Remembering Jim Shaughnessy: Railroad photography lost one of its greatest last week when Jim Shaughnessy passed away at the age of 84. Before a select few photographers including Shaughnessy came onto the scene in the 1940s, railroad photography had been dominated by 3/4 roster shots of locomotives. Shaughnessy, on the other hand, sought to incorporate more than just the train into his photos (scenery, buildings, switch stands, people, etc.), and because he was so good at it, he helped transform railroad photography into what it is today. One of his best-known works was his book, The Rutland Road, and this photo pays tribute to Shaughnessy’s work covering that railroad. On June 14, 2015, the NRHS sponsored a photo freight on the Green Mountain Railroad that featured former Rutland Alco RS-1 #405, and the train is seen here at Summit in Mount Holly, Vermont. As a tribute to Shaughnessy, I decided to change this photo to black and white, thereby making it look more like a Rutland photo from his book. Actually, my composition for this shot is a bit inspired by Shaughnessy’s photo of sister engine #401 at Stephentown, NY, which can be found on page 324 of his book.
As a railroad photographer who, like Jim, is from Troy, NY, I’m very thankful that I was able to correspond with and visit Jim on several occasions. It left a great impression on me as a young, inexperienced photographer that Jim—as accomplished as he was—treated me like one of his peers right from beginning and was always very humble, kind, patient, and generous in his availability. He let me interview him as a source for my senior thesis paper in college, allowed me use many of his slides for my first book, and was always available via email, phone, or in person for any historical questions, or to simply shoot the breeze and reminisce about “the good ‘ole days.” I will miss him dearly.
