(Brooklyn, New York, 1914 - 2001, South Salem, New York)
March 19, 1955 (printed 1997)
Gelatin silver print
19 1/4 x 15 1/2 in. (49.0 x 39.4 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of the estate of O. Winston Link
2001.32
© Attributed to the O. Winston Link Museum & Winston Conway Link
Link documents a rail worker blasting steam and kerosene as the 872,600 pound engine enters the wash bay at Shaffer’s Crossing service facility. He used only two flashbulbs to illuminate this scene, knowing that the engine exhaust and steam cleaning spray would diffuse the light. All trains were washed as they turned around in Roanoke. In his notes, Link claimed that the dirt was from diesel engine soot that came from locomotives that passed the N&W on parallel tracks.