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Editor’s Notebook

Print Exchange

While we all enjoy the ease and benefits of sharing our work online, there is still an important place in the world of photography for the print that you can hold in your hand and display in your home. So, as an experiment, I would like to exchange prints with you. I know that not everyone prints their work, but I am hoping that some of you will be willing to share your printed work with me in exchange for one of my prints.

Here is how it will work.

I am offering one of two prints of my own work.

Waiting – East Broad Top
Empty Station – Pleasant Valley, Virginia

If you would like to participate, choose one of these two prints and I will mail my print to you along with my return address so that you can send me your print. There is no cost to you other than the cost of producing and mailing your print.

The two prints I am offering are both inkjet printed on 8-1/2 X 11 Canon Premium Matte paper. One is in color and the other is black and white. There are no restrictions on size, paper or subject for your print. The only requirement is that it be a physical print, not a digital file.

I am not sure what the response to this might be, so I am limiting the exchange to the first twelve people who request it. Email me at editor@thetracksidephotographer.com, indicate your choice of print, and include your mailing address. I will send the print out to you along with instructions for mailing your print to me.

The exchange will end on October 1st. I hope you will consider taking part in this. I would love to see some of your work in printed form.

Edd Fuller, Editor
editor@thetracksidephotographer.com

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Richard Steinheimer

Iconic photographer’s work joins North America’s largest archive of significant railroad photography and artwork

A Southern Pacific track worker walks the tracks near San Francisco’s Bayshore Yard in January 1950. Photograph by Richard Steinheimer

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art recently announced that it has acquired the majority of the photography collection of Richard Steinheimer, one of the world’s greatest rail photographers, who blazed a trail of creativity across California and the American West for six decades and inspired generations of photographers. The collection includes nearly all of Steinheimer’s color photography, a vast collection of his majestic black and white prints, plus black and white negatives and scans, exhibition prints, and more.

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Talking Pictures

In this first episode of Talking Pictures, our guests are photographer Oren Helbok, along with Ross Gochenaur, who is a working steam locomotive engineer and fireman. They share their experiences and discuss Oren’s photographs of Ross going about his work at the Strasburg Railroad.

Join us as we discuss photography, steam railroading, the daily work of a hostler, and the importance of connecting with the people and places we photograph.

Talking Pictures is a video podcast that will feature artists and photographers in a discussion of their own images, or pictures that they find inspirational or meaningful. The focus is on the images, not on the technical aspects of photography.

Edd Fuller, Editor

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Editor’s Notebook

Bob Hughes, shortly after hiring on the New Haven in 1968

The Passing of a Trackside Friend

Bob Hughes, who has been an active supporter and contributor to The Trackside Photographer from the very beginning, passed away on Sunday, July 19, 2020, after a long illness.

When I launched the site in March, 2016, I published the first article and sent out an email to about seventy writers and photographers explaining the purpose of The Trackside Photographer and asking for submissions. Bob replied that same day: “Count me in!” he said, and we published the first piece by Bob, “Built to Last,” on March 24. Thirteen more excellent stories followed, and he turned in his last article, “A Lifetime Love of Trains” on August 22, 2019.

Bob became interested in the railroad while attending college and hanging around the Maine Central’s Waterville yard (see A Maine Central Education). He later worked on the New Haven (Best Job in the World) for nine years before embarking on a career in magazine printing and production.

Unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of meeing Bob in person, but we emailed often and talked on the phone from time to time. His support and enthusiasm for The Trackside Photographer was a tremendous encouragement to me, and I counted Bob as a treasured friend. I know that there are many within the railroad community who will mourn this loss. He will be missed.

Edd Fuller, Editor

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East Broad Top—
Smiles Everywhere

The last time I saw the East Broad Top under steam was October 29th, 2011, during a freak pre-winter blizzard fondly referred to as Snowtober. Two months later, the tourist excursion season ended, and the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company suspended operations indefinitely. The railroad has been dormant since, their doors locked.

Fast forward to last Friday, February 14th, 2020. On this day the EBT announced that the Kovalchick family had agreed to sell the railroad in its entirety to the non-profit EBT Foundation, Inc., a newly formed group of prominent railroad industry figures, philanthropists, and longtime EBT enthusiasts. I was there representing the Friends of the EBT in the role of event photographer, recording the day’s events with both candid and posed images.

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A Conversation 
of Railroad Photographers

Photographer and writer Oren Helbok was a presenter at Conversations 2019, the Center for Railroad Photography and Art’s annual conference. Oren relates his railroading adventures with his father in this video recorded at the conference.

When Edd Fuller asked me to write about the Center for Railroad Photography & Art conferences (at one of which he and I first met), it took me a couple of days to figure out where to start. After attending five of the events, I still can barely wrap my mind around the superabundance of talent and experience that gathers at every one. I still have not quite come down from the thrill of meeting David Plowden, my all-time railroad-photographer hero, the first time I went to Lake Forest, in 2016.

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