Central Vermont Railway, Locomotive Number 707 (Largest Steam Engine in New England) on Turntable at White River Junction, Vermont
1957, printed 2011
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
inkjet print
Dimensions
image: 29.5 × 35.7 cm (11 5/8 × 14 1/16 in.) sheet: 33.02 × 48.26 cm (13 × 19 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of David Plowden
Accession Number
2023.59.70
Art Historical Context
In 1957, as America's railroads transitioned from majestic steam power to efficient diesel engines, photographer David Plowden captured poignant moment at White River Junction, Vermont bustling rail hub since the 1840s. His image, *Central Vermont Railway, Locomotive Number 707 (Largest Steam Engine in New England on Turntable*, centers on the colossal 4-6-4 Hudson-type locomotive poised on the turntable, its massive form dwarfing the workers below. This inkjet print, made from the original negative in 2011, measures 29.5 × 35.7 cm and preserves the scene's stark black-and-white drama. Plowde...
About the Artist
David Plowden
David Plowden, born on October 9, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Roger Stanley Plowden and Mary Russell Butler, grew up primarily in New York City with time spent in Putney, Vermont. He attended the Putney School, graduating in 1951, and earned a BA in economics from Yale University in 1955. His passion for photography ignited early; at age eleven, his mother gave him a Brownie reflex camera, ...