News

Railroad heritage.org Goes Online

To celebrate the Labor Day weekend and honor railroads' role in the world of labor, we are excited to introduce our newest initiative, an Internet archive called railroad heritage.org, and, just as excited to make it available to you for the first time. Its name is its web address, railroad heritage.org.

Take a look at it, and let us know what you think about it. It's a work in progress, and we will be adding images weekly, so you may want to return often during the year. Some of your favorite images, plus many that you have not seen, are there, many with full descriptions. Without the support of eleven institutions that shared their treasures with us, this would not have been possible. The North American Railway Foundation, private gifts, and dozens of collaborators support the site and its mission.

John H. White Jr., former transportation curator at the Smithsonian Institution, said of the site: "We need a source for railroad images that is accessible and well documented. Pictures without descriptive captions are largely useless to the average researcher. Specialists know how to find the information quickly. But others wonder, what is it, is it significant and how old is it? If the Center for Railroad Photography & Art can carry out its plan to create such an archive online they will have performed a valuable public service."

It has taken a year to be able to take this significant step forward in preserving and presenting railroad images. This success comes as the Center moves toward the second year of its initiative to use the technology of the World Wide Web to preserve and present significant railroad images.

The Center--soon to celebrate its 10th anniversary--is the foremost group in America for promoting an understanding of the place of railroading in America's visual culture. We have committed ourselves to preserving Railroad Heritage(TM) in all its facets, and have worked with photographers, writers, and historians across the country to interpret the links among railroads, art, and culture. Since we do not maintain a museum space, but instead collaborate with other institutions, we use our resources to develop and maintain creative programs.

We thank you for your past support. By giving, you have joined with the North American Railway Foundation to make this progress possible. The Center needs to raise another $50,000 a year to supplement the NARF funding for the archive, and, in general, to increase understanding of railroading's roles in the wider visual culture of North America. So we need your additional support to keep the program moving ahead. The Center is a nonprofit arts organization and gifts to it are tax-deductible. You may send your gifts now by U.S. mail or electronically. Please keep us in mind for your anniversary and end-of-year gifts.

NARF Continues Support

The Center has received a commitment of $60,000 in project funding from the North American Railway Foundation for the second year of its new initiative---an Internet archive to preserve and present significant railroad images. The NARF funds are for railroad heritage.org, an on-line archive that will illustrate the intersection of railroad life and American life from the early 19th century until today. Enthusiasts and the general public will learn from each other about the importance of railroading.

NARF, formed in 1996 as a private operating foundation "to explore, nurture and support railway safety, efficiency and technology and to educate about and preserve the history of railroads in the United States and Canada," receives its financial support from organized rail labor.

The Center, a nonprofit arts organization, is raising another $50,000 a year to supplement the NARF funding for the archive, and, in general, to increase understanding of railroading's roles in the wider visual culture of North America. Bondurant French, Valentine Robotics, and TTX Co. have provided major gifts, bringing the total private support to $13,275.

The Center is the foremost group in America for promoting an understanding of the place of railroading in America's visual culture. We have committed ourselves to preserving Railroad Heritage(TM) in all its facets, and have worked with photographers, writers, and historians across the country to interpret the links among railroads, art, and culture. Since we do not maintain a museum space, but collaborate with other institutions, we use our resources for creative programs. We celebrate our 10th anniversary later this year.

The archive, using web portal technology, will establish a model for cataloging and describing railroad photographs and artwork, and allow partners from across the country to contribute images from computers in their offices or homes. The University of Wisconsin Library has agreed to host 1,000 images. Lake Forest College is providing content and staff for scanning images.

Collaborators in the web project are Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Brotherhood's Relief and Compensation Fund, California State Railroad Museum, Cleveland Memory Project (CSU), Lake Forest College Special Collections, Kalmbach Publishing Co., McLean County Museum of History, Museum of the Rockies Photo Archive, North American Railway Foundation, New York Transit Museum, and Oakland Museum of California. More institutions are considering collaboration.

