Old train photographs

[smiller]

Good morning everyone,   May 28, 2008

 This is the first time I have accessed your site. I have inherited approximately 300 8" x 10"

glass negatives of old train engines and tenders from the late 1800's up to about 1950. They are all professional quality and cover most of the US and some foreign countries. They include excellent backgrounds and signals . Some include some shots of boats owned by rr's as well.  

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could do with these? If so, please e-mail me at: [e-mail]  Thank you.

smiller  

 

[carknocker1]

I sent you an e-mail , keep a look out .

[dredmann]

There are people who advertise in the back of the magazine to buy whole negative collections. Also, lots of people sell negatives on eBay. I've bought negatives occasionally, depending on the subject matter. You could also donate them to a museum or university.

Glass plates are a bit trickier than film, and 8x10 is a bit trickier than 4x5 and smaller sizes. But there are plenty of ways to get them scanned, or printed in a wet darkroom. 

[dredmann]

P.S.

The easiest thing to do to turn them into something useful, assuming the plates are not so fragile that you are likely to damage them (maybe try one or two?), is to make contact prints. You don't need an enlarger, or enlarging lenses, or negative carrier, or easel. All you need is a darkroom, a basic light source (even a bare bulb, probably a low-power one (maybe 7 W or 15 W?), suspended at the right height would probably do), three or four trays (dishpans would do), $20 of photographic paper, and $20 of fairly safe chemicals.

There's a very good, very basic guide at:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/2006211111431518.pdf

and generally more basic info available for download at:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=104

but of course some of the steps described don't apply to contact printing.

 

[smiller]

Hi, Thanks for the information. I already have contact prints and have scanned some of them onto a disk.  I have sent out inquiries to several publishers and am awaiting their replies. I'll come back to this site and let you know what happens. Have a great day!

S.Miller

[route_rock]

  Let us know what happens. If you get like a book deal or somehing I would love to buy it. Not very many shots of that era,so I am glad you are sharing.