RPPC 

From the C W Witbeck Luisiana Archive

Campbell William Witbeck was born in the winter of 1916, in Shreveport, Louisiana — a town served at that time by seven railroads, and no doubt a germ for what would become a lifelong interest in railroad photography. Raised by extended family in the northeast, Witbeck returned south in 1938 to Jackson, Mississippi, to work as a photographer for the depression-era Works Progress Administration. There he took a keen interest in the Illinois Central and the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio, two Mississippi mainstays. Briefly returning to Washington D.C. after World War II to work for a photo studio and later another government concern, in 1948 he again returned to Mississippi — this time, Brookhaven — where he opened Witbeck Photo Service and began establishing himself as professional photographer and railroad image historian. By 1955, he had relocated 80 miles south on the Illinois Central mainline, opening Witbeck Studio in Hammond, Louisiana.