By systematically making the images and meaningful descriptions available, the Center expects to boost public and scholarly ability to explore railroads visually. The extensive captions will put the images into wider historical, cultural, and technological contexts.

Building on the partnerships established in connection with the Center's first NARF project, "Representations of Railroad Work," successfully completed in September 2006, railroad heritage.org promises to make an even larger contribution to railroad's role in America's visual culture. The web portal will allow images to be added and text edited at many institutions; it offers a new digital model for the railroad heritage community to share resources. Drawing from institutional and private collections from around the country, the Center will coordinate this Internet enterprise.

Railroad heritage.org will bring a vast trove of insight and information to the web through presentation of paintings, sculpture, mass media, photographs, films, patent drawings, artifacts, and toys. Scholars and enthusiasts alike will benefit from the access, collaborative exchange, quality of content, and ease of search, made possible by consistent cataloging and descriptions. The portal will borrow from the successes of other Internet sites to nurture a community of museums, libraries, railroad enthusiasts, and collectors, centered on a collaborative effort to capture railroad visual history. The result will be a sustainable and "living" learning resource about the important contributions made by railroads to the visual culture of North America.

Ingles Receives R&LHS Photo Award

J. David Ingles, who recently retired as Senior Editor of Trains Magazine, although he continues part-time as Senior Editor of its sister quarterly, Classic Trains Magazine, has received the R&LHS Fred A. and Jane R. Stindt Award for lifetime achievement in railroad photography. In the early 1960s, Ingles was one of a small group of rail enthusiasts who began the serious study of diesel locomotive development, which many other fans disdained.

Along with friends such as Jerry Pinkepank and Louis Marre, Ingles began to chronicle the diesel power revolution through detailed photographic records of different models (and subclasses). Ingles and Marre were in on the ground floor when Pinkepank founded Extra 2200 South, a diesel newsletter named for his home street address in Lansing, Michigan. From the humble beginnings, the idea continued to build and the periodical is still being published as an authoritative source of diesel deliveries, rosters, and the general history of this motive power.

After college, including a year in the University of Tennessee's Transportation Program at Knoxville, Ingles resumed his journalism career at daily newspapers in central Illinois, adding free-lance work as a contributing photographer and author to Trains Magazine, to which he had been exposed since he was old enough to read. (His father had subscribed since it started in 1941.) Dave joined Kalmbach Publishing, on the staff of Trains Magazine as an Assistant Editor, in 1971, and succeeded David P. Morgan as editor when "DPM" retired in 1987. Ingles was named Senior Editor in 1992, and retired from that position in July 2007. Ingles credits rail publisher Mike Schafer, who also joined Kalmbach in 1971, as an editor in the Books Department, with opening his eyes to creative photography beyond the roster portraiture and three-quarter action shots so popular with most rail photographers.

Ingles began shooting color slides in 1958, and over the ensuing years, has amassed more than 100,000 slides and authored more than 70 illustrated articles for Trains and Classic Trains. In his various roles at Trains, Ingeles promoted and encouraged the art of railroad photography. Dave's position also allowed him to pursue another railroad interest, riding passenger trains. He has logged over 114,000 unduplicated miles, and will surely increase that total in years to come. By Matt Van Hattem

Wisconsin Arts Board Grant Recognizes Center's Growth

October 2, 2006 | The Center for Railroad Photography & Art has received a $7,451 grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board's challenge initiative program. The grant amount is based on the growth of income from 2004 to 2005, a record year of gifts for the Ted Rose memorial and other programs. It is calculated using a formula set by the state legislature.

The Wisconsin board intends that the initiative "spur the fund-raising efforts of arts organizations by providing state funds to organizations whose fund-raising efforts meet or exceed the total amount of eligible income raised in the previous year."

"The Hotel Roanoke Revisited" Opens at History Museum

"The Hotel Roanoke Revisited" has opened in the "History Museum of Western Virginia" in downtown Roanoke. The exhibit includes framed artwork, furnishings and rare china originally used in the hotel, and is first such collection of Hotel Roanoke artifacts to be on public display. It will remain in the History Museum's main gallery through mid-February 2007, and then will be installed at the Hotel Roanoke where it will remain on display during its 125th anniversary.

