Trackside, Camera in Hand

The co-author of two acclaimed color photography books about railroading, Gary Dolzall begins a series on railfan photography

It seems likely an early “railfan” was probably on hand in Wales in 1804 when Richard Trevithick’s steam locomotive first turned its wheels at the Penydarren Ironworks. And no doubt by the mid-1800s, a first “railfan photographer” turned his Daguerreotype camera toward a railroad subject. Ever since, and in ever-increasing numbers, railfans have taken cameras in hand -- and being a railfan and a photographer have become nearly synonymous.

Here at We Are Railfans, we’ll regularly be exploring the many captivating aspects of railroad photography, and it seems fitting to first “look back,” to briefly consider the evolution of railroad photography and pay homage to some of its pioneers.

In the United States, it can be argued that the first monumental railroad photographers (albeit not railfans per se) were the likes of Matthew Brady, the famed chronicler of the American Civil War, and Andrew J. Russell, who documented the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Indeed, Russell’s glass plate image of the “Golden Spike” ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869 is perhaps the most famous and most reproduced railroad photo in history.

It was during the American Civil War that railroads emerged as critical and prominent in the United States and thus garnered the attention of pioneering photographer Mathew Brady, who lensed the U. S. Military Railroads’ 1862-built 4-4-0 “W.H. Whiton.” The site of the photograph is likely the bridge over the Potomac River linking Washington, D. C., and northern Virginia. Photo: U. S. National Archives.

Photographers such as Matthew Brady traveled with a wagon and often with assistants to handle heavy camera equipment and process their glass plates while in the field, requirements well beyond the means of most aspiring photographers. For much of the nineteenth century it was left largely to company photographers to document railroading in images.

The single most famous railroad photograph? A. J. Russell’s classic glass plate image of the Golden Spike celebration at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869 captures the timeless moment when Union Pacific No. 119 and Central Pacific “Jupiter” stood, in the words of poet Bret Harte, “Pilots touching, head to head. Facing on a single track …” Photo: U. S. National Archives.

It would need to wait until the late 1880s and George Eastman’s Kodak camera and film before railfan photography would become the practice of more than a few. Among the early pioneers of “railfan photography” in America was Charles B. Chaney (1875-1948), who in the early twentieth century began photographing his beloved Pennsylvania Railroad and other eastern railroads, often in dramatic and historic “action” photos. His extraordinary collection of railroad photography today resides in America’s Smithsonian Institution.

On August 11, 1917, pioneering railfan photographer Charles Chaney trained his camera on the westbound Broadway Limited being powered by Pennsylvania Railroad E6s 4-4-2 Atlantic 460. The photo, taken along what is today Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor predates the PRR’s “Great Electrification” and the 4-4-2 has yet to gain its distinctive PRR “Keystone” number plate or electric headlight. Across the Atlantic, World War I rages, America has entered the “War to End All Wars,” and the Third Battle of Ypres is being fought. In future years, PRR 460 would power the “Lindbergh Special” and is today preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Photo by Charles B. Chaney; Smithsonian Institution collection.

Chaney’s action photography notwithstanding, slow film speeds as often as not mandated still-life portraits of steam locomotives – “roster shots” to use the modern term -- and men such as Bob Foster, John B. Allen, and Bill Witbeck made it an art form, leaving us a legacy of beautiful images of classic-era steam power. As camera technology and film speeds improved in the late 1930s and early 1940s, so did the opportunity for more “action photography,” and masters such as Lucius Beebe, Charles Clegg, Joe Collias, R. H. Kindig, J. F. Bennett, and the legendary 
O. Winston Link recorded the late steam and formative diesel eras in crisp black-and-white images.

Beautiful and crisp black-and-white portraits of steam locomotives were popular in the first decades of the twentieth century. The blurred wisps of steam and smoke in this image of Louisville & Nashville 2-8-0 1022 standing at Rosedale, Kentucky, suggest a slow shutter speed and a camera mounted on a tripod. John B. Allen photo; collection of Gary W. Dolzall.

Improvements in the quality of cameras and the speed of film made dramatic railroad action photography ever more achievable. One of the masters, Joe G. Collias, aimed his camera on magnificent streamlined New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson 5449 as it pounded along the Hudson River at Peekskill, New York. Collias (1928-2015) authored and illustrated a classic railroad photography book titled “The Last of Steam.” Photo: Joe G. Collias; Gary W. Dolzall collection.

In its time, the debut of Kodachrome color film (first released in 1935 with an ASA speed of 10), changed and enhanced railfan photography just as much as digital technology has done in the present day. Use of Kodachrome (and other similar films) brought railroading to us in vibrant, living color and, along with the versatile and affordable 35mm camera, made railfan photography and the “trading of slides” and “the railfan slide show” extraordinary popular aspects of being an active railfan. And, of course, contemporary digital photography has made the hobby virtually accessible to all comers and offers creative potential that even the likes of Matthew Brady could have only dreamed about!

The combination of versatile 35mm cameras and Kodachrome color film brought vibrance and vitality to the hobby of railfan photography. In an image that exemplifies the reason for the endearing term “Kodachrome Skies,” Louisville & Nashville GE U30B 2508 treads carefully across a rather spindly trestle near Bedford, Indiana, in 1976. Photo by Gary W. Dolzall.

Brilliant fall foliage is always a welcomed addition to a railroad photograph. Author Gary Dolzall turned his digital camera to Metro-North Brookville BL20GH “Brookie” diesel No. 125 as it powered a commuter through Bethel, Connecticut, on MNCR’s Danbury Branch.