News Release

Steamtown National Historic Site Announces Reception with Noted Railroad Photographer Oren B. Helbok

Date: March 21, 2019
Contact: Bill Fischer, 570-340-5244

SCRANTON, Pa. – Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) welcomes visitors to meet photographer Oren B. Helbok at a reception in the Visitor Center Gallery this Saturday, March 23, 2019, from 1:00-3:00 pm. Currently on exhibition is, Railroading: the Hardware, the Landscape, and the People, featuring 28 of Helbok's recent photographs, all taken since August 2016.

To describe his body of work, Helbok insists, "To me — and I do not claim any originality in this theory – railroading encompasses three major themes: first, the landscape, and by that I mean everything surrounding the railroad, from towns and countryside to the weather; second, the hardware — the tracks, signals, locomotives, and cars themselves; and third, the people who bring the trains to life.

"Within the grand theme of railroading, I now see the most important part as the people who make the trains run. It took me many years to come to that realization; I spent my youth and young adulthood shooting hardware. Now I understand the importance of making portraits of railroad people.

Having lost that chance with so many over the years — Eddie and Rudy, the signal maintainers at Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx; Lloyd and Norm, steam-era veterans who taught new generations how to run trains at the Black River & Western in New Jersey; and the list goes on and on — I do not want to make those mistakes again and again. So I have become much less shy about pushing my lens into someone’s face, or at least fairly close and off on the side a little."

The exhibition runs through March 2019 at Steamtown NHS; park hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Join us at the reception on Saturday, March 23rd, 1-3 p.m.

For more of Helbok’s work, visit WhereSteamLives.net, and for those who cannot come to Steamtown NHS, a virtual exhibition is at WhereSteamLives.net/railroading-exhibit.

Located in downtown Scranton, Pa., Steamtown NHS is open daily from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. daily. From I-81 follow exit 185 (Central Scranton Expressway); then follow the brown and white signs to the park entrance at Lackawanna Avenue and Cliff Street (GPS: N 41.41, W 75.67). General park information is available by phoning [phone] during regular business hours, or by visiting the park website anytime.

www.nps.gov/stea


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