Built in 1882 as the centerpiece for the newly formed Norfolk & Western Railroad (now Norfolk Southern Corp), the Hotel Roanoke has played host to business travelers and vacationers and it has been the setting for social and cultural events for decades. The hotel's rich heritage has earned it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, and its restoration earned recognition from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 1989, Norfolk Southern closed the hotel and gave it to the Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation. It re-opening in April 1995.

Center Joins in Madison's "Birthday Bash"

April 10, 2006 | The Center is showcasing the visual heritage of railroading as its contribution to the 150th anniversary of the city of Madison, Wisconsin. It participated in the community fair at the "Birthday Bash" Sunday, April 9, at the Monona Terrace convention Center, and will display "Faces of Railroading: Railroading and the Making of Madison and Dane County" June 8-22 at the state capitol. The exhibit gives glimpses of the historic role railroaders have played in this midwestern town, as they did in so many other communities. A preview is in the Madison / Dane County gallery.

"Rising from the Rails" Airs on WGN-TV

February 11, 2006 | This one-hour documentary, with about 40 images from the Arthur Dubin collection at Lake Forest College, chronicles the story of the Pullman Porter. It was adapted from Larry Tye's Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class. The documentary first aired on WGN-TV Chicago and its superstations Saturday, February 11, at 8 p.m. CST (9 p.m. EST). A DVD is available.

R&LHS Announces Awards to Photographers

October 1, 2005 | The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society recognized Greg McDonnell and James P. Shuman for outstanding contributions to photographic interpretation and Richard Steinheimer and Jeff Brouws for an outstanding book of lasting value. The awards were announced in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the annual meeting of the Lexington Group in Transportation History.

McDonnell "discovers drama not only in the landscape, but in the most unexpected places: notably, railroading's mechanical microcosms," the awards committee said. He has written and illustrated many books, including Wheat Kings (Boston Mills Press, 1998) and more than 40 articles in Trains, Railfan & Railroad, and CTC Board. He edits the Boston Mills Press Masters in Railroad Photography series.

Shuman, who specialized in traction photography, was a railroad man with a camera. Except for World War II service and a brief time with Railway Age, he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad for most of his life, retiring in 1975. "His photography is above all--if one word had to describe it--picturesque," according to the committee. Trackside Under Pennsy Wires with James P. Shuman by Jeremy F. Plant (2000) focuses on his PRR photos from the 1950s through he early 1960s.

Steinheimer and Brouws won the book award for A Passion for Trains: the Railroad Photography of Richard Steinheimer. "By turns poetic, documentarian and experimentalist, Steinheimer succeeds like no other photographer in capturing the railroads' indelible presence in the American west," the committee said. Brouws selected 153 photographs, printed in duotone (80 had never before been seen in print) and presented them in a fine art context, one on a page, and wrote a 15,000 word introductory essay, placing Steinheimer's work in context with other photographers. Brouws is speaking at the Center's photography conference in March.

Railroad Photography of Southern Wisconsin

July 24, 2005 | After the Wisconsin & Southern's 25th anniversary celebration July 23 in Madison, the Center presented "Railroad Photography of Southern Wisconsin: An Evening of Slide Shows" at the Crowne Plaza Holiday Inn. Presenters were Bob Wundrock, Bob Boomsma, John Gruber, Don Pingel, Robert Eineke, Bruce Nelson, Dick Gruber, Bob Banke, and Mike Jacques. Dick Gruber at badphotography@charter.net coordinated the program. Snacks were courtesy of Trains magazine.

