The Norfolk and Western Railway was the last American railroad to abandon steam and convert to diesel. During the mid-1950s, O. Winston Link (1914-2001) created a photographic legacy of this period of American rail history which remains unrivaled.
Beginning in 1955, Link traveled to Staunton, Virginia, to do an industrial shoot. He knew that the Norfolk & Western Railway passed in nearby Waynesboro and that it was the last large steam-powered American railroad. Link went to observe it. Granted permission to access the tracks by R. H. Smith, president of the N & W Railroad, Link returned the night of January 21, 1955 with his equipment and began photographing the trains.
In the next five years, Winston Link made twenty trips to N & W’s tracks in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, producing 2,400 images. Most of the images were produced on 4 x 5 film with a Graphic View Camera.
The last of the N & W’s steam locomotives was taken out of service in May 1960, and Winston returned to New York, where he continued his work as a commercial photographer. He documented construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York harbor, photographed for Volkswagen of America as well as a number of advertising agencies.
To see the O. Wilson Link 2010 “Steam & Steel” calendar and more,
visit: Scenic Rails Whistle Stop & Shop-Calendars
For more on the O. Wilson Link Museum and Virginia train rides, visit:
http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/virginia_trainrides.php
