O Winston Link

Merry Christmas to everyone 

I cannot thank you enough fot sharing this......as an avid Art History major (long ago) and big fan O Winston Link, I thoroughly enjoyed this video.

  I've been to the Museum 2x, and think it should be a "must do" on any RR aficicanados' list.    O Winston Link gave us something that can NEVER be replicated

...a look into past and future at the same time!

Thanks a lot George!

I've played this recording in the train room many December nights with the lights off and a scale J making passenger stops around the layout. 

That is one amazing video!!  However, for historical accuracy, we have to consider the  following article, which was published in the N&W Historical Society magazine, The Arrow (Vol.25, #4):

"O. Winston Link was busy during the days surrounding Christmas 1957.  The clock was running out for steam on the Bristol line passenger trains, and the last runs were scheduled for Dec 31.  Link did not have a lot of time to spare for photos or recordings.

On December 18, he was in Rural Retreat, recording train #17.  No photos were taken.

From December 19 through 23, Link was in Max Meadows and took a lot of pictures, but he didn’t make any recordings.

On December 24, Link started by recording trains #46 at Wytheville and #42 at Max Meadows, then late Christmas Eve he worked his way south to catch the chimes of the Lutheran church in Rural Retreat.  The recording at Rural Retreat wasn’t to his liking because he noted, “Auto sounds should come out. Not good for anything”.  

Still, Link must have heard and seen something worth remembering, because on December 26 he was back in Rural Retreat and took four pictures (NW1628-1631).  He concentrated on the photo setup, and no recordings were made.  He posed Dallas Newman and his daughter Elizabeth on the station platform and photographed southbound train #17.  He requested a slow order past the station for northbound train #42, with lots of steam and white smoke.  Engineer W. W. Rickey, fireman Doug Wohlford and Class J 603 delivered on that request, and Link captured it all!  The photo is unpublished, but it may be the most visually dramatic of all Link’s photos at Rural Retreat. Better yet, Mr. Wohlford is clearly visible in the cab window.

However, Link was still not satisfied, and had one more idea in mind before he had to move on to other locations. There were only five days left.

Link returned to Rural Retreat December 27, with a plan to put all the pieces together: chimes, train, and people.  There were seven artists at work that night:  Link (cameras), Roy Zider (recorder), Mrs. J. E. Dodson (chimes), J. L. Akers (lantern), C. H. Hartshock, (the passenger who got off the train) and the still-unidentified crew on 603.  Those combined forces gave us what is likely the most memorable steam railroad recording ever made.

But wait a minute.  This recording has always been “9:39 P.M. on Christmas Eve, 1957 in Rural Retreat, Va.” in the liner notes for all versions of The Fading Giant, yet it was made three days later.  Did Link try to put one over on us?  I don’t think so.

OK, so it wasn’t recorded on Christmas eve; that’s a matter of history in Link’s own handwriting.  But the recording is much more than just a day on the calendar.  Link’s “Christmas Eve in Rural Retreat” is what he wanted us to remember: carols from the nearby church, the distant whistle and approach of The Pelican, and the wonderfully long departure as 603 continues into the night.  The sounds are transcendent.   It’s really Christmas Eve anywhere we want it to be.  The recording doesn’t need a location or a date or a time.  Just listen and you’re there."

Thanks for posting this video.  Gary Ballard did us all a favor by creating this.  For those who are interested, there's a slightly longer version on YouTube.

Here's just the original recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbzAJoW34DM

A careful listen during the last couple of minutes allows you to hear, what I assume to be Link, walking around unscrewing something.  The distant roar of that J right up to the end is powerful

Bob

Thank you to all who added to my post.  The video is wonderful.  I wonder if the 611 could be there for the 60th anniversary?

Bravo, bravo!!!!

George Lasley

George....thanks so much for bringing this topic up....that video is wonderful!!

Alan

Great video.  Thanks.

Larry

What a fabulous video!  The sounds of the J are haunting.  Reminds of laying in bed at night as a boy and listening to the steam engines whistles and dreaming of far away places.  Thanks for posting.

Art

VERY nicely done. Having met Mr. Link a time or two (he even autographed one of his books for me) back in the late 1950s, I must admit that I really prefer the original recording he made at Rural Retreat in 1957.

Thanks for posting that link.

You may find this interesting:

Doug Wohlford

Even if you are not interested in the N&W, there is no doubt that history was caught

and preserved by Link.

O. Winston Link was an absolutely brilliant photographer. He was innovative, creative and a pioneer in night time photography. With his work he captured a period in American history that will never be repeated. What is most fascinating is that while his work was done in black and white still photos, many of his photos are dynamic and show trains in motion. We visited the O. Winston Link Museum and Gallery a few years ago (that is located on the lower level of old Roanoke, VA. Union Station). Its worth a visit and the station that was designed by famed architect Raymond Lowey is also worth seeing. My wife Paula loves real railroads ( and train travel) and was instrumental in us visiting the museum.

I guess I must be the odd man out, but I did not enjoy the combined sounds.  Now the actual 1957 sound of The Pelican making a flag stop . . . that was superb.  

The Engineer did a fine job of coming into the station aggressively and making the stop, and then departing smartly.  And he didn't slide any wheels.  I'd fire for that Engineer any day.

For anyone who doesn't have his books, The Last Steam Railroad in America and Steam, Steel & Stars I would highly recommend them. More recently, another book with Mr. Link's photography came out, by Tony Reevy, Life Along the Line. I picked that one up too and enjoy it just as well. We are fortunate that he realized what was happening to steam locomotives and decided to document their swan song. I think of him every day I go to work... I have one of his large prints across from my desk, framed with a letter I got from him back in the 1990's. 

Tom

No Tom, you're not odd man out. I didn't like the mixed video work either. I got frustrated with it less than half in and went back to reading the thread. Seeing as this was my first time to ever learn of this recording, I wanted to hear the real deal from 1957 and not some aspiring video editors attempt at an artsy-fartsy "enhancement" of it.  I was very glad when the original video link was posted a bit further down in this thread.

It was a very evocative experience to sit here and listen to an event that was common as dirt in 1957 that is now gone forever.

Thank you Mr. Link.

I met Mr. Link in 1987 when he was at The Whippany Train Museum in New Jersey. He was there to sell and autograph copies of his then new book. Their was a young lady with him and at first I thought she may have been his daughter but she was his new wife Concheta. They lived in South Salem, New York in Northern Westchester County. I think we know the story when a few years later she and a male friend tried to steal his original film negatives by keeping him locked up in the basement of their home. A friend of Winston's came to visit him and found out what was going on. She and the friend were arrested and she spent several years in Jail. Winston passed away a few years later in his car at a near-by train station, a very fitting place for him to pass on.

Thanks, ed new haven line, for posting your short piece about OWL.  I never knew about any of that.

The information about his wife was in the New York City area newspapers and well as on the local TV news back then. I always thought that she and Winston were a mismatched couple from the start but did not say much about it for fear that it would get back to them. Like I said she was certainly young enough to be his daughter so I wondered why she married him. He could be a very grumpy person at times and other times interesting to talk with. RIP Winston.

Thank you George for the video and everyone for the extra commentary.  Yes O. Winston Link did a great job, and was certainly on top of things realizing he was filming and recording something great that was soon to be never seen again.  I have been impressed with his work since I first learned of him many years ago.

Christmas 1957; only my 2nd Christmas.