Cerwin Wins Amtrak Award

August 25, 2005 | Tom Cerwin of Bartlett, Illinois, has been selected as the winner of Amtrak's "Picture Our Train" 2006 Wall Calendar photo contest. Cerwin's photograph of the eastbound Empire Builder train near Bison, Montana, will be featured on the calendar, for sale this fall through the Amtrak Store at www.amtrak.com. Cerwin will receive an Amtrak travel voucher for $1,000. A retired partner of a Chicago accounting firm, Cerwin has been photographing trains for 15 years. The award-winning photograph was taken at an annual gathering of railroad photographers at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex. The photo was shot with a wide-angle lens and was the fourth of five photos taken as the Empire Builder went by East Glacier. Cerwein regularly attends the Center's photography conferences. Additional award-winning photographers include Second place, Marty Petersen, Salt Lake City, UT; Third place, Brian Sellers, Loveland, OH; Fourth place, David T. Hawkins, Plano, TX; and Fifth place. James Springer, Effort, PA.

Center Received Evjue Foundation Grant

May 25, 2005 | The Center has received a $2,500 grant from the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of the Capital Times, Madison's afternoon newspaper. The funds will provide partial support for an exhibit and heritage project that focuses on railroad workers and the development of Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin.

The intention is to show the significance of railroad workers in the building of neighborhoods. With contemporary and historical photographs, archival materials, and oral histories, we will explore ways in which railroad laborers built and sustained the community. It is a part of the "Representations of Railroad Work" program, supported by the North American Railway Foundation.

The project complements the Madison sesquicentennial celebrations scheduled for 2006, and will include contributions by Henry Koshollek, Capital Times photojournalist. In addition, the Center will work with local historians, media leaders, public officials, and railroad retirees to get the most the impact for its efforts.

Ski Train Program Win Awards

October 19, 2004 | The Rio Grande Ski Train: A Denver Tradition for Generations has received a Silver Peak Award from the Denver Video Festival 2004. Previously, the program received a Telly Award and an Aurora Award for best of show. It will be shown on Frontier Airlines' "Cloud Nine" in-flight channel starting on most flights in November. This-30 minute program was produced by Richard Luckin of Golden, Colorado, for the Colorado Railroad Museum. It tells the story of the Ski Train's 63-year history through interviews with people who rode the train or managed it, right up to the present time. Rocky Mountain PBS and KBDI-12 have aired The Rio Grande Ski Train documentary within the last few months. In addition to the local broadcasts, the program has been shown on many PBS stations nation-wide.

Boyd Wins R&LHS Award

September 30, 2004 | Jim Boyd, editor emeritus of Railfan & Railroad magazine, received the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society award for lifetime achievement in photography. He helped start Railfan as a quarterly in fall 1974. He edited the magazine through its purchase of Railroad in 1979 and its move to a monthly in 1987 until he retired in October 1997. Boyd, widely known for lighting night flash photos, today writes a monthly R&R Camera Bag column. Since retiring, he has done 20 color books for Morning Sun Books, Andover Junction Publications, MotorBooks International, Old Line Graphics, and Barnes & Noble. While a field instructor for Electro-Motive Division from 1967 to 1970, he copied most of the surviving diesel locomotive color styling drawings originated at the La Grange plant; these resulted in a series in Railfan in 1984-85 and the R&LHS's David P. Morgan article award. He was given permission to remove and preserve about 20 of the EMD styling drawinigs that have since been donated to the Illinois Railway Museum.

Graphis Honors NYC Poster

Robert Sedlach designed the prize-winning poster

May 7, 2004 | A poster produced for the National New York Central Railroad Museum, Elkhart, Indiana, will be published in Graphis Magazine's Annual Review of Design. Graphis is an international journal of visual communication. Posed against the backdrop of the Chicago Board of Trade, New York Central diesel locomotive 4085 graces a poster promoting the National New York Central Railroad Museum. It was created by Robert Sedlack, professor of art, art history and design at the University of Notre Dame.

Sedlack's poster was one of 300 designs out of thousands of international entries to be honored by the publication. Selection for the annual review is considered the most prestigious showcase of outstanding poster design, according David Bird, executive director of the museum. It was Sedlack's first time to be picked for the honor. It is the second time a museum poster has won an award--Mitch Markovitz won first prize in the American Association of Museums' annual design competition in 2003.

