Hot Shot Eastbound (Lager, West Virginia; August 2, 1956

About the Art

Photographer and train-enthusiast O. Winston Link began photographing the Norfolk and Western Railway after the company announced it would begin the shift from steam to diesel locomotives. Many of his scenes took extensive planning and elaborate lighting to become a reality. This photograph required tracking train schedules, coordinating with a drive-in theatre, and setting up more than 40 lights to illuminate the nighttime scene. If a single flashbulb malfunctioned, the rest in the series would not fire and the shot would be ruined. Hot Shot Eastbound offers the viewer a “slice of life” in 1956 America with the perfect timing of drive-in movie guests seated in cars, watching a modern commercial airplane on screen juxtaposed with the almost extinct steam locomotive in the background.

FEATURED IMAGE
O. Winston Link (American, 1914–2001), Hot Shot Eastbound (Lager, West Virginia; August 2, 1956), 1956, gelatin silver print, 15 1/8 x 19 1/4 inches (38.4 x 48.9 cm). Museum purchase with funds provided by the James F. Dicke Family, 1998.37