O. Winston Link: Life Along the Line: A Photographic Portrait of America's Last Great Steam Railroad

by Tony Reevy, Scott Lothes (Foreword), Conway Link (Afterword)

O. Winston Link photographed the Norfolk and Western, the last major steam railroad in the United States, when it was converting its operations from steam to diesel in the 1950s. Link’s N&W project captured the industry at a moment of transition, before the triumph of the automobile and the airplane that ended an era of passenger rail service. His work also revealed a small-town way of life that was about to experience seismic shifts and, in many cases, vanish completely. Including a collection of more than 180 of Link’s most famous works and rare images that have never before been published, O. Winston Life Along the Line offers a moving account of the people and communities surrounding the last steam railroad.

The book includes a cd of Link's recordings of the railroad.

Genres: History, Railways

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I have hit the mother-lode of O. Winston Link's photography! All the photographs I appreciated in Steam, Steel and Stars seem here, though in some cases, in reduced size.

The title is somewhat understated, since Link captures the essence of America's middle 20th Century era in many of these photographs. No doubt the venues and subject matter were more than influenced by the Norfolk & Western railroad as his employer. How Link chooses to serve his masters and his muse puts him in the front ranks of photographers.

Not to be missed by anyone interested in the art and craft of photography and those just interested in this particular time in America.