Leaving a mark for the future

A westbound Conrail freight crosses the Norfolk Southern diamond at CP 317, between Delta and Wauseon, Ohio. Bjorklund labeled the slide as Delta, which is nearby, but not the clearest explanation for future generations. John F. Bjorlund photo, Center for Railroad Photography & Art collection

It feels good to help out. I was recently reminded of that when Scott Lothes from the Center for Railroad Photography & Art recently asked for some help in identifying photo locations in the group's collection. The Center is working through its collection of photographs by John F. Bjorklund, who spent a great deal of time photographing Conrail in my native Ohio. I was, of course, glad to help out, because I got an early look at some of the collection.

Lothes tells me that every one of Bjorklund's 55,000 slides includes at least a date and location – and sometimes even more info. But, being caretakers of the past, the Center can always use more info on its holdings, and I was able provide a little more detail – direction, time of day, other location names, etc. – on many of the shots.

“At the Center we advocate first for location and date. More is information great, but, as with these Conrail photographs, basic location can get you close enough that someone can usually fill in the rest," Lothes says. "If you’re starting from scratch, first make sure everything has location and date on it. If you’re able to do that for all of your photographs, then you can go back and add more details."

This experience got me thinking about my own slide collection, which, while considerably smaller than Bjorklund's, could still benefit from a little added detail, especially while I still remembered much of it. So I set out recently, while reorganizing my collection at home, to add a little more info to my own slide mounts. While sorting through the photos, I was alarmed to find just how many slides I had failed to put either a date or a location on. Shame on me.

I now endeavor to include not only the date and location (by nearest town), but also the direction or train symbol, and railroad location or street name. Some trips I was good at keeping good notes and have a decent record of train symbols. Other trips I wasn't, and, for the future generations, I am adding at least the direction of the train(s) pictured, or the direction the camera is looking.

"Without the basics, we could be totally lost," Lothes adds, and I'm starting to learn that with my own collection.

Someday soon I will start to upgrade the information provided with photos I have acquired over the years, some of which have no information at all. Just because I may recognize a train crossing the diamond in Attica, Ohio, or passing AC tower in Marion doesn't mean railfans of the future will.

After all, change is why we even bother with photography to begin with. It's a good way to help out future generations with the story of railroading.