In the gloom of a cloudy night, we pulled into a riverside park along the Susquehanna to listen to the peeper frogs.

Beyond the high-pitched chirps, I could hear a dull roar.

“There’s a big train coming, but it’s still a ways off.”

Minutes ticked by. The chirping remained constant, while the roar gradually grew more pronounced. It was the sound of freight cars on the move—lots of them.

My scanner squawked: “622, clear Shocks . . .”

“Loaded coal train, and getting close.” I grabbed my tripod and N6-III fitted with a 50mm f1.4 lens and in near total darkness, I set up for a photograph. As I fumbled with the level, focus, and other niceties, the headlights illuminated the right-of-way. Before the train entered the scene, I opened the shutter.

I made two photographs to record the train’s passage. The first was exposed for 20 seconds at f2.8, ISO 500. The second was made without the benefit of headlights; this one was exposed for 10 seconds at f2.8 and ISO 6400. Both were processed with DxO PureRAW 5 using DeepPRIME 3 treatment, which minimized noise and lens aberrations.

These are conceptual train photos—ghosts passing over a bridge. I knew I could do better, and soon we were following the rolling roar downriver . . .

Tracking the Light examines railroad photography!