Richard Steinheimer

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Richard Virgil Dean Steinheimer (August 23, 1929 – May 4, 2011),^[1] was an American railroad photographer from Sacramento, California. His work has been published in Trains Magazine, Railfan, Locomotive and Railway Preservation, Vintage Rail and more than seventy books. A pioneer in railroad photography, Steinheimer lived through and documented the railroads' heyday and their transition to diesel motive power from steam. He is one of few photographers who took into account the aesthetics of all locomotives, from steam engines to the latest diesel-powered behemoths. He had a particular fondness for the landscape of the American West and many of his images situate trains in the larger geography and culture of the time. Steinheimer was known for taking pictures at night, in bad weather, and from risky perches on top of moving trains. His photograph, "Southern Pacific steam helper at Saugus, California, 1947," was included in the Center for Railroad Photography and Art's 20 Memorable Railroad Photographs of the 20th Century.