Published: June 18, 2012 on TRAINS NewsWire
MADISON, Wis. – The National Railroad Hall of Fame and the Center for Railroad Photography & Art will honor visionary railroader John Walker Barriger III (1899-1976). Barriger achieved high acclaim as a bureaucrat in the 1930s, and after World War II as president of four different railroads. For his myriad contributions to the industry, the National Railroad Hall of Fame will induct him into the hall on June 23 in Galesburg, Ill.
Barriger was also an avid railroad photographer, focusing on railroading’s physical plant. While leading the railroad division of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation from 1934 to 1941, he endeavored to ride and photograph as much of the nation’s rail network as possible. Over his six-decade career, he made some 60,000 photographs, which he used to assess and diagnose the industry.
In honor of his induction into the Hall of Fame, the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, the hall, and the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library in St. Louis will present an exhibit of his photography at the Ford Center for the Fine Arts at Knox College in Galesburg. The exhibit is free and open to the public on June 22, from 3 to 5 p.m., on June 23 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and June 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Center staff will discuss Barriger’s photography during a reception at 11:00 a.m. on June 23.
The Hall of Fame is also exhibiting winning photographs from the center’s 2010 Creative Photography Award Program. That exhibition will be on display at The Box, 306 East Simmons Street (enter from South Kellogg Street) in Galesburg. Viewing times are the same as those for the Barriger exhibition.
