NYC Harold K. Vollrath's Photo Collection

fitz Jul 18, 2013

  1. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    I got an email from Jim Duncan, proprietor of RailwayIcons, that the entire collection of Mr. Vollrath's was up for auction. I sent a bid in for the negatives of his New York Central portion, and won. Supposedly they have been shipped, and I am stoked about this. I'm sure some are large, 4 X 5 or 616 or other, so most likely going to have to buy a new scanner to scan them. Any suggestions as to a large neg scanner? Mr. Vollrath is now 92 years of age, and according to Jim D, still drives. The proceeds from the auction are going to a model or live steam railroad that he was, and still is, a big part of.

    I'm really looking forward to receiving these, and want to post a lot of them here. Mr. Vollrath has negatives from before I was born. A lot are "roster shots" which were popular with railfan photographers back then.

    :wideeyes::uhoh::)
     
  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Congratulations! It is sad that any collection is broken up, but I am glad to know that at least some of it is safely in the hands of someone who truly cares.
     
  3. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Jim, that's great, can't wait to see some.

    I wish I could advise you, but I have no knowledge of the current scanner market. We bought a Konica/Minolta DiMAGE slide scanner 13 years ago that did an excellent job converting >7500 slides. But scanner technology has advanced so much since then that I wouldn't know where to begin.
     
  4. rhensley_anderson

    rhensley_anderson TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well, I haven' purchased one of the larger format scanners but I can tell you that you'll pay for it. :)
     
  5. Ghengis Kong

    Ghengis Kong TrainBoard Member

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    Wow wish I had the coin for some of his Rock Island and UP stuff
     
  6. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    I just found out that his grandson took about 80% of his collection and is going to try to sell it piecemeal. We shall see what I get.
    You can probably bid on RI and UP stuff--bid low. I didn't.
    And by the way, NYCS fans, he also has a ton of back issues of the NYCSHS Headlight magazine. These are treasures, and I have about 20 years worth.
    Contact Jim Duncan at jdbandman@earthlink.net
     
  7. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Jim-

    So did you actually get all of his NYC stuff? Or just a portion of it?
     
  8. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    Ken, I'll let you know when it arrives, supposedly Monday. I'm sure it will just be a portion.
     
  9. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    They arrived today and I have mixed feelings. I found the list that Mr. Vollrath sent me several years ago when I purchased some prints from him. There were over 1,000 NYCS photos listed and I received about 200. They have definitely been culled by someone, but that someone may not have known that Hudsons for Michigan Central and the Big Four were initially numbered in the 8800s and 6600s. I have some of those. I dug out my old "under ski" gloves which are pretty near the ones I used to use when handling aerial recon negatives years ago. Dove into the stacks and have found a lot of Hudsons and Niagaras. I have not yet got to the Mohawks. Lots of old, old ones, and switchers. Even some shark nose diesels. I was merrily viewing them and suddenly realized that they are not negatives. They are on film, but are positives. I wonder how the early generation photogs did that? Copy a negative to reverse the polarity?? Some are of excellent quality, some are not. Before I run out and buy a scanner I am going to investigate a local photo shop that may be able to scan them for me, and will compare their fees with the cost of a scanner. More to follow.
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Positives? To me that would seem a bit different. But perhaps to someone else it makes more sense.
     
  11. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Jim, "positives" as in Vu-Graph transparencies? We often made positive photo transparencies for lecture presentations in the pre-PowerPoint days.
     
  12. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    Hank, the Vu-graphs I am familiar with are 8 1/2 X 11 or so. These are all on 3 1/5 X 5 film. I have found a few that I really want to print. Old ten wheelers or 2-6-0 with crew members standing around. Pacifics with huge Elesco brow feedwater heaters, and more.
     
  13. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    I have since learned that these "positives" were probably the first step in making copy negatives, which a lot of the pioneering railfan photogs did, trading negatives among themselves. I have a couple of sources of scanning them but it will probably be at least a week until I get something to publish.
     
  14. paperkite

    paperkite TrainBoard Member

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    Not modeling the NYC and subsideraries ..... still , I was on one once or twice .....looking fwd to seeing these images when ready !
     
  15. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    I don't mean to keep this going just for me, but I am so excited about this that I bought a flatbed scanner today, after talking to friend Martin Hansen. Also sent him a couple to scan, including the NYCS Shay shot. Martin is big into logging locos. That particular shot says "Auburn." What would a "camoflaged" Shay be doing in Auburn?
     
  16. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    Tried to answer, and typed a bunch, got a Database Error. Back later.
    EDIT: After sending this, I see the original got posted. Something funny is going on.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 23, 2013
  17. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Jim, "Auburn" might refer to Auburn, NY. The Auburn automobile was developed and manufactured there, so maybe a locomotive also...possiblity?
     
  18. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Jim, I apologize. The Auburn Automobile Company was in Auburn, Indiana. Auburn also made the Duesenberg and the Cord. Furthermore, my search turned up nothing about a locomotive named "Auburn", or even one associated with Auburn, regardless of which State.
     
  19. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I have been hitting many, many places this afternoon, which are coming back as "the web site cannot be displayed." Which has even included my own site. Something is going on out there- A communications network problem, a DOS attack or something.
     
  20. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    The Zombie Apocalypse? No wait, wrong forum.
     

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