10,000th Person Visits O. Winston Link Museum

May 29, 2004 | The O. Winston Link Museum reached a milestone today when its 10,000th visitor entered its doors. At about 11:30 a.m., Bill Sales of Washington, D.C., purchased his ticket, setting off a flurry of activity. Museum staff members took Sales' photograph and presented him with a cache of items from the Museum's gift shop.

An admirer of Link's work, Sales owns an original print of one of the photographer's most famous photos: "Hotshot Eastbound at the Iager Drive- in." He is a former Norfolk & Western employee and Roanoke resident although this is his first visit to the area since he moved away in 1976. Sales represents the variety of visitors, including local residents, students, bus tour groups and international travelers that the Museum has attracted since it opened January 10, 2004, in the renovated historic N&W Railway passenger station in downtown Roanoke.

The O. Winston Link Museum houses the world's largest collection of the 20th century photographer's work. Capturing images of life along the N&W lines in Virginia and surrounding states during the 1950s and 1960s, Link documented the last days of steam railroading in this country. The museum also exhibits Link's photographic equipment, prints not on formal display and N&W Railway artifacts.

Horseshoe Curve Anniversary Features July 4 Tribute

March 11, 2004

With the commemoration of Horseshoe Curve's 150th anniversary, the Railroaders Heritage Corporation, Altoona, will "pull out all the stops" with an evening spectacular on July 4. This event will be reminiscent of the famous 1954 "SYLVANIA Big Shot," which featured the simultaneous deployment of more than 6,500 SYLVANIA Blue Dot flashbulbs to light the curve. This time, OSRAM SYLVANIA and Norfolk Southern will provide technology, equipment and sizzle for the celebration of this major transportation and engineering milestone in American history.

"Horseshoe Curve is a vital component of Norfolk Southern's 22-state freight rail network," said David R. Goode, Norfolk Southern's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "The 150th year of operation of this American industrial and engineering landmark, its role in the westward expansion of the U.S. and its continuing importance to the national economy are certainly deserving of celebration."

Abbey, Moedinger Win R&LHS Award

Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, October 9, 2003

William M. Moedinger Jr. and Wallace W. Abbey have won the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society's 2003 Fred A. and Jane R. Stindt Photography Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the photographic interpretations of North America's railroad history.

Moedinger "represents the best--and one of the last--of the first generation of rail photographers," the citation said. He began taking black and white photographs of narrow gauge railroads and eastern traction at age 12 in 1925. His first published photo - depicting a gas-electric doodlebug on the PRR's Columbia & Port Deposit branch - appeared in the November 1932 issue of Railroad magazine. "Good photos," he was always fond of saying, "are made in the darkroom, where steps can be taken to overcome an unfavorable exposure during the taking of the picture." From 1944 to 1956 Moedinger traveled more than 1,040,000 miles as a Pullman conductor--"a million mile vacation," he called it. His photography reached all corners of the continent. Trains in the 1970s published a series based on his Pullman travels. He served as president of Pennsylvania's Strasburg Rail Road for 17 years.

Abbey is from Evanston, Illinois. Railroad photography as a hobby began to become a profession at the University of Kansas beginning in 1945. Sales to Trains earned him an offer to join the staff in 1950. After Trains, his career required his writing and public-relations abilities more than his photographic talents. Still, he almost always had a camera with him. Much of what he shot at the Association of Western Railways (1954-1956), Railway Age (1956-1959), Soo Line (1959-1970), independent consultant (1970-1975), Milwaukee Road (1975-1980), Trailer Train (1980-1982), and Transportation Test Center in Pueblo, Colorado (1982-1991) was corporate stuff that's never been published. Wally and Martha, his wife, live in Pueblo

O. Winston Link Museum to Open in January 2004

News Release, June 2003, Roanoke, Virginia

A museum devoted to the work of the late O. Winston Link, who was acclaimed for his dramatically lit black and white photographs of trains and railroad towns, will open in a newly renovated historic railroad passenger station in January 2004. The museum's organizing curator is Tom Garver, a former assistant to Link. Garver, a retired art museum director, is the author of the second book of Link's photos, The Last Steam Railroad in America, and was Link's agent for the last seven years of his life.

