This section of viewoftheblue.com featuring rail photography was started in early 2009.
To enter the new (non-rail) "Art Photography" site, click HERE
For railfan newcomers to the site, all the main rail photo collections
are under the three links below: "Rail" "Transit" and "Heritage/Museum".
Clicking any one of these will open a new window with their respective photo gallery listings.
Search Viewoftheblue.com for keywords:
Over the years, I have taken thousands of photos during travel and while residing in various parts of the U.S., and I consider the most
important subset of these to be my rail photos. This site represents over 50 years of my photographs, too bad film was a lot more expensive in those days, or I would have taken a lot more. The quality of cameras at the time were nothing like the digital cameras of today, but fortunately the
software and scanners of today do a good deal to remedy many of the shortcomings of the originals.
Most of these photos are vintage shots, some going as far back as the late 60's.
I grew up in northeast NJ, (Paterson/Bergen), so most of my earliest work is based in that area.
I set up this site to provide enjoyment to my fellow rail / photography enthusiasts, and also to provide a publicly accessible archive
of these 40+ years of photos. The subpages are organized by date sequence, with a few of the newest sets at the top, and then the vintage sets below, from oldest to newer. Other (non-rail) travel photos and those of artisitic merit may be accessed via the "ArtPhotos" link above. There are a few non-rail personal galleries accessible via links at the bottom of this page.
I have also scanned my late dad's set of over 170 negatives taken during World War II, mostly in Italy. With additional scanned prints,
there are now over 200 black & white photos from World War II, mostly from Italy in 1944-45. Here's a link to that section of the site:
Please come back often to check for new additions...
As of 2020 there were about 2000 rail / transit pix on the site,...
and several hundred more in the Wilkes-Barre abandoned/extant section.
Newer sets are being posted on an occasional ongoing basis...
All links will open in a new window, simply close the pages you are navigating to return here.
The width of each photo is usually 800 pixels, so be patient if you have a slow connection.
Many of these photos are available in a larger resolution by request for a fee, permission is required to use any of these photos for any purpose other than viewing them here or printing/saving a copy for your own personal, non-commercial use. Do not use any of these for any other website, including mailing-list-type photo collections (such as Yahoo) without express permission.
Upon request, I will willingly post any photo (with a copyright caption) anywhere you wish.
When using any photos (by permission), please include a credit as follows:
"Photo by Frank Florianz", or "Collection of Frank Florianz" (for the few that are not my own).
All photos are my own, unless otherwise indicated within the descriptions.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the collection.
The vintage pages and collections were added starting in Summer, 2009.
NOTE: See more older vintage shots (rail & non-rail) via the "geocities page mirror" link near the bottom of the page.
Rail & transit photo sections:
Vintage Timetables
- Vintage timetables scanned to pdf in November-December, 2010 - 25 of them so far, primarily from the 50's & 60's.
Rail
- Photos of rail lines & trains, circa 1970's to present (including commuter rail).
Some highlights of the RAIL section:
Over a dozen pages of vintage Erie-Lackawanna photos from 1969-71 (mostly New Jersey).
Several California, West Coast, British Columbia (+ steam) and Mexico sets from 1974-76.
Set of 4 "Amtrak Journey" gallery pages from February-March, 1977,
and a few miscellaneous nationwide sets from 1977-92, + Ontario, Canada.
A page of the SP #4449 "Daylight" steam run in Eugene, OR - May, 1991,
and more southern rail (+Amtrak) mostly in the Shreveport / Marshall, TX areas,
some rail photos from Alaska and more sets from the northeast USA.
NEW FOR 2011: Five rail sets taken in Port Jervis/Middletown, New York in July, 2011.
Transit
- Photos of transit lines, trolleys and light rail, circa 1970's to present.
Some highlights of the TRANSIT section:
Several sets of NYC transit shots, and also of San Francisco Bay Area transit (1974-present).
Also Seattle/Vancouver, El Paso, Mexico City & Vera Cruz, Mexico (transit/trolleys).
1977 galleries of the CTA, South Shore Line (CSS&SB), New Orleans, Detroit & Montreal.
My (hopefully complete) vintage Boston pix (several sets), sets from Cleveland, Pittsburgh,
a few from Toronto (1987), Portland, OR, New Jersey & other miscellaneous sets.
New Chicago sets from January 2010, including CTA, South Shore & Kenosha heritage streetcar.
NEW FOR 2011: Two pages of Denver light rail - RTD photos.
Heritage / Museum
- Photos at rail/trolley oriented museum sites, including tourist operations.
- This area also includes photos of abandoned rail lines and remnants of past operations.
Added in November 2010: Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway - Jim Thorpe, PA
Some highlights of the HERITAGE section:
California Western RR, V&T pix, and CA Railway Museum (Rio Vista) - (1974-76).
Steamtown (Scranton, PA) sets from October, 1987 and 2009-2011.
Southern tourist sites (Dollywood, Tweetsie, etc.), a few shots of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic
in Antonito, Colorado (April, 1991), & the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas (April, 1993),
the NYC transit museum (2007),
and the Central of Georgia Savannah roundhouse & station (2009).
Sights & Scenes
- Hometowns, Travel / artistic merit - past to present. (NEW sets from 2010-2012)
Personal
- Personal photos (family, friends, residences, other hobbies - NEW sets for 2013)
Here's a link to the photo area on the "Frank's Page" section of the site with quite a few photos already posted for several years. This comes under the "
personal
" category, but includes some vintage photos as well.
NOTE: The "geocities page mirror" photos have been fixed as of February, 2011 - please visit for more vintage pix...
These will eventually all be re-scanned at higher resolutions and merged into the main sections of the site.
The (now gone) Geocities website listed on that page includes quite a few photos from Boston & New York from the late 70's, including the Boston Blizzard of '78 and the abandoned West Side Highway in NYC, as well as a shot of the twin towers, some area pix and transit pix. There are also some from the west coast and Mexico from the 70's. I've mirrored the site here since Geocities got shut down. Some of the Blizzard photos have already been published in a book as well as in Boston Magazine. Click for the "geocities page mirror".
Click for a slightly more detailed "
bio page
" of my past travels & history, than appears on the Frank's Page site, which will put some of the photo groupings in a bit more perspective. That page also has a link to documentation on my family genealogy.
That's all for now... this will probably always be a work in progress...
Comments / inquiries welcome. Click button to send an e-mail:
(contact e-mail is: frank754 "at" gmail "dot" com)
Donations gladly accepted to help with bandwidth & equipment costs. Donators' names
will be listed here. Use the Donate button or send an e-mail for the snail mail address.
Donators / Supporters: (will be listed below)
My current phone number is +1 (USA) 570-793-7585 (Pennsylvania)
Please do not call unless we have spoken via other means first, such as email.
