he railfan is not an easy man to understand. Railroading for him is simply too big, too private, and too obvious an emotion to be able to explain it. Railroading requires friends ― friends who understand its complexities and can explain its virtues, friends who without thought of reward are curious and concerned about this business of flanged wheels on steel rails.  Friends who, for lack of a better word, might be called railfans.

David P. Morgan

A Lifetime of Railfan Photography

My brother Jack and I were lucky enough to grow up with a mechanically-minded father who loves all manner of transportation, especially trains and trolleys, and was happy to share that love with his sons. In different decades, both of us climbed many a stairwell to pose for dad on some locomotive or piece of rolling stock; we both sat many an hour in the passenger seat of the family sedan as our intrepid father searched for another good spot for photos. This fascination with machines and movement bequeathed to us by our dad soon formed in my brother a love of planes and rockets ― wonderful hobbies themselves. As for me, it has been railroading for as long as I can remember. Morgan is correct: One struggles to express what it is exactly about locomotives and locations that captures the imagination, but what I am able express is my deep gratitude for the three decades wherein I've had the privilege of sharing this flanged-wheel fascination with my father ― the finest railfan I've ever known. 

Two years ago, I was flabbergasted when my father announced that he was giving me his entire collection of railroad negatives and prints, a massive assortment of images spanning 50 years and all manner of locations. Organizing and scanning these images has been for me like an archeological dig in some lost country. Many pictures I had seen before but had long forgotten; many more I had never laid eyes on, making me feel as though I was experiencing firsthand countless spots along long-abandoned lines and lashups from numerous fallen flags. It did not take me long to decide that a website would be necessary to share many of these fine photographs with the larger railfan community. Furthermore, with my own interest in photography, also planted in me by my dad, over the years I've framed up and focused my own growing collection of railroad photographs, with special emphasis on southeastern shortlines and diesel locomotive roster shots.

As such, I've started HawkinsRails.net to feature our shared collections of railfan images and to honor this relationship I've shared with my dad all my life. I hope you will enjoy what you find. Throughout this site, photographs taken by my father, John C. Hawkins, are tagged ; images taken by me, Ralph W. Hawkins, are tagged ; and photos in our collection taken by others are tagged .  For more information about acquiring reprints or digital files of images taken by us, please see my page.

Welcome aboard HawkinsRails.net!