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We all have favourite sites, ones that we find useful, creative, stimulating, or just plain worthwhile. There is an infinite number of sites that are cluttered with photos of no particlar merit and are just a waste of band width, but below I have provided links to those sites which I have come across and think present railway photography of a very high order. My major criterion has been the quality of photography, rather than the quality of the site, although happily some manage to combine both. Also included are some general interest sites related to the subject matter of Brindabella Railgrafx and useful web based railway photography communities.

Last updated: 30 November 2005

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Australia and New Zealand

Railpix: A site with many galleries of photos from around Australia, from a variety of contributors, and a variety of styles. Probably the largest single Australian photography site at the moment, but you have to take the good with the ordinary.

Slow Train to Anywhere: A simple site with good quality photos from New Zealand, Australia and the USA. The kiwi photos remind me I really have to go back over the Tasman for another look one day, and also have the only other reference I've seen to a "Pinatubo sunset".

Trains in Tasmania: Call me an imaging snob, but normally I'm vary wary of Fotopic sites - far too much quantity and far too little quality. Amongst the dross though, there are occassional gems, and Steve Bromley's site is one such. There is a wide variety of styles and locations that make this site well worth looking at.

USA

Chasing Trains - Railroad Photography:  An excellent site, with beautiful photography of US trains, by Paul Flaherty. There is much to enjoy here.

Sam Reeves Photography: This site features some good photography from the US, although coverage is less extensive than previously.

Under Western Skies: Another US site with some very strong photography. Recommended viewing, as they say. This site disappeared for a while, but I'm so glad it's back!

David Plowden: A site with some images from one of my photographic heroes. A pity similar sites don't seem to exist for Link, Ball, Steinheimer, Triplett, Benson, Gifford, Jenson et al. Sigh.

David Plowden (2): Because I enjoy the work of David Plowden so much, here is a more recently discovered site. This appears to be his official site. Hooray!

Blair's World: Well, actually only part of Blair's original site, with the gallery and story around the old Milwaukee Road being especially noteworthy.

American Rails: An on-line book of American railways. Some very good photos in a series of galleries which covers pretty well all of North America. The site appears to be neglected, but the photography is still well worth checking.

Mountain West Rail: Some splendid photos of trains in the US Rockies. Big trains, big country, big lenses, although admittedly the US obsession with long lenses gets tiresome after a while.

Somewhere West of Denver: Another in what seem to be a series of similar web sites, this time focused on, well, somewhere west of Denver.

North West Rails: And yet again, this time looking at the Pacific North West. There are some very nice photo galleries in this big, rambling site.

Railroad photos by Mike Yuhas: Here's another US based site, with an emphasis on trains in snow. More nice colourful images, and the site looks like it will grow in the future.

Photos by Steven Brown: A sampling of work from a widely published US based photographer. Unlike many US photographers, Steven obviously is prepared to use lenses other than telephotos.

Rails Around the Bay: Geographically limited as the name implies, Frank Caron's site nevertheless is very attractive and contains some very high quality photography. This is a site I really like.

A Distant Signal: Beautifully presented, this site showcases the work of Judd Spittler - hailed by some as one of the new force of rail photographers. There are certainly some very fine images here.

Elrond Lawrence: Another stylish, well presented site, featuring another of the new breed of photographers. Elrond makes his money from his craft, so it's interesting to see how the pros go about their work!

Steve Crise: Steve is another professional photographer and this link will take you to his railway photography. Needless to say, there is much to admire here.

The Photographers' Railroad Page: Something a bit different: a site which features one photo and the story behind it. It's a great idea and provides far more insight than is usually possible, although the quality of the individual image may not be that high from time to time.

UK

Phoenix Railway Photographic Circle: A site that is now maturing, which showcases the work of the progressive  UK Phoenix Railway Photographic Circle. Some brilliant material here, and thankfully the site itself has been recently overhauled. As is the Circle's nature, new galleries are added regularly, so it's well worth keeping an eye on.

Railway Photography: A very, very well presented site from the UK.

Matt Clark's Railway Photographs: A well presented site from the UK. In amongst the standard three-quarter views are some very nice shots indeed.

Rail Photo: A UK site with a heavy emphasis on what might be called "serious railway photography". Some wonderfully evocative images here.

Geoff's Rail Pages: Another UK site featuring some tremendous images, and not just photos, in a very well designed site. Another "must see".

Chris Nevard's Railway Photography Gallery: More excellent photography from the UK, and a nice site to boot.

Rest of the World

Indian Railways: A Kalaidescope: A site with some very impressive images of the fascinating Indian Railways. It also has many links to other good IR sites which you can spend hours browsing through.

Die Blockstelle: A German site with some lovely photography on the railways of Europe. Being able to read German is a definite advantage, but the photos, as always, speak their own universal language.

General Interest Sites Related to Railway Photography

Railpage Australia: A huge resource with links to many Australian related websites: prototype, models, manufacturers - it's all here.

QRIG: A new , very well done and rapidly growing site covering all aspects of the QR system.

Tasmanian Railways Information: A site with links to many interesting things about the Tasmanian system. A tremendous resource about Australia's railway paradise. Don't believe me? Then have a look!

RailRoad Data: A big web site with a huge number of links to all manner of things to do with railways. There are heaps of links to railway photography sites, of wildly differing standards.

Grumpy's Photo Guide: Some interesting ideas about railway photography and how to get the most out of it. Be prepared to have your views on style and equipment well and truly challenged - he doesn't call himself Grumpy for nothing! Also wins the award for most frequent broken link - one day Grumpy might be able to find an ISP and stick with it!

Center for Railroad Photography and Art: A serious treatment of the whole field of railway photography, painting and other images. Their magazine Railroad Heritage, is well worth looking at for anyone with more than a passing interest in this area, but very expensive for what you get.

History of Railway Photography: A site put together by England's National Railway Museum which is well worth looking at. It contains some galleries of some of the acknowledged masters of "old school" UK photography like Treacy and Earley.

Web-Based Railway Photography Communities

The Observation Car: This is a Yahoo Group dedicated to discussing all things to do with railway photography and art. Discussion is usually calm, intelligent and articulate. While it seems to be about 99% North American, it is well worth joining and just soaking up the comments from some of the leading exponents of quality railway photography. Just don't ask which film to use, or whether digital is superior!

Railphotography: Another Yahoo Group, but this one is based in Australia. Much more sedate than the Observation Car, occasionally some very good images are presented. But it's not much of a group for enjoying a good discussion on technique.