Helmut Ostermann treated a capacity crowd to over 100 years of railway images at the CASO Railway Station on Tuesday evening. The slide-show presentation, entitled “Whatever Happened to St. Thomas?” is an important documentation of a period of time that is of interest to railway enthusiasts and historians. It is also a remarkable collection from an artistic point of view, including many stunning night-time photos taken by Ostermann.
Ostermann made a trip to St. Thomas with a friend in 1975 when, he notes, he could still find lots to see and experience related to the railway. From then until 1984 he spent countless hours taking photos in the city and near-by. His presentation included many of those, plus selections from his collection of work by other photographers. Trains, buildings, bridges and equipment shots, along with Ostermann’s commentary, give an impactful impression of the importance of the rail on work, activity, and interests of generations of people in the city. They also reflect the influence of a progression of companies from New York Central to Wabash, Chesapeake & Ohio, CN, CP, Amtrak, Michigan Central, London & Port Stanley, Amtrak, London & Lake Erie, Pere Marquette and more.
Ostermann has taken his presentation to several audiences in Ontario. Before one presentation he was interviewed by the “Action Hobbies Kingsville Blog” and noted “I was heavily influenced by the work of O. Winston Link. In the early 1980’s, I did a fair amount of night action photography primarily using black and white medium format film. I’ll be showing an awful lot of that from St Thomas. We used to do most of our photography in the middle of the night. The earlier flash bulb technology that I used 30 years ago utilized spools of wire running all over the place…” Read the entire interview…
Ostermann has taken his presentation to several audiences in Ontario. Before one presentation he was interviewed by the “Action Hobbies Kingsville Blog” and noted “I was heavily influenced by the work of O. Winston Link. In the early 1980’s, I did a fair amount of night action photography primarily using black and white medium format film. I’ll be showing an awful lot of that from St Thomas. We used to do most of our photography in the middle of the night. The earlier flash bulb technology that I used 30 years ago utilized spools of wire running all over the place…” Read the entire interview…
Above: Intermission provided time for those in attendance to look at Ostermann's photo prints. Allan Sharpe points out one of the photos to son Matt - he worked on the railway for 30 years, ending with CSX (top left); Helmut Ostermann chats with an audience member (bottom left).
Ostermann is dedicated to presenting his photos with analog projection. He uses a dual set-up and the result is truly a visual treat with impressive crisp detail and clarity. Ostermann is also well known as a professional photographic print maker, using darkroom only and producing prints using the gelatine silver process. Many of these were on display on Tuesday evening.
Ostermann ended his presentation by saying that he had heard that there was a group planning to purchase the MCR Railway Bridge for creation of an elevated park. He shared several shots he had taken of the High Line Elevated Park in New York City, noting the enjoyment and recreational opportunity that has been gained with reclamation of that rail line, and with similar projects in several locations.
"Whatever Happened to St. Thomas?" It would be nice if, a few years from now, we could be sitting down to a presentation of Ostermann's photographs documenting the creation of the remarkable St. Thomas Elevated Park from a piece of our railway heritage, with the answer, "This is What Happend to St. Thomas". (Find out more about the St. Thomas Elevated Park Project….)
“Whatever Happened to St. Thomas?” was presented by the Elgin Railway Museum (519-637-6284) and the North American Railway Hall of Fame.
Ostermann ended his presentation by saying that he had heard that there was a group planning to purchase the MCR Railway Bridge for creation of an elevated park. He shared several shots he had taken of the High Line Elevated Park in New York City, noting the enjoyment and recreational opportunity that has been gained with reclamation of that rail line, and with similar projects in several locations.
"Whatever Happened to St. Thomas?" It would be nice if, a few years from now, we could be sitting down to a presentation of Ostermann's photographs documenting the creation of the remarkable St. Thomas Elevated Park from a piece of our railway heritage, with the answer, "This is What Happend to St. Thomas". (Find out more about the St. Thomas Elevated Park Project….)
“Whatever Happened to St. Thomas?” was presented by the Elgin Railway Museum (519-637-6284) and the North American Railway Hall of Fame.
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