[Dennis David]

To read more about the O. Winston Link you can visit the museum here. ​

In Movie Theaters the Week of July 24th, 2006 O. Winston Link took elegant black-and-white nighttime photographs of the last of the great steam locomotives, as they chugged majestically across small-town America in the 1950s. A curmudgeon and "paranoid-schizophrenic and manic-depressive" (according to one of his closest friends), Link married Conchita Mendoza when he was 73 and she 48. From there the story could be told by Stephen King: Conchita successfully marketed the photographs for increasing profit while becoming sexually entangled with another man - all the time keeping Link captive and incommunicado in his basement darkroom! "I can't move the sun - and it's always in the wrong place - and I can't even move the tracks, so I had to create my own environment through lighting." Paul Yule's film is a fascinating investigation into personality, crime, marriage, contemporary art, and the ever-malleable nature of truth.

 

[neil_s_wood]

Thanks a lot for that link to the museum Dennis.

I have actually been starting to model the N&W in a small way and some of the photos this guy have taken are awesome. The pictures of a Y6b thundering down main street is incredible. Funnily enough when I was recreating an American main street I seemed to remember some towns having railroads going down the middle but when I came to think about it I thought maybe thats not right. So it was good to find out that I had not imagined that.

The shop has lots of stuff which I am really tempted by. I was halfway to buying most of their dvd's before I remembered that you have a different TV system in the states. However I will certainly be having one or two of the books and the calender too. The photos are brilliant.

It really is a reminder of how important it is to take photos for future generations to see accurately what has gone before. This guy has really captured his era well. If I could afford it I'd love one of his prints. $4000 is a bit steep though.

Have you seen this film? Does it contain much rail content?

 

[Dennis David]

I would guess it has more adult content than railroad content. So I'm sure I'll see it when it opens next week.

The Last Steam Railroad in America

 

[neil_s_wood]

Hopefully it will make it's way down here at some point.

 

[JohnR]

Whats the title of the film? I can't see anything listed on imdb? Although its unlikely to get a cinema release down in this part of the world, it might be good to look out for it on DVD.

 

[JohnR]

Ignore that, its the title of the thread! Just surprised that theres nothing on imdb - usually they are pretty good at this sort of thing.

 

[Dennis David]

I understand the movie has been kicking around but is due for release in America next week. It's more or less an art house film. But I thought the topic was pretty interesting since Link is one of the greatest if not the greatest Railroad photographer.

 

[Dennis David]

Read a review of the film here ...

 

[dwb]

I enjoyed reading the review - thanks for the post

Now to watch out for it on network TV sometime.

David