The 15,000-square-foot O. Winston Link Museum will house the largest collection of the photographer's work including 190 signed prints and 85 estate print, and eventually all 2,400 of Link's negatives. The collection may include recently recovered stolen prints recovered after they appeared on an Internet auction site.

Link photographed the Norfolk & Western Railway's steam locomotives as they passed through the towns of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland from 1955 until 1960, when steam operations were terminated. Besides creating technically perfect images through the use of a complex synchronized flash system, Link's work captured the end of an American way of life. In addition to the photographer's work, the O. Winston Link Museum will exhibit Link's photographic equipment, prints not on formal display and N&W Railway artifacts. A virtual rail experience will allow visitors to "take a trip" to the towns he photographed.

A successful independent photographer from New York, Link became fascinated with locomotives during his childhood, and he loved the simple beauty of the Southern towns along the lines of the N&W Railway. His work became widely recognized in the 1980s with the publication of Steam, Steel & Stars, a compilation of his photographs, and he was named one of "Photography's Grand Masters" by Vanity Fair in 2001

Link declined numerous offers of exclusive exhibits by several notable museums because he wanted a permanent collection of his photographs to be displayed in place that provided context for his work. He requested before his death in 2001 that a museum bearing his name be located in the old N&W Railway passenger station in Roanoke, where he took some of his photographs. "My father wanted that," said W. Conway Link, O. Winston Link's son and a trustee of the estate. "Not only will the restored station be preserved, but it will be used as a museum featuring my dad's N &W photographs." The photographer was actively involved in the planning of the O. Winston Link Museum when he died of a heart attack at age 86 in January 2001 near his South Salem, N.Y., home.

The N&W passenger station was built in 1905 and redesigned in 1947 by world- renowned industrial designer Raymond Loewy. It served as the hub of five main rail lines radiating in all directions to points in Ohio, North Carolina, Maryland, and Tennessee. Upon the completion of the $9.1 million renovation, the art moderne building will once again become a gateway to the region. In addition to the O. Winston Link Museum, the newly renovated N&W passenger station will house, in a separate space, the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The O. Winston Link Museum is a partnership of the History Museum and Historical Society of Western Virginia and Center in the Square. It is being funded through public and private sources including local, state and federal grants, foundation grants, and corporate and individual donors around the world. For more information, call the History Museum and Historical Society of Western Virginia at 540/342-5770 or visit www.linkmuseum.org.

Legends: Don Wood poses with a photograph of David P. Morgan, Trains editor. When Wood started in photography, Morgan encouraged him to buy a better camera and submit high quality photographs. The result was 28 covers for the magazine. Photo by Chris Burger

Wood Wins R&LHS Award

January 1, 2003

Don Wood won the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society's Fred R. and Jane A. Stindt Photography Award for lifetme achievement, the society announced in Los Angeles. The award was presented in a ceremony December 15 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg. Wood of Matawan, New Jersey, is known for his photographs of the steam to diesel transition on the Pennsylvanis and other eastern railroads. Two of Wood's favorite photographs are in the Center's traveling exhibition.

"Not many photographers are as identified with a single railroad as Don Wood has been with the Pennsylvania Railroad," the citation says. "However, we must keep in mind that Don Wood did more railroad photography work than just the Pennsylvania. Thought by most to have hit his stride in the mid-1950s, he covered the northeast seeking to explore the Reading, CNJ, and B&O. He traveled to the Pocahontas region for coal carrier N&W, and on to Ohio for the Nickel Plate and the B&O again. Where steam held on in Canada, Wood pursued the CN and CP...

"Don Wood's work has stood the test of time and is considered a definitive document of Eastern railroading. We are all richer for his contribution."

