Orders on the Fly, Waynesboro, Virginia
Artist
O. Winston Link
(American, 1914-2001)
CultureAmerican
Date1955
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 15 9/16 × 19 3/8 in. (39.5 × 49.2 cm)
Overall, Support: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Support: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
InscribedSigned and dated by the artist in pencil on the verso of the print. Artist's Studio stamp on the verso of the print.
Credit LineGift of Susan and David Goode
Object number2022.31.26
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a gelatin silver print.Label TextO. Winston Link American (1914-2001) ORDERS ON THE FLY Waynesboro, Virginia, 1955 L2004.11.61 This is time freight No. 96, northbound from Roanoke, Virginia to Hagerstown, Maryland passing through Waynesboro, Virginia, without stopping. Station agent Troy Humphries holds the wooden order fork with a message for the conductor. Orders were written on thin paper and were called "flimsies." They were fastened with light string between the two arms of the fork. Veteran conductor F. Y. Knight demonstrates how to pick up the message on the fly. His hand will pass between the arms of the fork and his fingers will snap the taut string carrying the flimsies which will wrap around his upper arm. Edited By: DS Approved By: MHM Approval Date: 07/25/2005ProvenanceRobert Mann Gallery to Susan and David Goode to CMA.Exhibition History"Norfolk and Western Railway Photographs by O. Winston Link," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., July 1 - December 31, 2005. Published ReferencesGhost Trains: Railroad Photographs of the 1950s (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1983). This booklet accompanied the exhibition of Link's works at the Chysler. It includes some of Link's recordings on an 8" 33 RPM and data on all the photos. Night Tick by O. Winston Link: Photographs of the Norfolk and Western Railway, 1955-60 (London: The Photographers' Gallery, 1983) Tim Hansley and O. Winston Link, Stream, Steel, and Stars: America's Last Steam Railroad (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987) Anthony Korner, "The Night Owl," Artforum 27, no. 27, no. 9 (May 1989): 141-146 O. Winston Link and Thomas H. Garver, The Last Steam Railroad in America, (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995)
