Web Interview

Morgan and Photography

A Conversation with Parker Lamb

A native of Meridian, Miss., J. Parker Lamb got his start at Trains, publishing his first photo in the magazine in 1953 (the first full year of David P. Morgan’s tenure as editor) and was one of many young “lensmen” who honed their skills during the Morgan era. Lamb’s photography has since been widely published. Some of his best images were collected in Steel Wheels Rolling: A Personal Journal of Railroad Photography (Boston Mills Press, 2001).

Lamb is a frequent contributor to Railroad History—articles as well as photography—and serves as an advisory editor. In a conversation with Thomas M. Jacklin, Lamb reflects on DPM’s role in the development of railroad photography.

How did DPM view the role of photography in light of what he wanted the magazine to be?

Trains was started in 1940 by Al Kalmbach and Linn Wescott (among others) who were mainly photographers and modelers. They generally depended on others for writing, often staffers for Model Railroader. When Morgan came in, he immediately began to produce a steady stream of articles that had both the enthusiasm of the aficionado as well as detailed analysis of a professional railroader. But he also realized that the magazine should continue its tradition of good photography. Once he became editor in 1953, he continued to shape the magazine as a focus for detailed writing—with a touch of “railroad romance” characteristic of such as Lucius Beebe—and attractive illustration both photo and art.

What did he like to see in a photo?

As he matured, he became quite broad-minded about photography. He encouraged Hastings and later others to produce both traditional documentary photography as well as impressionistic images—panned and blurred images of action, time exposures at night that produced streaks, and extreme close-ups of items that were normally just part of the ambience, such as a coupler or a small piece of a steam locomotive.

To me, it appeared to be a case of photographers responding to his interest in novel images with more and more daring attempts, which he encouraged further. In my case, after seeing him use some panned and blurred shots, I sent him a few of my own, and he soon asked me to do some others specifically for an article he was preparing. The same thing happened with night photography and other types of leading-edge imagery that he promoted.

I would summarize his choice of a great photo as one that captured the spirit or essence of railroading and, in some respects, needed no caption. But he would add a few pithy, evocative comments, thus producing a combination that would become for the readers a "classic" (i.e., memorable). His double-page photo essays were part of his early remake of Trains after he began his editorship.

What kind of tips did he offer for improvement?

I was essentially self-taught as a photographer in high school. I began submitting photos to him when I was a third-year college student. He wrote back both praise for receiving material from the South, which had very few railroad photographers, and criticism that my prints were too grainy and would not reproduce well. He said I needed to use a different type of developer chemical. To him I was a raw talent (I had “a good eye”), but needed some time to mature. Every few months he would send a response to a submission that indicated he thought I was making great progress as a lensman. Eventually I began to ask for areas where he needed some coverage and he would often ask me to do assignments. I now know that he was treating other neophyte photo shooters the same way, since he recognized the magazine needed as many viewpoints as possible.

What made him and his work so influential—to the point where he became, according to Gil Reid, an oracle for both railfans and the industry as a whole?

I recall an old saying, “The fewer words an important person utters, the more impact their message seems to have.” In some sense, he was indeed something of a mystic or an oracle. David was extremely taciturn (maybe timid), but was a deep thinker about the role of railroads in land transportation throughout the world, and especially the U.S.

He had a great sense of history, both social and technical, and an equal talent for evocative prose. Thus when he “spoke” through editorials or a series of articles, their impact tended to be significant. He came to be highly respected not only for the quality of his presentations, but also his long-term presence on the railroading scene. And yet for all this, very few people really knew him personally, which I think was his wish.

Mark Reutter

STILL AT IT. Forty-nine years after his first photo was published in Trains, J. Parker Lamb catches an eastbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe auto rack train charging up Tehachapi Loop, Calif., on October 30, 2002.

Railroad History is issued by The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.
Published since 1921.