I didn't find this site myself. "AltonFan" posted it in a message on one of the Trains.Com forums. But I thought it was really worthwhile so I'm posting a link to it here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157603671370361/ Is a link to a series of some 1615 color photos of life in the US (and territories) taken in the late 30's and early 40's. Photos belong to a collection in the Library of Congress. From the website: These vivid color photos from the Great Depression and World War II capture an era generally seen only in black-and-white. Photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) created the images between 1939 and 1944. We invite your tags and comments! Also, more identification information. (The current titles come from the agency's original documentation, which was sometimes incomplete.) The FSA/OWI pictures depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, with a focus on rural areas and farm labor, as well as aspects of World War II mobilization, including factories, railroads, aviation training, and women working. The original images are color transparencies ranging in size from 35 mm. to 4x5 inches. They complement the better-known black-and-white FSA/OWI photographs, made during the same period. The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division preserves the original photographs and offers the digital copies to ensure their wide availability. The majority of the photos are just of everyday folk and life in the States back a couple of generations ago. But there are a large number of railroad shots. Many of those were taken by Jack Delaney. Who was Jack Delaney, you ask? Heck, up until 3 days ago I didn't know either. But I just read an article about him and his pioneering use of Kodachrome in the latest special issue of "Classic Trains" magazine, "Railroads and World War II". I recognize shots from the article as coming from this collection. It will take a long time to leaf through all the shots here (and they have a link to their collection of B&W photos, with 171,000 more) so bookmark it as a favorite, and go through it bit by bit when you have time. Even the non-railroad shots are a great window on life in a simpler time. Regards Ed .
Those are great photos, Ed...Thanks. Some, especially those taken in the northeastern US are quite familiar. What's a little shocking is that I look at them as "current events", not history....:confused2:
Wow, University courses in modeling (camouflage [pg26]) ,where do I sign up? certainly a different world. thanks for the link.
Had some time on my hands this evening and got sucked in - flipped thru all of them - wow. Looks like someone went back in time and took their digital camera along! Very cool & thanks for sharing! -Mike
Wow! Great stuff. On page 14 of the collection there is a pic of the Sante Fe Super Chief being serviced - check out the tank cars with diesel fuel on the track next to the E6 (?) - they're pumping fuel into the locomotives from the tank cars! Never heard of that before - it would make a great scene on a model railroad...
One of my favorite Jack Delaney photos is this one of the Madam Queen (ATSF 5000). This is off a site where someone cropped the photos and reposted them. http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34732u1_0.jpg
That reminds me of seeing a Mega Movers show, a year or two back. When they relocated this loco. Boxcab E50
