Abby Epplett, Historian

Yesterday — November 14, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. EST — I watched the ninety-minute webinar Parallel Tracks: Steinheimer, Silicon Valley, and Steel Rails about the life of photographer Richard “Dick” Steinheimer . The talk was presented by Ken Rehor , an electrical engineer from Palo Alto, CA, and Elrond Lawrence , Acquisitions & Marketing Coordinator at Center for Railroad Photography & Art (CRP&A) , which hosted the webinar. Rehor had met Steinheimer while working with semiconductors at Bell Labs, while Lawrence met him photographing trains in Stockton, CA. The talk covered the life and photography of Steinheimer in great detail with accompanying photographs. The CRP&A currently has 30,000 Steinheimer slides, 4,200 prints, and 2,700 black and white negatives donated by his wife and fellow railfan, Shirley Berman-Steinheimer . Steinheimer began taking photographs of trains in 1946 when he was seventeen years old. He went to City College of San Francisco , where J...

Last night — August 22, 2023, at 8:00 p.m. — I watched a conversation with the six winners of the 2023 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards hosted by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art (CRP&A). The award is named for the CRP&A founder, who began the nonprofit organization in 1997. The theme for this year’s contest was “The Role of Technology”. During the program, the winners spoke on the circumstances surrounding their award-winning image, their experiences photographing railroads, and tips for aspiring photographers. The recording of the event will be available on the Rail Photo Art YouTube channel in about two weeks. Chris Walters , winner of First Prize for Black & White, used a drone to capture a stunning image of lined up Alstom Metropolis driverless train sets on the Sydney Metro, part of Northwest Rapid Transit (NRT Group) . The image is related to Walters’ project to photograph the approximately 360 railway stations in the Sydney, New...

After enjoying an online program on train model expert and photographer Linn Westcott hosted by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art (CRP&A) back in July, I discovered that the organization had just launched a new collections management system using Odyssey Preservation Software created by History IT . As someone who maintains a database for my “real job” and met Odyssey representatives during NEMA Conference 2022 [ Day 1 , Day 2 , Day 3 ], not to mention that I really like trains, the webinar held on Tuesday, August 15, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. EDT was an ideal opportunity to learn more about several of my interests. CRP&A Executive Director Scott Lothes gave an introduction to the organization and its upcoming events, while Director of Archives & Collections Adrienne Evans and Reference & Digital Projects Archivist Erin Rose led the two-part demonstration and answered questions. Before the demo, Evans and Rose described the “long road” to selectin...

On Tuesday, July 25 at 8:00 p.m., I watched the online program “Linn Westcott’s Wildly Diverse Railroad Photography” presented by Kevin P. Keefe and sponsored by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art (CRP&A) , a train photography collection based in Madison, WI . Keefe is former editor and publisher of the aptly named Trains , a magazine and online platform all about real railroads and railroad models. His book Twelve Twenty-Five: Life and Times of a Steam Locomotive published by Michigan State University Press was a 2017 Michigan Notable Book from the Library of Michigan . Keefe knew Westcott while working for Kalmbach beginning in 1974. Today, Kalmbach Media “connects enthusiasts to their passions with magazines, books, digital products, videos, online stores, social media, and more.” Their primary areas of focus include everything associated with trains, model building, space, and general science. Westcott was the editor of the Kalmbach publication Model ...