Richard Virgil Dean Steinheimer (August 23, 1929 – May 4, 2011) was an American

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

from

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. His work has been published in ''

Trains Magazine ''Trains'' is a monthly magazine about trains and railroads aimed at railroad enthusiasts and railroad industry employees. The magazine primarily covers railroad happenings in the United States and Canada, but has some articles on railroading e ...

'', ''

Railfan A railfan, train fan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff, anorak (British English), gunzel (Australian English), trainspotter (British English) or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally in ...

'', ''Locomotive and Railway Preservation'' and ''Vintage Rail'' and more than seventy books. A pioneer in railroad photography, Steinheimer lived through and documented the railroads' heyday and their transition to diesel motive power from steam. He is one of few photographers who took into account the aesthetics of all

locomotives A locomotive is a rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for longer and heavier freight train ...

from

steam engines A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

to the latest diesel-powered behemoths. He had a particular fondness for the landscape of the American West and many of his images situate trains in the larger geography and culture of the time. Steinheimer was known for taking pictures at night, in bad weather, and from risky perches on top of moving trains. His photograph, "Southern Pacific steam helper at Saugus, California, 1947," was included in the Center for Railroad Photography and Art's 20 Memorable Railroad Photographs of the 20th Century.

Early life

Richard Steinheimer was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1929. His parents divorced in 1935, and he, with his mother and sister, moved to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. It was this trip that first exposed him to trains. In 1939 his family moved to

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

. The

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

main line was adjacent to his home.

Career

In 1945 he started his photographic career with a

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

Baby Brownie, shooting wartime traffic in the common "wedgies" style. Also, in 1945 he received two books by

Lucius Beebe Lucius Morris Beebe (December 9, 1902 – February 4, 1966) was an American writer, gourmand, photographer, railroad historian, journalist, and syndicated columnist. Early life and education Beebe was born in Wakefield, Massachusetts, to a prom ...

, ''

Highball A highball is a mixed alcoholic drink composed of an alcoholic base spirit and a larger proportion of a non-alcoholic mixer, often a carbonated beverage. Examples include the Seven and Seven, Scotch and soda, gin and tonic, screwdriver ...

'' and ''High Iron,'' from which he drew inspiration. By 1946 his photos had evolved into more of an experimental style. In 1946 he began using an Argus A-2 camera, and in 1947 he started using a 3×4

Speed Graphic The Speed Graphic was a press camera produced by Graflex in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, Rochester, New York. Although the first Speed Graphic cameras were produced in 1912, production of later versions continued until 1973; with signific ...

. With the Speed Graphic now in hand, he made very well regarded photos. He used yard lights, flashbulbs or whatever lights were available. His night work predates O. Winston Link's by almost seven years. By 1949 he was going to

San Francisco City College City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, enrolling as many as 1 in 35 San Franc ...

and one of his teachers was

Joe Rosenthal Joseph John Rosenthal (October 9, 1911 – August 20, 2006) was an American photographer who received the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic World War II photograph '' Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'', taken during the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima. H ...

. From 1956 through 1962 he worked for the ''

Marin Independent Journal The ''Marin Independent Journal'' is the main newspaper of Marin County, California. The paper is owned by California Newspapers Partnership, which is in turn mostly owned by MediaNews Group.

'' as a photojournalist.

Kalmbach Publishing Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) was an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. History The company's first publication was ''The Model Railroader'', which be ...

produced in 1963 his ''Backwoods Railroad of the West''. Although it failed commercially at the time, it later became a very valuable and sought-after books on railroads. From 1948 through 2001 ''

'' published over 400 of his photographs. Steinheimer has become very well regarded, especially across the Western USA, but also pursued a lesser-known career in commercial photography. His specialties included the use of telephoto lenses in railroad scenes, and a devotion to Southern Pacific's

Donner Pass Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, above Donner Lake and Donner Memorial State Park about west of Truckee, California. Like the Sierra Nevada themselves, the pass has a steep approach from the east and a gradual a ...

crossing of the Sierra Nevada. In 2000 Steinheimer was diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

; he suffered a stroke in September 2007. He was cared for throughout his illness by his wife Shirley Burman. He died on May 4, 2011. An exhibition featuring many of his popular images were held at the Robert Mann Gallery in Manhattan, December 15, 2011, through January 21, 2012. The majority of Richard Steinheimer's photography collection was donated to the Center for Railroad Photography & Art in mid 2022. The Center has received about 30,000 color slides and a large collection of black and white prints and scans, and negatives from 1975 onward.

References

* Richard Steinheimer (photographs) and Jeff Brouws (text), ''A Passion for Trains: The Railroad Photography of Richard Steinheimer'', W. W. Norton & Company (2004), , .

Online references

The Center for Railroad Photography and Art

Amazon ad for ''A Passion for Trains''

External links

Richard Steinheimer Photograph Collection
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinheimer, Richard 1929 births 2011 deaths American photographers Rail transport photographers Deaths from dementia in California Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in California