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NEW YORK, NY (October 28, 2008) - Digital Railroad didn't even give it's users the courtesy of 24 hours to get their photographs off their servers. When users signed on this morning, waiting for them after the Digital Railroad log in today was this notice:

"To our valued Members:

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. Digital Railroad has attracted a loyal set of members. 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"

Then this afternoon, shortly after 5 p.m. EST, the Digital Railroad Web site went dead. Dark. Gone.

A simple HTML page residing on the domain name says it all with its title: Final Goodbye.

Left unanswered -- since no one at Digital Railroad answered phones Monday on the lines that still worked (calls went straight to voicemail), and their phone numbers for sales and Marketplace and their main switchboard in the States triggered an automated phone company message saying that the numbers have been disabled - are the clients' basic questions: Will I get my money back?

Will I be able to recover my photographic archive?

Will I get any money owed to me from sales of my photographs that Digital Railroad hasn't paid yet?

Clients who have been tracking the company's downfall may have seen this coming, but for those who might not have known about Digital Railroad's financial straights found themselves scrambling to recover their photographic archives from Digital Raiload's servers.

"Everyone is downloading now and their FTP has slowed to a crawl," one Digital Railroad member told News Photographer magazine earlier this afternoon, before the site went dark. It's estimated that there may have been as many as 1,900 client archives on Digital Railroad's servers as of today.

With its board members, its CEO, and its president having resigned and with Digital Railroad being controlled by Diablo Management - a liquidation company - since mid-October, the company recently has been facing two options: filing for bankruptcy, or being bought at a bargain basement rate.

Calls to Digital Railroad's published phone numbers in the States this morning, including their Marketplace Image Sales number, were answered by phone company recordings that said the phone numbers have been disabled. A call to Digital Railroad's technical support line in New York this morning also went straight to voicemail.

In response to Digital Railroad's demise, PhotoShelter is making Digital Railroad's customers a special offer that expires on November 4. If photographers act now, before the deadline, PhotoShelter says they will give them three month's credit for their Digital Railroad account.

PhotoShelter is offering use of their migration tools for Digital Railroad customers to move their archives from Digital Railroad's servers to PhotoShelter to house their photographs in a new PhotoShelter Personal Archive 2.0 while getting credit for three free months. PhotoShelter says their offer includes helping photographers FTP from their Digital Railroad accounts to PhotoShelter with an "instant transfer."

Last week when it was reported that Digital Railroad was short on funds and that the company was facing drastic staff reductions and "greatly reduced spending," CEO Charles Mauzy and president Maris Berzins announced on their Facebook pages that they were no longer with Digital Railroad. The company's entire board of directors also resigned.

Digital Railroad founder and chairman of the board Evan Nisselson also announced on his Facebook page that he was no longer chairman, and that he hoped the company "lands in good hands."

Getting DRR Back Failed

Nisselson confirmed to News Photographer magazine today that he did indeed attempt "a couple of solutions to re-acquire Digital Railroad," but that "these financial times made it very difficult to do so." Digital Railroad's founder and former CEO has been based in Milan, Italy, recently.