A permanent exhibition of William King Regional Arts Center, on view at the Abingdon Train Station, 306 Depot Square.

Funded by John and Becky Seay Matney, Karl and Rhonda Kindig, Richard and Leslie Gilliam, Norfolk Southern Foundation and Cumberland Resources Corporation. Additional support provided by media sponsors Bristol Herald Courier and WJHL Newschannel 11.

More than 30 black and white images comprise this special exhibition of railroad photographs by renowned photographer and long-time Arts Center friend, the late O. Winston Link. Part of OWL's acclaimed 1950s photography project that documented the last steam railroads in America, all images in this exhibit will focus on the Norfolk and Western's Abingdon branch, The Virginia Creeper, which was Mr. Link's stated favorite. The exhibition will feature both new images not exhibited before as well as a selection of favorites, such as "Old Maud Bows to the Virginia Creeper." Approximately one-half of the collection will be on view on a rotating basis. Hours are 10-4 Monday through Friday, January through November, and 10-2 on Saturdays, April-October. Admission is free.

IMAGES FROM THE EXHIBITION:
(At left, top to bottom)

NW1252 - JOE DOLLAR WAITS FOR THE VIRGINIA CREEPER, WARRENSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, OCTOBER 1956.
Joe Dollar, age 15 and out for a ride on his bicycle, just happened by as Winston Link was setting up for this photo of Train 201, southbound, on October 22, 1956. Link, always eager to animate his photos with human participants, asked the boy to wait at the crossing while locomotive 382, bell ringing and whistle blowing, passed by on this rainy day. The resulting photo is one of Winston Link's most poignant, and one of his most popular images made during daytime. Joe and his wife, Mary, continue to live near this location.

NW648 - LARRY GRAHAM PUMPS WATER AS TRAIN 201, SOUTHBOUND, PASSES HIS HOME IN TUCKERDALE, NORTH CAROLINA, OCTOBER 1955.
Winston Link was always looking for people and objects to animate his images of locomotives and passing trains. The maple trees rich with fall color, the jack-o-lantern and young boy filling a bucket from the pump as the train passed, fitted perfectly with the photographer's desire to mark the season and show how much the railroad was a part of people's lives.

NW1595 - THE SEVENTH GRADE FROM BRISTOL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TAKES A RIDE ON THE VIRGINIA CREEPER, WEST JEFFERSON, NORTH CAROLINA, OCTOBER 1957.
By 1957, traveling on a country railroad behind a steam locomotive had become so uncommon that the seventh grade class from Bristol Junior High School made a special field trip of the event. The Norfolk & Western Railway assisted by adding an extra passenger car to the train to accommodate them. Winston had planned to photograph in West Jefferson that day, and captured the students as they milled around the engine before the train started back to Abingdon.

NW1426 - A FESTIVE OCCASION FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS. RIDING THROUGH THE COUNTRY ON AN OLD STEAM TRAIN, OCTOBER 1957.
The number of passengers riding the Abingdon Branch for nostalgic or festive reasons increased in late 1957, after the Norfolk & Western Railway announced that the old class M steam locomotives, affectionately nicknamed "Mollies," used on the Branch line were to be replaced with diesels in December of that year. Here, several generations of a family take a final trip, and a final photo, in the ancient passenger car, lighted only with kerosene lamps, although the train never ran during darkness.