ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604150043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
A ROANOKE WOMAN wants to rename the Market Square Walkway after renowned railroad photographer O. Winston Link.
When Patricia Rodriguez heard that Roanoke City Council had named the downtown pedestrian bridge "Market Square Walkway," she thought, "borrrring."
"The name that was decided on suddenly and unexpectedly is such a pedestrian name," says Rodriguez, of South Roanoke. "It's so boring. It means nothing. It has no significance whatsoever, and it is a significant structure."
Since then, Rodriguez has waged a one-person campaign to rename the $7 million walkway. Her suggestion: The O. Winston Link, in honor of the photographer who is famed for his representations of the Norfolk and Western Railroad's steam locomotives.
Rodriguez will take her efforts to City Council Monday with a presentation and argument about why council should reverse its previous action.
As an unknown photographer some 40 years ago, Link recorded Shaffers Crossing and the railroad culture that followed it along NW tracks, which are now a part of the Norfolk Southern system.
Nearly everywhere he could, the New York native would perch his trusty tripod and large-format camera along the tracks and shoot steam locomotives when they passed. Some of the most startling pictures were taken at night, using elaborate flashbulb systems to catch billowing clouds of steam and cinders against the black sky.
The photographs, thousands in all, remained in his personal archives for decades. Then, about 13 years ago, the art world began to take notice.
His prints sell for thousands, and Link, now 81, has published two books of the photographs. The most recent, "The Last Steam Railroad in America," came out last year. Link and his obsession were featured on ABC's news magazine ``20/20.''
He has also been through a nasty divorce, which culminated with his second wife's indictment for stealing 1,400 of his prints valued at more than $1 million.
O. Winston Link is "a perfect name for the bridge," Rodriguez says. "He was so passionate about the railroad and everything involved in it, the cities and towns that ran along the old Norfolk Western route. He spent a lot of his own time and his own money recording the last few years of the steam railroad and all the life involved in it. He loved it intensely."
The name will help educate people who don't know about Link and his work, Rodriguez says. The name also is fitting, Rodriguez says, because the walkway "links" the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center with the City Market.
How council will react to her plea is unclear. Rodriguez said six of seven members she contacted agreed to consider renaming the walkway.
The most encouraging were Councilwomen Linda Wyatt and Elizabeth Bowles and Mayor David Bowers. Councilman Mac McCadden, meanwhile, suggested naming the viewing platform at the bridge's midsection in honor of Link, Rodriguez says.
The lone holdout is Councilman Jack Parrott. "He just said that he considers the case closed," Rodriguez says.
Rodriguez also has the enthusiastic support of Kay Houck, executive director of the Virginia Museum of Transportation. So far, she hasn't mentioned the idea to Link, but "I'm sure he would be thrilled with this idea," Rodriguez says.
"It would be wonderful to have a name that was more interesting, and would lead people to say, 'Who was O. Winston Link? What did he do?''' she says. "We would all know, in a few years, and all of the children would be taught the significance of the railroad, because O. Winston Link took the time and trouble to record it."
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