Railroad Heritage, 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 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

Railroad Heritage, 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 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.

Sold out, 48 pages, color and b/w

Railroad Heritage, Spring 2016: Ron Hill, European Posters, Colorization

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

Railroad Heritage, Fall 2015: New York, Midwest, Rail Art

The Fall 2015 issue of Railroad Heritage includes three main features, plus a new column. Photographer Victor Hand shares a gallery of his work from around New York City. There’s a memoir and photographs by Charles McCreary about growing up around trains in the Upper Midwest. Peter Mosse recasts his 2015 Conversations presentations with an in-depth look at the first hundred years of rail art, drawing from his extensive collection. To keep you better apprised of our archiving work, we launched a new column with this issue, “Out of the Archives.” The first installment looks at organization and metadata from the work of our two summer interns in Madison.

This issue is out of print. Get in touch with us about digital copies.

Railroad Heritage, Fall 2014: Young Photographers, St. Louis

Examining the future of railroad photography, writer David Lester answers the question of whether the younger generation is losing interest in railroad photography with, “Not a chance.” Lester interviews six photographers ranging in age from 18 to 30 in his cover feature, which assesses their interests and priorities, and displays the great passion they bring to the field. Incidentally, the cover photograph by Amanda Oakes is only the second time the work of a woman photographer has been featured on the cover of Railroad Heritage. Shirley Burman was the first. In conjunction with the 2014 annual meeting of the Lexington Group in Transportation History in St. Louis, there is an eight-page gallery of St. Louis railroad photographs by Center member Dick Neumiller, highlighting the Gateway City’s colorful railroads and especially its pre-Amtrak passenger trains. Three short features round out the issue. As part of our ongoing coverage of railroads and World War II in conjunction with our Railroaders exhibition at the Chicago History Museum, Center editorial consultant Jack Holzhueter shares his reflections on the patriotic imagery found in wartime dining car menus, which come from the collection of member John Kelly. Artist Elaine Wilson describes her project Charting the Wolverine of watercolors and maps highlighting Amtrak’s route across Michigan. Finally, as a follow-up to the spring issue profile on photographer Blair Kooistra, one of his former traveling and photography companions, Scott Bontz, shares his memories and photographs of their time together. Bontz has been never considered himself a railfan, and he brings an interesting perspective of an “outsider” to the pursuit of railroad photography.

$7.95, 36 pages, color and b/w