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1. Abingdon Branch Station Agent Gladys Harriger makes a quilt between trains at White Top. - Gladys Harriger, Agent at the White Top Station, Virginia, makes quilts by kerosene light while she waits for the next train. Mrs. Gladys W. Harriger, Agent, White Top Station. This is the photo used in The Last Steam Railroad in America. Relative Mr. Roland Dunn. Mrs. Gladys W. Harriger at the White Top Station, White Top, VA, she was one of only four women agents on the N&W at the time. See telegraph insulators on the chair legs. This station was demolished and rebuilt as a way station on the Va. Creeper Trail. 10/17/55.

   OWL2003.10.01

   Record Type: Photo

   
2. Abingdon Branch, train 201 departs Green Cove, on the way to White Top. - In November 1956, Winston Link worked at Green Cove, Virginia, on the N&W's Abingdon Branch. These photos include Maude Bows to the Virginia Creeper, one of Link's most famous images. This photo of Train 201 pulling away from the little Green Cove station, southbound to White Top, Virginia and on to West Jefferson, North Carolina was made a day or so later. The station had been bought some years before the N&W by W. M. Buchanan who operated a grocery store, post office and Western Union office there. The Buchanan family lived in the house seen to the right. Today the trees and fence are gone, as is the railroad, but the station remains. It is a favorite rest stop on the Virginia Creeper Trail, the hiking and bicycle trail which follows the preserved roadbed of the Abingdon Branch, between Abingdon, Virginia and the North Carolina border. The Buchanan's home remains too, and is now a bed and breakfast inn, operated by members of W. M. Buchanan's family.

   OWL2002.07.05

   Record Type: Photo

   
3. Old Maude bows to the Virginia Creeper. - Without a doubt, "Old Maude," is Winston Link's most popular photo made during daylight hours. Although many of Link's photos were carefully set up, old Maude, with her sledge load of oak stove-wood, just happened along as the train was approaching, and Link took advantage of the situation. He asked brothers Gene and Roy Hampton, who were hauling the wood to the family's farm nearby, to wait a few minutes for the train. Maude is remembered for her gentleness and patience, but she was growing restless and began to bob her head as the train arrived. In the background, Gary Clark stands near Gene Hampton, while Janet Farmer stands near the door; Fay Luther leans against the porch post with Brenda Luther between them. Sandy, W.M. Buchanan's dog, sits in the doorway. The Green Cove station remains today, a rest stop on the Virginia Creeper Trail, a walking and bicycling path extending from Abingdon, Virginia, to the North Carolina border, a distance of about 34 miles. This is the black and white version of an identical photo in color, (NW39K). Old Maude bows to the Virginia Creeper. Used in Steam, Steel & Stars, Color version in Last Steam Railroad in America.

   OWL2002.08.17

   Record Type: Photo

   
4. Take A Ride On The Abingdon Branch - May 12, 2002

   Newspaper article in the Empire Magazine section of the Bristol Herald-Courier by Joe Tennis prior to the opening of a collection of 37 of O. Winston Link's photographs at the William Regional Arts Center in Abingdon, Virginia in 2002. The article includes comments by Thomas H. Garver, who assisted Link in his photographic project.

   Record Type: Archive