O. Winston Link: Life Along the Line by Tony Reevy - Abrams

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L I F E A

P H O T O G R A PHI C

W I N S TO N

A L O N G PO R T R AI T

O F

AMER I C A’S

L I N K

T H E LAS T

G REA T

L I N E S T EA M

RA IL ROA D

TONY REEVY foreword by

SCOTT LOTHES afterword by

CONWAY LINK INCLUDES A CD OF UNRELEASED TRAIN RECORDINGS BY O. WINSTON LINK

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previous page, left

cLAss Y-6b iN the wAsh bAY At bLUefieLd. bLUefieLd, west VirgiNiA, JULY 27, 1955, Nw 343

Up until the very end of steam power on the N&W, all locomotives received a wash as part of their maintenance and service. A high-pressure blast of steam and hot water, mixed with a little kerosene, washed away the dirt. The hot boiler of this locomotive speeds the drying process in a cloud of steam, which Link has emphasized by putting lights behind the subject as well as in front of it.

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cLAss Y-6A eNgiNe #2159 LookiNg throUgh roUNdhoUse door. bristoL roUNdhoUse, bristoL, VirgiNiA, october 1, 1957, Nw 1531

Being readied for a time freight run back to Roanoke, Class Y-6a is seen through a partially closed door at the Bristol Roundhouse.

PLAte 45 left cLAss J #605 eNters wAsh bAY. shAffers crossiNg, roANoke, VirgiNiA, mArch 19, 1955, Nw 12

After Link’s initial few test photos at Waynesboro, Virginia, in January 1955, the huge Shaffers Crossing locomotive servicing facility west of downtown Roanoke was the first site of his N&W photos, made in March 1955. Here, Class J #605 glides into position for a high-pressure wash of water, steam, and kerosene, which will leave it glistening. Link liked to joke that “the dirt on N&W engines is a deposit of diesel soot thrown off by C&O and Virginian locomotives that run parallel to the N&W in many places.”

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cLAss k-1 #104 tAkiNg oN wAter. bristoL roUNdhoUse, bristoL, VirgiNiA, october 17, 1955, Nw 611

Bristol was the southwestern terminus for the N&W. The roundhouse there was small and generally quiet. Class J locomotives pulling passenger trains westbound were serviced there after handing their trains to the diesels of the Southern Railway. The three Class M locomotives used on the Abingdon Branch were kept there, as was Class K-1 #104, built in the N&W’s Roanoke Shops in 1916 for passenger service, but now finishing its days moving local freight.

Because Link was in the area on a number of occasions to photograph the 82

Abingdon Branch, he would often spend his evenings making photos at the Bristol Roundhouse.

Here, Locomotive #104 has been moved from its stall and is taking on coal and water, while another shop man lubricates its running gear.

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P LAT e 125

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weLch swimmiNg PooL. weLch, west VirgiNiA, AUgUst 28, 1958, Nw 1961

By August 1958, Link’s work was well known to all of the employees of the N&W. Link had told the dispatcher on the Pocahontas Division where he would be working that evening, and the engine crews had been instructed to make sure they weren’t making much smoke as they passed the municipal swimming pool in Welch, the county seat of McDowell County, West Virginia.

This is the second swimming pool photo Link attempted, and the lighting and composition are much surer than in the previous one, made near Bluefield, West Virginia, two summers previously. Here, four young local women chat with the big-city boy from New York, Leroy “Corky” Zider, Link’s teenage nephew and one of his best assistants.

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mAiN LiNe oN mAiN street. North fork, west VirgiNiA, AUgUst 29, 1958, Nw 1964

The heyday of many of the coal towns in West Virginia’s Mercer, McDowell, and Mingo counties was during the first two decades of the twentieth century. As a result, many of the small coal towns had very substantial buildings, but the valleys were so narrow that the railroad, roadways, and buildings competed for the same space. By the 1950s, work in the mines had diminished, and the population was dropping.

Most of the buildings in this photograph were empty then, and all have since been demolished.

Here, a heavy freight, pulled by Class Y-6b #2189, thunders east on the main line at full throttle. In this variant of the more famous NW 1966, Link has placed three kids on the front steps of the abandoned bank, and the doctor’s office on the third floor next door is dark.

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P LAT e 127

previous page, left

cAt ALoNe oN tAbLe. NAtUrAL bridge stAtioN, VirgiNiA, mArch 1, 1956, Nw 972

Always attuned to the animals he encountered, Link made sure to photograph this N&W cat, dining on the food left by the crew.

Seemingly well fed and not the least skittish, this cat seems to know that it belongs.

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mAN iN roANoke stAtioN wAitiNg room. roANoke, VirgiNiA, JUNe 19, 1955, Nw 308

The N&W passenger station was modernized by famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy between 1947 and 1949. For the duration of Link’s project, segregation was still common in the South, including the passenger waiting area. Sitting in the “colored” waiting room, an unidentified man waits beneath the large glass clock in the station.

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iNterior of roANoke stAtioN. roANoke, VirgiNiA, AUgUst 1956, Nw 1170

Passengers await the arrival of a train in this view of the west end of the concourse at N&W’s Roanoke passenger station, now the site of the O. Winston Link Museum. The concourse, which extended over the station’s four tracks, was later removed.

However, the windows seen in the distance were preserved and then reinstalled at their present location on the Museum’s south wall, providing a view of the current Norfolk Southern train operations.

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t. h. hANkiNs hoLdiNg UP his soN oN the feNce As A switcher PAsses. roANoke, VirgiNiA, APriL 17, 1955, Nw 37

Railroads, in general, and steam locomotives, in particular, have long attracted people of all generations. Here, T. H. Hankins holds his son up on the fence at the busy Jefferson Street Crossing, to 1 72

watch a yard engine as it darts about during its switching duties at the Roanoke passenger station. Hotel Roanoke is visible in the background.

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