I put a small gallery up here:

http://foamerphoto.com/

Let me know what you guys think...

Just great, super stuff. Really captures the feel of the steam era - I think, not being quite old enough to have been there. Really like the flaming hot box photo, having actually seen a couple on fire before, including on a certain Midwestern excursion locomotive, no longer running.

Fantastic shots, truly excellent work!

Fantastic pictures !!!! Nice job. :) :)

Where did the girl come from?

Not sure where she came from but is she over 18 and if so is she single?

Overall a great series of shots, I also liked the hot box shot as well as the rest of them. Each shot had a feeling and depth behind it, something you just can't easily capture, at least I know I can't. Fantastic job!!

Oh and mad props on the domain name of the site.

~Casey Q.

For those of us of a certain age, this is a photo spread that the late Freeman Hubbard of Railroad Magazine would have appreciated. Three lovely ladies of which two are in steam.

Even more irony, then, that Steve Barry was one of the ones taking the most pictures during this portion of the event.

Hubbard's name, as well as that of the War Production Board, was mentioned during this portion of the Photo Charter quite a bit. It may be hard to believe, but many of these shots were done inside our barn here in Owosso during a punding rain. Funny how 15 minute shoots suddenly can become THREE HOUR shoots, given some work ;- )

To the Steam Railroading Institute and Historic Transport Preservation and all of us who participated in this entire weekend's events, this was about recreating history. That includes the women's VERY important role during World War II in keeping the railroads moving. We did our best to honor them with what we did, and I think with the help of some lovely ladies who were game for a time, we did so. To pull this off, several organizations and several individuals came together. Some of them were:

--- Owosso Elks Club #753. They spent weeks working with HTP member Tim Lab backdating their Lodge (the former GTW Owosso Depot)
--- HTP, who paid for the event, collected the items used in the closeups, and brought the photographers
--- Pete Lerro Productions, who provided lighting and directions for the nigth shots
--- The SRI staff and volunteers, who acquired, painted, and relettered the cars, got the locomotive prepped, and spent the time trying to recreate the event.
--- the ladies you saw here, who come from several different walks of life, and came together to creat some pretty cool images.
--- Fellow members of the steam field from the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society (#765), Strasburg Railroad and several other organizations, who came to help us pull off the event, proving that all of us in steam and rail preservation CAN work together for common goals.

In my short time at SRI, these events have been some of the hardest but yet most rewarding things that we have done. Its the type of things that, as one of my board members said you "put away and pull out during the rough days of the job to remember why we do what we do, and why its all worth while."

Folks, it was just plain COOL to be apart of.

Several of the photographers have put their shots up on Railpictures as well, if any of you are so inclined. And after John Craft's plane lands back in Atlanta, you might want to check out steamspecials.com too. A taste from what he loaded this morning. That's my wife on the right, the only one smiling.....

And the one your all foaming about is Alaina Kraus, the director from the Tall Pines Council for the Boy Scouts of America. Boys, you all gonna make her blush now....




Proud to say we have worked with the Historic Transport Preservation, and hope to do so again,

TJG
Steam Railroading Institute

The shot of the gals on the Big Girl looks just like a Jack Delano 4x5 Kodachrome from the OWI (office of war Information), taken on the ATSF.

The "blazer", as they were called on the B&M, is a neat touch. I hope no real journal pads were harmed in the making of that image. And not overlit, either; superb!!

The B&Ws I saw of the whole freight train are very impressive, with no obvious modern cars in the train.

No whitewalls on the Chevy truck!!! Hooray!!

Shake down the photographers to pay for haircuts on the Boy Scouts next time, though....

Howard P.
Stickler-for-Detail, CT

Might I add that all of the posed shots (minus the depot) were shot in a MODERN barn. The boyscout shot particularly though looks like it was shot in a grundgy, steamy roundhouse, while some of the others look like they were shot outdoors at night. They were in fact shot in the middle of a very rainy day in a nice, modern, somewhat heated barn. The entire enviroment, and lighting was controlled at all times.

Not only that, but personally, the people-aspect of railroading is what intrigues me the most. In my line of work helping out a rather well known photographer in the area, I do portrait photography, and set up lighting, including very dramatic lighting for some somewhat erotic (NOT porn, but rather, erotic artistic shots for aspiring models) photos. I enjoy telling a story through photos. Pete Lerro did the lighting and posing, and while I would have done a couple things differently, I think it went really well. I am not nearly as much into the 'runby' photos, as they really dont do much for me (there are rare exceptions, and some of the photos shot this weekend during the run-by's are totally amazing) and I am sure that there are many more great photos to come.

