(The following article by Jim Washington was posted on the Virginian-Pilot on July 25.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Upstairs, majestic steam locomotives chugged through stunning mountain landscapes in crisp black-and-white photos.
Downstairs, replicas of the same trains whizzed past plastic dinosaurs, tiny town squares and characters from “The Simpsons.”
Sunday afternoon railroad fanatics young and old gathered at the Chrysler Museum of Art to admire model trains and an exhibit of photographs by O. Winston Link.
“Norfolk and Western Railway Photographs by O. Winston Link” has been on display at the museum since July 1 and will continue through the end of the year.
Between 1955 and 1960, Link documented the final days of steam locomotives, photographing scenes along the Norfolk and Western Railway line between Cincinnati and Norfolk. Norfolk and Western, now Norfolk Southern, was the last railroad to use steam engines.
Most of the 50 photos in the exhibit ( 51 more can be seen in a video display) come from the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia.
Joe Bernard carried his grandson Tyler, 4, among the photos.
“They had the most wonderful engines,” Bernard said.
A retired shipbuilder, Bernard was born at one end of the Norfolk and Western line and now finds himself at the other. The Cincinnati native lives in Virginia Beach.
He rattles off steam engine classifications with ease – Class J, Class A, Powhatan Arrows.
“They were amazing,” he said. “These engines could drive 110 miles per hour, on steam. The line was like a racetrack, they could really strut their stuff.”
Bernard and his wife have driven most of the line between Ohio and Virginia, and walked a lot of it, too.
He is a member of the local chapter of the National Model Railroad Association, which mounted an impressive display in the museum’s Huber Court on Sunday.
“The models are a good way to share our love of trains with other people, and get some new people into it as well,” Bernard said, nodding toward the youngster asleep on his shoulder.
Downstairs, his fellow model enthusiasts ran their trains through a kid-friendly landscape populated by dinosaurs, cartoon character figures and miniature cars, buildings, airplanes and trees.
“It was really made with kids in mind,” said John Fallon, piloting a train by remote control.
Fallon, 41, has been a railroad fan ever since a fifth-grade train trip from Virginia to Disneyland. On Sunday he wore an engineer’s cap and overalls.
“Most people fall out of it in their teens when they discover cars and girls,” he said.
Most of the model builders create small tableaus, known as modules, that can be joined to create larger displays such as the one Sunday at the museum, which measured 40 feet by 20 feet. “This is our chance to run,” Fallon said. “And we get to let the public in on it.”
It’s a chance to get a little competitive, too.
Shawn Henderson had 80 miniature coal cars hooked up to one engine and planned to get the chain to about 120.
“That’s a club record,” he said. “Nobody’s touched me yet.”