O. Winston Link & Roanoke History Museum

I’m not even sure how the O. Winston Link & Roanoke History Museum wound up on our radar, but it was a quite a gem.

The museum features the work of photographer O. Winston Link (that’s O.W.L. – fun!), who captured the last days of the steam-propelled Norfolk & Western Railway locomotives between 1955 and 1960, as the railway made its final transition from steam to diesel.

*Bringing in the Cows on the Norvel Ryan Farm, As Train No. 3 Passes,* O. Winston Link, 1955. A photo with quite a contrast – animal vs. train, slow vs. speed.

Link (1914-2001) was a commercial photographer who fell in love with the imagery of steam rail, and created highly crafted scenes of trains interacting with their surroundings. He spent many hours setting up his shoots and used strategically placed lighting to capture the look he wanted, sometimes including dozens of flashbulbs arranged to go off simultaneously. The railroad and its staff were also supportive of his work, and on occasion would hold up trains in order to give Link time to reset his equipment!

Link worked in West Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland, and made more than 2,000 images of trains in his career. In addition, he made 100 sound recordings and released six gramophone records between 1957 and 1977.

His work was largely ignored for 20 years, but then he began being noticed in the 1980s and eventual became a quite sought-after artist.

*Hotshot Freight, Eastbound, At the Iaeger Drive-In*, O. Winston Link, 1956. This is Link’s most famous photograph, capturing automobiles in the foreground, a plane on the screen (the movie was *Battle Taxi*, a film about the Korean War), and a steam locomotive in the background.

The former Norfolk & Western Passenger Station, which now houses the museum, was built around 1905 but renovated by renowned architect Raymond Loewy in 1949. Loewy was known as the Father of Industrial Design.

Fittingly, the museum is housed in the former Norfolk & Western Passenger Station. Link was heavily involved in the creation of the museum, and as such, the museum includes Link’s photographic equipment and a reproduction of his dark room, in addition to numerous prints. There are also photographs by others “in the style of” Link.

The museum also includes a small display on the local area and its history, as well as a room filled with a hat exhibit! One nook included a series of lovely small-format paintings by a local artist.

The cover photo to this post is Abingdon Branch, Train No. 202 Passing Brilliant Fall Foliage, O. Winston Link, 1957.