Roanoke Groups Announce Agreement

August 17, 2001

Center in the Square and the History Museum & Historical Society announced an agreement with the trustees of the estate of photographer O. Winston Link to develop a museum - the only one in the world dedicated to Link and his famous black and white images that captured the last days of the steam locomotive and the way people lived around the rails in the late 1950s. The museum will be in downtown Roanoke's Norfolk & Western Passenger Station.

Link's works will be housed in a museum-quality addition to the station. Thomas H. Garver, Link's biographer and a professional museum curator, will spearhead the museum and exhibit design. The History Museum will begin a fund-raising campaign that includes grants from local, state, and national cultural foundations, as well as gifts from corporate and individual donors.

Link museum in Roanoke comes closer to reality

July 23, 2001
O. Winston Link in 1997, by W. Conway Link, his son

Norfolk Southern's donation of steam locomotive 1218 to the city of Roanoke brings the O. Winston Link museum there closer to reality. Trustees of the Link estate seem pleased with ideas for the museum, and are reviewing contracts.

Link in 1997, photo by son W. Conway Link

"My father wanted that. Of all the places, he would have picked Roanoke," said W. Conway Link, Winston's son and a trustee of the estate. Winston, famous for his night photography of Norfolk & Western steam locomotives in their last years of service, died January 30 as preliminary discussions were starting.

When visiting in late May, Conway was impressed to see that historic preservation is flourishing in Roanoke. "The unobstructed view of the old commercial district was terrific. The restored Hotel Roanoke is a stunning example and will complement the O. Winston Link museum when the museum is completed. I stood where passengers decades ago had departed Roanoke in cars pulled by the likes of the now-retired 1218 and the 611. Although visitors probably won't see live steam, there is a working railroad that passes directly in front of the museum site. You can't ask for more. I can't imagine a better site for the museum."

The other trustee, Salem Tamer, also has reviewed the contract, which is now in the hands of the estate's attorney. "We will try to help them as much as we can," said Tamer, a friend of Link for some 50 years. An illustrator and designer, Tamer hired Link about 1950 to make photographs for Linotype's annual report; the friendship continued through the years.

Tom Garver, an art historian and Link's agent for the last seven years of his life, added that " a one-person museum is the only way people will be able to see his work in depth, and appreciate the breadth of his vision. There absolutely could be no better location." Garver was Link's assistant for a year in 1957-58, made three trips to the N&W with Link, and wrote the text for The Last Steam Railroad in America (1995).

The museum would be located in downtown Roanoke in the historic Norfolk & Western passenger station, purchased in October by the Western Virginia Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, which owns Center in the Square. The center, home to seven cultural organizations, would do the majority of the fund raising for the project, and restore and maintain the station. The History Museum and Historical Society of Western Virginia would operate the Link museum.

Norfolk Southern expressed its hope that the donation of Number 1218 will help ensure that Roanoke successfully obtains the museum. The donation is contingent upon the Center in the Square obtaining the Link museum for Roanoke.

In a news release, NS Southern Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David R. Goode endorsed the museum idea. "Number 1218 is an enduring symbol of the partnership shared by a great community and its railroad through the decades," he said. "In honor and remembrance of our friend O. Winston Link, and in recognition of the historical partnership between Norfolk Southern and Roanoke, we are delighted to make this donation."

No. 1218 was built in N&W's Roanoke Shops in 1943. In all, N&W built 43 Class A locomotives, which pulled scheduled merchandise freight and coal trains between 1936 and 1959 at speeds of up to 70 mph on level portions of the railroad. During World War II, the Class As served in heavy passenger service and on troop trains, sometimes moving entire tank divisions.

N&W retired no. 1218 in 1959, and its successor, Norfolk Southern, restored it for use in excursion service beginning in 1987. The locomotive was disassembled, in preparation for repairs, when placed in storage in 1994. Earlier this year it was featured in Vanity Fair magazine with Link, who achieved broad acclaim for the artistic photos he took of the N&W steam locomotives.

It is indeed a grand reminder of the N&W and its heritage. The title of Ed King's book, A, The Norfolk & Western's Mercedes of Steam (1989), says it all.