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Post by theengineshed on Oct 30, 2015 16:53:37 GMT -8
I have a modest 5K of photos on flickr, average everyday stuff mostly, but useful if it is what you are looking for. That said I'm awed by some of the collections out there. One in particular has caught my eye recently, the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library. WHOA! The photos have been being uploaded for quite some time, so this isn't new news, but there are some incredible jewels in the collection. Most are not titled, no tags, no way to search for them, unless someone leaves comments. They are high resolution too, and downloadable, you just couldn't ask for more. Most of the really good stuff is from the 1940's, which I don't model, but find fascinating none the less. What a glorious way to waste an evening, and if you leave comments, they are searchable in the future for others, so maybe it isn't a complete waste of a good evening. Some of the almost 28K photos uploaded to date...  Lewis Collection 3669 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr  Lewis Collection 3197 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr  Lewis063 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr  Lewis122 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr  Lewis Collection 3469 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr  random035 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr  random162 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr |
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Post by theengineshed on Oct 30, 2015 17:40:22 GMT -8
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Post by mlehman on Oct 30, 2015 19:17:27 GMT -8
The Barriger collection is awe inspiring, haven't visited in awhile, and they just keep adding stuff...I'll never get caught up but I'll still be happy visiting.
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Post by gmpullman on Oct 30, 2015 21:57:45 GMT -8
Mike, That collection is a veritable treasure trove of fascinating views. I had made a comment in another forum about the Robert G. Lewis collection and received a reply from his daughter concerning the photos: Ed, I am one of the daughters of Robert G. Lewis. My sister and I donated my dad's collection to the Barriger Libary after he died. He had a vast collection as you can see. He was always worried about what would happen to his collection. We wanted to preserve what he had so lovingly worked on and cherished his whole life.
He was an old schooler for sure. He was always willing to help someone out with photos or his vast knowledge when it came to railroading.
I think that you will like Off the Beaten Track. He has written three other books too. Two are really old called The Railroad Handbook which had two editions and his last book, Keystone State Traction.
Mr Vantuono from Simmons Boardman publishing where my dad worked for years suggested the Barriger Library. We knew that we wanted to preserve his work and we were grateful for his suggestion. When going through his collection the library found some photos which my dad had specifically stated he wanted donated to the railroad museum in Philadelphia. Not sure of the musuem's name off hand. So you will find more of his pictures there.
I believe he said that he had donated some things to the Flagler Museum too. Not sure on that though. He lived in Florida and was a member of a local train club. Howie Stevens, a member and fellow Floridian helped him write Off the Beaten Track. Enjoy the book and God bless you in this New Year.
Robert G Lewis Railway Age
My thanks to everyone involved in making these great photos available to anyone interested!
Ed
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will
New Member
Posts: 22 
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Post by will on Oct 31, 2015 2:36:55 GMT -8
The P&LE section has many yard and track photos which are perfect for modeling purposes. There are several of the east and west entrances to the tunnel under the J&L steel mill. Perfect for my helix exit.
Will
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Post by theengineshed on Oct 31, 2015 7:31:49 GMT -8
Two unfortunate aspects of this collection, the tagging is turned off, and apparently the comments aren't searchable. On my flicker account others can tag the photos and leave comments. Both are searchable on flickr as keywords. I've been experimenting with some of the comments I've left in this collection, as well as comments left by others, and they don't show up in flickr searches. These are settings that have been set by the collection owners and limit the usefulness of leaving comments. My wife is probably going to refer me for internet addiction treatment if I don't get off this computer...  lewis-unkown1 019 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr  lewis-unkown093 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr |
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Post by theengineshed on Oct 31, 2015 13:19:43 GMT -8
FWIW, I flickr mailed the owner of the collection asking that the flickr search feature be turned on. This would allow the comments to be searchable, so the locations, locomotive types, etc, would be searchable on flickr. This would increase visibility and encourage individuals to take the time to add comments, which in flickr are the same as captions, to the photos.
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Post by atsfan on Oct 31, 2015 15:01:47 GMT -8
Amazing stuff.
Old pictures are fasinating.
It is sad and amazing how much history is lost.
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Post by theengineshed on Oct 31, 2015 19:23:39 GMT -8
Yes indeed, there is some great material in the collection. I'm numb, looked through about 8000 images over the last 36 hours, probably saved a couple of hundred images. If I ever expand my modeling interests from the 1960s, it will be back, not forward in time. I was going to say progress hurts, but we live in amazing time. Who would ever have guessed 30 years back we'd have access 27,000 photos in the comfort of our home at a minimal cost, or have the fantastic selection of models we have today...
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Post by mrsocal on Nov 1, 2015 8:16:53 GMT -8
Thank you for sharing, all beautiful pieces of American Railroad history.
