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 the Archives” column, Scott Lothes and Jordan Radke share the Center’s latest developments in how we digitize slides and negatives. You can also see a full recap of our highly successful Conversations 2017 conference thanks to the writing of David C. Lester and photography of Henry A. Koshollek. Arjan den Boer looks at the Trans Europ Express in his regular column about European railway posters, while John Kelly reviews the second edition of Elrond Lawrence’s Route 66 Railway.

$7.95, 48 pages, color and b/w

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 won it the Canadian Railway Historical Association’s annual book award last year. Winners of the 2016 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards Program are also presented, featuring the top work in two different categories: most evocative images of all-time and recent photographs made with mobile devices. Archives manager Jordan Radke shares highlights of recent collections acquisitions and processing work in his regular “Out of the Archives” column. We also present our 2016 Honor Roll of donors and an interview with Bon French, who chairs our board and has just made an extraordinarily generous and ambitious matching grant. His photograph of a Chicago and North Western empty coal train at Shawnee Junction, Wyoming, under a July 1994 sunset appears on the cover.

$7.95, 48 pages, color and b/w

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 Jeff Brouws, noted author, photographer, and Center board member, whose view of the ex-Wabash coaling tower in Decatur, Illinois, appears on the cover. Howard Fogg’s paintings of the Pittsburg & Lake Erie Railroad anchor the issue’s other feature article, strikingly set against contemporary photographs of the same scenes by author Jerry W. Jordak. You can read all about our first regional conference, Conversations Northeast, in a review by Steve Barry, editor of Railfan & Railroad magazine. Jordan Radke, archives manager, returns for his regular Out of the Archives column, this time delving into copyright and other matters of intellectual property. With Switzerland’s new Gotthard Base Tunnel coming into regular operation in December 2016, Arjan den Boer’s regular column on European rail travel posters looks back at some of the advertising of the original Gotthard Railway. John Gruber offers a tribute to Hal Lewis, who died in 2016 and whose collection resides in the Center’s archive. You can also read a book review, letters from our readers, and an introduction of Peter Mosse, our newest board member.

$7.95, 48 pages, color and b/w

Get ready for our annual Conversations conference with the Spring 2016 issue of Railroad Heritage. Author, photographer, and board member Jeff Brouws provides a preview of one of the conference presentations with his in-depth look at the photography of Ronald C. Hill. We then travel across the pond to Europe where Arjen den Boers of the Netherlands introduces railway posters from central Europe in the early twentieth century. Davidson Ward offers a brief glimpse into the world of digital colorization of old photographs, while editor Scott Lothes shares some industrial archaeology from New York’s Hudson River Valley. Jordan Radke continues his popular “Out of the Archives” column with a look at processing work and guidelines for submitting your collection for consideration to the Center or another archive. And we gratefully list our donors from 2015, the people who make the Center happen.

$7.95, 48 pages, color and b/w