I must say, John Craft puts on AMAZING events, and I hope he will bring his group back to Owosso in the future. Pretty much everyone had a blast, even in the freezing cold, and the photos we have seen from the group so far are amazing. Keep up the good work John!


This shows the behind-the-scenes of the shoot. Courtesy of steamspecials.com

You, sir, are very perceptive (note the Thermos), though it was the C&NW in Clinton, Iowa.





When I first saw the lunchroom photo, I viewed it in the context of helping with the accuracy of caboose props. At some point I forwarded a link to TJ, and the idea of a photo opportunity featuring a female servicing crew took shape. I envisioned it as a 30-minute break on Sunday, but the National Weather Service had other ideas. With freezing rains and unsafe roads, we spent the afternoon inside SRI's engine shed and Steve Zuiderveen's AA caboose.

TJ, remind me to send the NWS a thank-you note. And Fred, I left you some pickled eggs in the PM caboose.

JAC

It is nice to see contemporary railroad photographs with people in them.

Wesley

Go look at the whole album on John Craft's website. This is first-rate stuff, some of the best railroad images I've seen in years. These photos deserve the widest possible distribution, especially in the non-railroad media.

Nice article in the Flint paper and nice video on the website; the Owosso shoot should have gotten such coverage, too.

People built the engines and cars, people ran the trains and greased the rods and spiked the track and lifted the tickets and made down the berths and typed the waybills and handed up the orders. The rail photo fraternity is realizing that without the people, it's all just lifeless steel and lumber.

We're here to tell the stories of all that, guys--- the "stuff" is just the props to do it with.

Howard P.

Several have emailed about the cars themselves and their histories, and since some have asked:



Gondola --- Chesapeake and Ohio #31262 (we believe); built in 1939, coverted to a wheelcar in 1969, acquired last October from Bluewater Chapter, NRHS. Lettered C&O one side, PM on the other (with apologies to Mike Manwiller, who we robbed the idea from)

Tank Cars --- Riveted, first owned by US Army (DOD), believed to have built in the '40's. Later purchased by Detroit & Mackinac and numbered X-128 and X-129, last owned by RailAmerica. Restored to Pure Oil and GATX.

PS-1 Boxcar --- AA #1314, bought by AA in 1957, donated to MSTRP in 1983 by State of Michigan.

Wabash/ AA Boxcars --- Originally double-sheathed wood cars built in 12/23, rebuilt with steel sides during World War II by Decatur Shops of the Wabash. Later transferred (circa 1950's) to the Ann Arbor, last numbers X4633 and X4646. X4633 donated to MSTRP in 1983 by State of Michigan; X4646 donated to MSTRP/ SRI by Great Lakes Central, 2007.

Sand Hoppers --- Originally built for Ann Arbor, converted to Sand storage for diesels by TSBY in 1980's with roller bearing trucks, loaned to MSTRP/ SRI/ HTP for the event.

Automobile Car --- Built as the #72332 for the Pere Marquette in 10/46 by Greenville, donated to MSTRP in 1982 by Chessie System.

Outside Braced Box/ Camp Car --- Built in 1919 for GTW as an Automobile car (dreadnaught ends), later converted by Port Huron Car Shops in 1950's to a camp car. Acquired last October from Bluewater Chapter, NRHS. Currently being looked at for restoration as part of Boy Scout Eagle Project.

Caboose --- Pere Marquette A909, built in 1934. Donated by Chessie System to MSTRP in 1982, restored twice, 1985 and 2005.

Some of our more seasoned members could elaborate (Aarne?) about the earlier acquisitions.

We should also mention Caboose AA #2839, which was used in some shots, owned by SRI member Steve Zuiderveen.





Many of these cars could not have been restored without the financial help of Historic Transport Preservation. NONE of them would have been restored without the help of the SRI staff and volunteers ; - )


TJG

We did, just more local here in Owosso, rather than big town of Flint. Props to Paul at the Huck, who thought of MLive.com linkup.

http://www.argus-press.com/articles/2008/02/18/news/news2.txt