Fall 2026: Painting Cass Shays, Water, Route 66, Seattle's Monorail Murals, and more

The Fall 2026 issue is a rollicking road trip with the railroads of Route 66, which celebrates its 100^th anniversary in November! U.S. 66 largely followed the GM&O, Frisco, and Rock Island west until reaching central New Mexico, where it began a historic journey beside the Santa Fe / BNSF Railway to California. Author Elrond Lawrence combines his and others’ photography with classic images from the Center’s archive. Buckle up for a marvelous visual tour from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Other highlights include:

• Painting Cass Shays: Tim Kelly, a plein-air artist from Baltimore, has been smitten for a decade by the Shay steam locomotives of Cass, West Virginia, and his paintings portray them in a new light. Charlie Hunter shares the story.
• Water: View the dazzling winning images of the 2026 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards, and read the judges’ commentary.
• Out of the Archives: Jordan Craig explains how the Center is building up our digital storage technology, enabling us to begin accepting born-digital railroad images into our archive.
• Seattle’s Monorail Murals: Justin Franz shares how a partnership between the city of Seattle, the downtown monorail’s operator, and a local artist is revitalizing the 1960s railroad with public art.
• Staff announcements: Read about Jordan Craig’s new role leading our new department of data and technology services, and Justin Franz joins us in the brand-new role of editorial associate.
• News: Conversations 2027 in Milwaukee on May 21-23, CRP&A at Pullman Railroad Days, and more!

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