Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society Receives C&O Railway Slides Taken by the Late J. David Ingles
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Clifton Forge, VA (Nov. 18, 2021) - A valuable batch of historical photographs from a well-known pillar of publishing has been donated to the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, the 52-year-old non-profit organization that preserves, studies, and publishes the transportation history of the C&O Railway. Many railroad enthusiasts will be familiar with the name of J. David Ingles, who was very notably with Kalmbach Publishing for 47 years. In addition to that long career, after a time as a newspaperman in Springfield, Illinois, Dave joined the Trains magazine staff in 1971 as Associate Editor and succeeded David P. Morgan as Editor in 1987, completing his career from 1992 until his death in 2020 as Senior Editor. He was born in Dearborn, Michigan, and his career was at Kalmbach headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Now being scanned into the C&O Historical Society’s electronic database, many of Mr. Ingles’ donated slides are of Chesapeake & Ohio Railway operations in Michigan.
Unlike the large slide collections of so many rail enthusiasts that do not end up with archival groups, J. David Ingles’ photos were sorted out by some of his railfan friends at the request of his daughter Susan and donated to appropriate historical organizations for each piece of subject matter. The C&O Historical Society received the C&O Railway-related portion of his collection several months ago, and the organization is now scanning and entering the donation’s approximately 3,000 slides into its digital archive. Because most of the images are taken on C&O Railway lines in Michigan and Ohio, their addition to the C&OHS collection is very welcome since that region has the least coverage in their indexed photo collection. According to the C&O Historical Society, images taken of other railroads have been sent to their historical organizations as well.
The C&O Historical Society is most grateful to Susan Ingles for these images, and for her understanding of the importance of these photos to the history of railroading, especially during the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. C&O Historical Society Founder and Chief Historian, Thomas W . Dixon, Jr . , expressed a combination of relief and excitement at the donation, “We hear of so many collections that are discarded by heirs, or are sold to commercial interests where they are not available for public use, but as part of our mission as a 501(c)(3) organization, the C&OHS will make these images available to all interested people at reasonable prices.”
Commenting on this donation of material so suited to the organization’s research needs, C&O Historical Society President Mark Totten stated, “This is an exemplary example of cooperation within the historical community. It was with a great deal of foresight and respect for the subject matter that Mr. Ingles’ daughter Susan saw fit to oversee an organized dissemination of her father’s work, identifying historical groups nationally and making many separate contacts. We are incredibly grateful that Mr. Ingles’ family recognized the importance of this material and invested so much time with their volunteers. Our
Contact: Mark Totten mtotten@cohs. org
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, Inc. November 18, 2021
collection is richer because of this vision, and we will be honored to preserve and publish J. David Ingles’ magnificent photography of C&O Railway subjects.”
Mr. Dixon concluded with comments on the meaning of this acquisition, “The donation of these photos to C&OHS ensures that they are and will be available to anyone interested, member or public, as long as the Society exists, and at a reasonable cost. They can prove a further lasting legacy to a gentleman named J. David Ingles as well. I never knew him well, but I did have a few contacts with him in the mid-to-late 1970s, and he was always a considerate and helpful person for me, a virtual unknown in the august company of railfans in that period. Dave Ingles is gone, but some of his camera work will remain for future use and enjoyment.”
The C&O Historical Society’s Business Office & Archive is open Monday through Friday from 9 AM - 5 PM and may be contacted by telephone at 540-862-2210 or by email at cohs@cohs.org. The C&OHS archive database is available online at archives.cohs.org. Updates and additional information can be found on Facebook under @cohs.org.
Photos to reference (available by email if not transmitted; more available upon request):
ď‚· Dave Ingles in his Trains magazine office in 1997 (Ingles1997.JPG; photo courtesy of the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society).
 One of the recently-acquired photos from the J. David Ingles donation includes this image of C&O Railway E8 locomotive No. 4016 leads B&O Railroad E8 No. 1446 and an unusual 12-car consist. Part of the train is the C&O Railway’s train No. 46, The Sportsman, and the other part is the B&O Railroad’s No. 20, The Capitol/Detroit. The combined train is leaving Detroit en route to Toledo where the C&O train will be detached and head on to Columbus and Ashland, Kentucky. There it will be combined with No. 4 out of Cincinnati for the trip east on the C&O main line. The 11- car train has C&O Railway E8 locomotive No. 4016 and B&O No. 1446 and the consist is an eclectic make-up on C&O and B&O cars (COHS-57444.JPG; J. David Ingles photo, September 1966, courtesy of the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, archive # COHS-57444).
 Recently acquired from the J. David Ingles collection, this image shows the C&O Railway’s Alco S-2 switcher No. 9151 working on the Russell, Kentucky yard on Oct. 9, 1969. The engine was built in September 1949 and was in the first batch of diesels ever to turn a wheel on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. It had been repainted to the post-1955 paint scheme featuring a solid blue body with yellow frame and steps and the Futura Demi Bold lettering with the road name spelled out fully (COHS-57629.JPG; J. David Ingles photo, courtesy of the Chesapeake &
Ohio Historical Society).
ď‚· C&O Railway E7 No. 4511 is nosing past a C&O freight train headed by C&O GP30 locomotive No. 3014 in Rougemere Yard leaving Detroit on train No. 13, running into the western sun, in
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, Inc. November 18, 2021
April, 1964. By this time most of the E7s had been transferred to B&O Railroad service, but No. 4511 was still working the Pere Marquettes between Detroit and Grand Rapids. The large gas holder and steel mill are part of the Ford Motor Co. plant (COHS-57468.JPG; J. David Ingles photo, courtesy of the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society).
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society is a non-profit corporation dedicated to interpreting the American Railway experience using C&O Railway’s history through drawings, documents, and artifacts which the Society collects, preserves, and makes available to as broad an audience as possible.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society was organized in January 1969 and in 1975 was incorporated as a non-profit eleemosynary organization within the meaning or subparagraph 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. | | | |
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