Jack Delano was one of the photographers who worked in Roy Stryker’s Farm Security Administration photography program in the early 1940s, traveling the American countryside, photographing people and places with the stated goal of “introducing America to Americans.” In 1942 and ’43, Delano spent time in the rail yards of Chicago, documenting the busy freight hub and the countless workers who kept the trains running 24 hours a day. Some of his most striking images were made on Kodachrome color transparencies, wonderfully preserved in the Library of Congress today. Collected below, a handful of images from Chicago as it was some 75 years ago.
Jack Delano's Color Photos of Chicago's Rail Yards in the 1940s
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The Chicago and North Western Railroad tower man R. W. Mayberry of Elmhurst, Illinois, at work in the Proviso yard in May 1943. He operates a set of retarders and switches at the hump. #
Jack Delano / Library of Congress -
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An Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad switchman demonstrating a signal with a fusee, which is used at twilight and dawn when visibility is poor. This signal means "stop." Photographed in Calumet City in January 1943. #
Jack Delano / Library of Congress
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