O. Winston Link Museum

O. Winston Link Museum and its collection

The O. Winston Link Museum is a museum dedicated to the photography of O. Winston Link , the twentieth century railroad photographer widely considered the master of the juxtaposition between steam railroading and rural culture. He is most noted for his 1950's photographs of steam locomotives taken at night, lit by numerous flashbulbs. He carefully planned the lighting and the staging of these photos, placing human subjects in many. In downtown Roanoke, Virginia , the museum is in a restored Norfolk & Western Railway passenger train station . It opened in January 2004. The building is included in the Norfolk and Western Railway Company Historic District , listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. It currently displays hundreds of photographic prints and has several interactive displays including audio that provide information on Link's photographic subjects. Also displayed are some of the equipment that Link employed to create his night time photographs.