John Coniglio – October 2026 Speaker

Chattanooga’s Last Train: An Evening with John Coniglio Photography, railroads, and Chattanooga history come together in “Chattanooga’s Last Train,” an evening with photographer, author, and longtime PSC member John William Coniglio. Drawing from decades of photographs and firsthand experience, John will take us through the highs and lows of railroading in Chattanooga and consider what may come next, including the proposed return of intercity passenger rail. For John, both photography and railroads have deep roots. “Photography and I met in a coal bin, in the basement of the house where I lived when I was six years old.” His father was developing film from an Argus 75 roll-film camera, using the family’s coal cellar because it was the only room in the house that could be made completely dark. John remembers watching as his father rolled the film onto a reel, poured chemicals into the developing tank, and finally hung the wet negatives to dry in a room that smelled of coal dust. A decade later, John picked up that same camera himself and photographed a steam locomotive beside a gas station during a family trip. “The seeds of a career had been planted,” he recalls. That career would eventually bring together several of John’s longstanding interests. He joined the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in 1973 and volunteered in its print shop from 1975 to 1980. While working at an advertising agency where TVRM was a client, his photography helped lead him toward a career as a photographer at the Chattanooga Times. John is also a U.S. Army veteran, a graduate of UTC, and the author of three books. His railroad history, Steam in the Valley: A History of the TVRM, 1961–98, is available through the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum gift shop. His other books, Eakin to Eidsdal, a photographic documentary of a hitchhiking trip to Norway, and Chattanooga’s Last Train, are available through Blurb. His connection to the Photographic Society of Chattanooga stretches back nearly as far as his relationship with TVRM. John first joined PSC around 1971 or 1972. Today, his photographs are also available through The H*art Gallery on East Main Street. Join us for an evening that is part photographic history, part Chattanooga story, and part look toward the future of rail travel in our city.