an audience Q&A.

Please note: We expect the program to run past an hour’s time; it will be recorded and made available later to members with a private link. Thank you for your support!

Heather Sonntag joined the Center in 2020 as an associate archivist. She holds a doctorate in cultural history with a focus on 19th-century photography albums and a master’s of library and information studies from UW-Madison. She has interned with the Library of Congress and worked as an assistant archivist of visual materials at the Wisconsin Historical Society. The Richard Steinheimer and Shirley Burman Steinheimer Collection is Heather’s second to process for the Center, following the Ronald C. Hill Collection was her first.

Steinheimer’s snowy pre-dawn image of a westbound SP freight passing a spreader at Truckee, Calif., in March 1985. Steinheimer-Burman-AM-065.

SP trains at the Norden, Calif., snow sheds in March 1983. Photo by Richard Steinheimer, Steinheimer-Burman-D-132.

A sample slide from Heather’s upcoming presentation, featuring Stein’s Kodachromes with notes by him and wife Shirley.

An evening with the winners of the 2024 John Gruber Creative Photography Awards

This presentation was recorded and is available on our YouTube page:

https://youtu.be/FlO-CD6dZDM

Tuesday, August 20, 2024
7:00 PM (U.S. Central Time), on Zoom
8 pm ET, 6 pm MT, 5 pm PT

The 2024 Creative Photography Awards brought 383 submissions from 143 photographers representing 32 states and 9 countries in response to the theme, “Conveyance.” In this evening with the winners, hosted by photographer-writer and Center staffer Elrond Lawrence, you’ll hear their stories and insights behind the winning pictures, as well as their approaches to rail photography.

Scheduled to appear live:
Ewan McLean – First prize winner, color
James Duval – Second prize winner, black-and-white
Ryan Gaynor – Second prize winner, color
Darryl Bond – Third prize winner, color
We’ll also hear from Dafydd Whyles, first prize winner, black & white

Learn more about this year’s winning photos and see the “Judges Also Liked” pictures at the Center’s Flickr page.

This event is free. Join us for a great evening with people who love rail photography!

Ewan McLean, 1st prize winner, color
The Victorian Goldfields Railway (VGR) is a preservation group that operates trains in the northwestern part of Victoria, Australia. Ewan and his wife were riding on the observation deck of the ‘Tambo’ through the gum tree forest on the outskirts of Castlemaine; Ewan captured this shot of steam locomotive J541’s smoke illuminated by the sun’s rays, on April 18, 2011.

Dafydd Whyles, 1st prize winner, black & white
With a palpable sense of anticipation, a single-car passenger unit arrives at Worksop station in Nottinghamshire, UK, with a lone passenger waiting. The train is passing the 1880-built signal box (cabin).