The Very Best of Colorized Railroad Photography: Southeastern Steam and Early Diesels

Combining the best of vintage black & white railroad photography with the art of digital colorizing, "The Very Best of Colorized Railroad Photography: Southeastern Steam & Early Diesels" showcases a collection of the very best black & white images from the cameras of such noted railroad photographers as J. Parker Lamb, David Salter, Hugh Comer, Wiley Bryan, Dick Sharpless, and Frank Ardrey, published for the first time in true color.

The featured photography focuses on the colorful transition from steam to diesel power on Southeastern railroads during the transitional era from the 1930s through 1960s. Included are locomotives and trains of the Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, Southern Railway, Central of Georgia, Louisville & Nashville, Western Railway of Alabama, Gulf, Mobile & Ohio, Frisco, Florida East Coast, and Illinois Central. Each full-page color plate is accompanied on the facing page by the original black & white image, together with a detailed narrative for historical context.

The book's introduction includes a step-by-step description of digital artist Tom Alderman's technique. With a black & white scan as his canvas, Tom uses digital brushes, pencils, and sprays to manually create a perfectly matched color image from the black & white original. He acquired his color palate from hand-painting scale model locomotives, which he uses to reproduce authentic color schemes and scenery down to the smallest detail. He describes his colorized images as "pseudochromes," owing to their remarkable resemblance to Kodachrome slides.