Webinars

Our monthly online webinars showcase a range of voices from across our community, featuring engaging presentations by artists, photographers, archivists, and historians. Each event offers a unique opportunity to explore creative practices, uncover historical insights, and gain new perspectives on railroad imagery and archival practice.

Zoom member-exclusive program: John Gruber’s rolling studios collection

Join us for our next members-only webinar, focused on the latest addition to the John Gruber Collection: portraits and stereographs produced in specially equipped rail photo cars that traveled the burgeoning U.S. railroad system during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fascinated for decades by what he called “rolling studios,” CRP&A founder John Gruber…
Zoom program: Chip and Leslie Savoye’s 50-year love for trains

“I Love Trains: Our Journey Over 50 Years” is an evening with Chip and Leslie Savoye, accomplished railroaders and photographers, as they share their lifelong love of trains and their great photography. Chip and Leslie are also breeders of dual champion wirehair Dachshunds (both in the field and ring). They love travel, sports, tennis, biking,…
Zoom program: The Creation of Railfan Atlas

Join us Tuesday evening, January 14, for an engaging webinar with Nick Benson, railroad photographer, web developer, and aircraft enthusiast, who delves into the history and development of Railfan Atlas — the popular website that has become a resource for all railroad fans. Learn about the inspiration behind its creation and its evolution over time.…
Zoom member-exclusive: CRP&A Collections Policy Update

In this members-only presentation, executive director Scott Lothes will provide an update on the changes being made to the Center’s photography collections policy, which will shape future accessions (visit the Collections page for details). He’ll share results and takeaways from the recent members survey about our collections work, as well as next steps for 2025.…
Zoom program: Catching up with emerging railroad photographers

This program was recorded and posted to our YouTube channel — view below. Join us 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…
Zoom program: Burlington’s Spectacular Steam Program

Join Norman Carlson, railroad historian and CRP&A board member, and Scott Lothes, CRP&A executive director, for a look at the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s mid-century steam excursions and the Center’s upcoming book, Burlington’s Spectacular Steam Program, featuring the photography of John Gruber. The softcover book, released in November of 2024, is authored by Carlson and…
Zoom member-exclusive program: Steinheimer’s Sierra Crossing

Join us for an inside look at the Richard Steinheimer & Shirley Burman Steinheimer Collection! 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…
Zoom program: An evening with the winners of the 2024 Creative Photography Awards

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.…
Zoom program: Behind the scenes with O. Winston Link’s famous photographs

Take an in-depth and behind-the-scenes look into technical aspects of several photographs of O. Winston Link, the famed 1950s railroad photographer who captured some of the last steam trains in America, set against the picturesque backdrop of rural Appalachia. Ashley Webb, curator of collections and exhibitions for the O. Winston Link Museum, presents and examines…
Zoom member-exclusive program: Inside the Henry Posner III Collection

Join us for an evening of globe-trotting railroad photography and great stories in this member-exclusive Zoom program, “Photographer of Last Resort: Inside the Henry Posner III Collection.” Gil Taylor, reference and processing archivist, presents images from Henry Posner III, whose collection Gil has been processing since 2022. Henry is chairman of RDC, a global railway…