John Reid (1835-1911)
1870Campanil, for the Tongoi Railway, Chile, S.A.,
Albumen print30.5 x 40.2 cm (image) 42 x 51 cm (sheet)
Adams Amsterdam AuctionsPhotographs - Locomotives & Railroad Bridges, 23 March 2015, Lot: 26
On period mount with a printed caption "Built by Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works, Paterson, New Jersey, U.S.A., for the Tongoi Railway, Chile, S.A., 1870. Photographed by J. Reid. '3 feet 6 inches gauge of track. Total Weight, running order, 46,610 pounds'". With mounted label with technical details 'Cylinders 13 x 18, 6, 30-inch Driving Wheels, 2 20-inch Track Wheels' (lower left).
John Jefferson Reid was an American photographer who specialised in industrial photography. Named "A Famous Photographer of Iron Horses" in the March 1937 issue of
Railroad Stories, he is still one of a very few pioneers known by name. His work is hardly ever on the market and we found 15 very fine albumen prints in this collection. Arthur H. Miller, Archivist and Librarian for Special Collections of Lake Forrest College, states: Reid printed his own pictures, with his own rag paper and his own emulsion. They were superior and helped his prints survive when prints by others have deteriorated beyond use: "…[t]here is nothing that can compare with a large, clear original photograph of an iron horse made by John Reid." Railroad companies were among the first to use photography for the documentation and promotion of their work. The photographs were often of a very high artistic level. "Railroads pioneered industrial photography, initially as a way to record their locomotive inventories. Builders employed photographers to document their work. For example John Reid's studio took photos of locomotives built at Rogers, Cooke, and Grant in Paterson, New Jersey, until the last Cooke shop […] closed in 1928. Reid also recorded bridges and machinery" (Brian Solomon & John E. Gruber.
Railway Photography).
LL/58625