Black and white nighttime scene of four people by a rural road under a small stone railway bridge, watching a steam locomotive pass overhead emitting thick white smoke, with a white house and leafless trees nearby.

O. Winston Link Museum

The O. Winston Link Museum collection is comprised of the striking photographic and auditory works developed by photographer-artist O. Winston Link between 1955 and 1960.

Who was O. Winston Link?

A successful commercial photographer from New York, Link brought his studio outdoors to create carefully arranged images designed to convey the end of the steam era.  At the time, the Norfolk & Western Railway was the last to convert to diesel, and O. Winston Link captured the communities and countryside along the N&W line.

Covering much of Western Virginia and bordering portions of North Carolina, West Virginia, and Maryland, Link took advantage of the region’s then unique combination of mountainous terrain, sparsely arranged populations and steam rail infrastructure to capture the end of America’s once thriving industrial age.

Black and white photo of two men standing among vintage photography equipment, including large studio lights with reflectors, cameras on tripods, and various cables neatly coiled on the floor, with boxes labeled Superflash Sylvania Electric on the right side.

O. Winston Link and George Thom with Night Flash Equipment, New York, 1956, NW792

Black and white nighttime scene at Rural Retreat train station with a steam locomotive on the left emitting smoke, and a railroad worker holding a light standing on the tracks near the station building.

Documenting the
‍end of Steam

Largely ignored for more than 20 years following their production, Winston’s work enjoyed a series of international exhibitions, recordings and two published books beginning in the 1980s. Today, Link’s N&W images are known worldwide.  

Wishing that his legacy be preserved and remain available to the communities he traversed, Link began negotiations with Roanoke’s Historical Society of Western Virginia in 2000, personally selecting the site for the Museum - the former N&W Passenger Station.  In 2004, the O. Winston Link Museum opened to the public, celebrating not only the legacy of the photographer, but the rural Appalachian communities that disappeared in the years after the end of the steam era. O. Winston Link died in 2001, never seeing his museum come to fruition.   

All Link images are copyright W. Conway Link and the O. Winston Link Museum, and cannot be used under any circumstance without permission. For image use, please contact Ashley Webb, Executive Director & Curator, at curator@vahistorymuseum.org.

Selected Works of O. Winston Link

O. Winston Link sets up two 4x5 cameras at Bridge 8, November 1957.  Gift of the Link Trust, NW1566, OWL2007.04.1566.
Hot Shot Eastbound, Ieager, WV, August 2, 1956.  Gift of the Link Trust, NW1103-76, OWL2007.04.1103-76
O. Winston Link used miles of cables and one-time use flashbulbs to create his iconic nighttime train photographs. The museum has all of his flash equipment on display in the galleries.
Birmingham Special Gets the Highball at Rural Retreat, Virginia, December 1957.  Gift of the Link Trust, NW1635, OWL2007.04.1635
Old Maude Bows To The Virginia Creeper, Green Cove, VA, October 27, 1956.  Gift of the Link Trust, NW1230, OWL2007.04.1230.
Cracked Window, Waynesboro, VA, April 14, 1955.  Gift of the Link Trust, NW0032, OWL2007.04.32.
Cracked Window, Waynesboro, VA, April 14, 1955.  Gift of the Link Trust, NW0032, OWL2007.04.32.
O. Winston Link and George Thom with Night Flash Equipment, New York, 1956, NW792
O. Winston Link and George Thom with Night Flash Equipment, New York, 1956, NW792
No. 2 Northbound at Hawksbill Creek with O. Winston Link Behind the Camera, Luray, Virginia, 1955, NW369
No. 2 Northbound at Hawksbill Creek with O. Winston Link Behind the Camera, Luray, Virginia, 1955, NW369

Tell us more

Let us know what brings you here

info@vahistorymuseum.org
(540) 982-5465
101 Shenandoah Avenue, Roanoke, Virginia 24016
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