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gnfan
Full Member
Posts: 111
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Post by gnfan on Nov 1, 2015 12:50:36 GMT -8
A very nice collection and resource. It does amaze me however how many of the photographs are backwards. Obviously whoever scanned the originals did not pay much attention while they were doing it.
David B
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Post by theengineshed on Nov 1, 2015 15:01:54 GMT -8
A very nice collection and resource. It does amaze me however how many of the photographs are backwards. Obviously whoever scanned the originals did not pay much attention while they were doing it. David B I've gone through about 20 of the 27K images now working backwards. It looks like a number of images have handwritten railroad reporting marks and numbers outside the frame of the negative. The handwritten stuff is not all on the emulsion side, so if you were using that to judge which way to put them in the scanner, some are going to be backwards. A number of the older images have been reversed by the collection "curator" after individuals left comments. I suspect whomever scanned the images had their hands full and was just trying to knock them out. There are a lot of images at odd angles too. You have to wonder if the collection is complete now, no new uploads for about a month. |
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Nov 1, 2015 16:03:51 GMT -8
Every New Haven picture (about 130) was reversed.
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Post by mlehman on Nov 1, 2015 18:01:05 GMT -8
SNIP A number of the older images have been reversed by the collection "curator" after individuals left comments. I suspect whomever scanned the images had their hands full and was just trying to knock them out. There are a lot of images at odd angles too. You have to wonder if the collection is complete now, no new uploads for about a month. Yeah, they've got a priority on getting things scanned and posted. They are very responsive to user's input and comments to fix things. If you see something reversed, etc, drop them a note in the comments and they will get it corrected. |
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Post by theengineshed on Nov 1, 2015 18:40:12 GMT -8
I'm beginning to think they scanned them with the handwritten descriptions the right way round on purpose to make it easy to sort them. After looking at all 27K images, they are mostly backwards. They have corrected some, but I've seen quite a few comments from over a year ago about the images being reversed and they hadn't got round to them yet.
They let you save the ones you want in high resolution, which is great. Irfanview, and other programs no doubt, will automatically correct every image according to the filter you program it with. Put all your backwards photos in a folder, tell it to reverse them, and it will crank through them pretty quickly and save them for you.
I'm certainly done looking at train photos for awhile...
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Post by mlehman on Nov 2, 2015 8:22:12 GMT -8
OK, then things have changed some, probably overwhelmed with getting new material up. When I last checked in, they were getting things turned around quickly, but it has been a year or so since I visited last.
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Post by riogrande on Nov 3, 2015 4:57:58 GMT -8
I just check this topic finally; nice photo's but is there information accompanying them? (dates? location?) Basic informations makes the photo's so much more useful but having them is better than not. Of there was nothing provided, hopefully experts can go in and fill in those details.
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Post by mlehman on Nov 3, 2015 5:58:49 GMT -8
Jim,
I suspect there's additional info available with some of the pics. However, the Barriger seems to be taking a crowd-sourcing approach. While they may be behind on catching up with the reversed pics, I observed them using the user comments to add info in some cases when I have browsed the collection in the past. I suspect that there's much to be gleaned from that, although it will take time.
This presumes that, while there may be experts, they're relying on simply collecting as much as can be known from anyone who cares to comment, assessing its validity and will eventually be updating the pics that might be mislabeled, reversed, etc. So often, this sort of "expertise" is spread thin and wide, but is still useful if systematically collected as they're doing with the comments. We're all "experts" -- if only here and there, for certain lines, but not others.
Of course, there are those who make a big show of being experts on EVERYTHING RR-related...but that's merely an illusion. The railroad scene covers thousands of lines over roughly two centuries. No one, NO ONE is an all-around "RR expert" -- no matter how much they may try to come off as such in their various missives.
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Post by theengineshed on Nov 3, 2015 21:29:36 GMT -8
Jim, I suspect there's additional info available with some of the pics. However, the Barriger seems to be taking a crowd-sourcing approach. While they may be behind on catching up with the reversed pics, I observed them using the user comments to add info in some cases when I have browsed the collection in the past. I suspect that there's much to be gleaned from that, although it will take time. Nick Fry, the curator of the Barriger Library, is working on getting the ability to "add tag" button turned on as well as allow the comments to be searchable. Flickr has different account levels, I have a pro, not certain what the library has, it may be something different, so not sure how difficult this may be. Crowd sourcing is the way to go here, there are just so many local subject matter experts out there, who leave valid comments, and if they can be found by others, the process will accelerate. The amount of RR infrastructure that has been recorded on this particular flickr stream is extraordinary! |
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Post by theengineshed on Nov 4, 2015 17:22:50 GMT -8
All the new photos that are uploaded will allow people to tag them, doesn't appear to be a way to retroactively allow tagging on the older photos...
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