Popular photo hosting website Digital Railroad has shut down with immediate effect. Attempts to find additional financing have been unsuccessful, forcing Digital Railroad to close all operations. Digital Railroad’s main aim was to provide an archiving and marketing services for the professional photographer. It also recently branched out into stock photography. Rival service PhotoShelter is offering Digital Railroad customers three free months if they sign up for a Standard or Pro annual subscription by November 4th.

Digital Railroad Press Release

October 28, 2008

To our valued Members and Partners:

We deeply regret to inform you that Digital Railroad (DRR) has shut down.

On October 15th we reported that the company had reduced its staff and was aggressively pursuing additional financing and/or a strategic partner. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful. Therefore Digital Railroad has been forced to close all operations.

Digital Railroad has attracted a loyal set of customers and partners, and we regret this unfortunate outcome. Without sufficient long-term financial support, the business had become unsustainable.

Thank you for allowing us to serve the photographic community these past few years.

All questions pertaining to claims should be addressed to:

  Digital Railroad, Inc
  c/o Diablo Management Group
  1452 N. Vasco Road, #301
  Livermore, CA 94551

Stock Artists Alliance Press Release

Photographers with Digital Railroad Archives need to take immediate action.

Today, an announcement was posted to the Digital Railroad web site that operations have shut down and the site may only be accessible for another 24 hours.

Visitors to DRR.net are now greeted with this notice: We’re sorry to inform you that Digital Railroad (DRR) has shut down. On October 15th we reported that the company had reduced its staff and was aggressively pursuing additional financing and/or a strategic partner. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful. Therefore Digital Railroad has been forced to suspend all operations. This archive may only be accessible for the next 24 hours.

SAA recommends that any photographer with a DRR archive act without delay to:

Ensure that all of your files and data are backed up.
Download all details of licenses made with outstanding royalties due.
Download a list of all registered users who have accessed your Archive.
Check that any monthly or annual fees do not continue to be billed to your credit card.

SAA is greatly concerned about the status of outstanding royalties due to photographers from DRR’s Marketplace stock portal, as well as the manner in which this closure has been handled, giving loyal customers no reasonable advance warning or support. We will continue to monitor the situation and try to assist in any way we can on behalf of photographers.

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