December 2014
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Reading & Northern at Tamaqua.
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Tracking the Light presents three photos: a Classic station and a short freight. Pat Yough and I arrived at the grade crossing in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania just as the gates came down. Lucky me! My goal was to photograph the old…
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Knowledge Corridor First Day Photo Album
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Here’s a diverse selection of images: December 29, 2014 saw the first public operation of Amtrak’s Vermonter on the traditional Connecticut River Line via Northampton and Greenfield, Massachusetts. The trains were totally sold out in both directions. I made a…
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Tracking the Light Special: Knowledge Corridor Sneak Preview—Vermonter at Greenfield
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Today (December 29, 2014) was Amtrak’s first day of public operation on the new ‘Knowledge Corridor’ (B&M Conn River Line to traditionalists). The train was sold out in both directions and hundreds of people came out to watch history in…
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Lucky Break At Belchertown: The Vermonter and More!
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Sometimes you get more than you planned for: On December 17, 2014, I rode the Vermonter to Amherst. This gave me the opportunity to scope the line for photo locations. Although I’ve traveled this route on various occasions, I wanted…
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Irish Rail Class 071s at Dublin’s North Wall.
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It was a comparatively busy morning in early October 2014. I’d taken the LUAS Red Line tram to Spencer Dock and walked over to the East Road Bridge. I was joined shortly by fellow photographers, Colm O’Callaghan and John Cleary….
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Palmer, Massachusetts from Amtrak’s Vermonter.
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Tracking the Light offers four views. Many times I’ve photographed Amtrak’s Vermonter in Palmer; so here are some recent photographs of Palmer as seen from the train. I thought one last ride on this ‘temporary routing’ would be in order. Keep in…
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SEPTA Number 10 Time Machine.
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34 years; 36th Street, Philadelphia. Way back in August 1980, my father, brother Sean and I visited Philadelphia and stayed in a hotel near the 36th Street portal for SEPTA’s number 10 surface-subway streetcar. Today this is the Sheraton Hotel,…
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Happy Christmas from Tracking the Light: Doubleheaded Steam.
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Santa Trains at Minersville; a Reading revival, 12 photos for Christmas! On December 14, 2014, Reading & Northern 425 teamed up with recently restored Central Railroad of New Jersey 0-6-0 113 to work R&N Santa Trains between Minersville and Cressona,…
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New Hope Station at Dusk with Christmas Lights
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Tracking the Light Presents a classic railway station. New Hope & Ivyland’s station at New Hope, Pennsylvania at the end of a former Reading Company branch; I exposed this view as part of sequence for a book on railway stations…
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Blue Pacific Under Steam
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Reading & Northern’s 425. On Saturday December 13, 2014, Pat Yough and I made a pilgrimage to Port Clinton, Pennsylvania to photograph Reading & Northern 425 working Christmas specials. I’ve found that one of the best times to photograph steam…
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Tracking the Light SPECIAL POST: Knowledge Corridor Specials, December 22, 2014.
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Amtrak Extra and Pan Am’s Office Cars on the Move. 8 digital photos and more! Today, in preparation for the opening of the Knowledge Corridor next week, special trains converged on Greenfield, Massachusetts. Paul Goewey and I intercepted the northward…
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Tracking the Light; Fuji Camera Conclusions.
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Cash in hand: which camera to get and why. In the last few months, I’ve sampled several mirror-less cameras. I played with a Panasonic Lumix LX7, and bought one. Thanks to Eric Rosenthal, I put a brand new Lumix LX100 through…
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Shire Books Features the Third Part of Brian Solomon’s Illustrated Street Car Article.
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San Francisco’s Electric Streetcars: History and Today. This is part three in Brian Solomon’s look at street railway transport in San Francisco. To see the photos and read the story click the link below: http://www.shirebooks.co.uk/blog/san_francisco_electric_streetcars_history_today/ Tracking the Light Posts New Material…
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Tracking the Light Special Camera Review: Fuji X-E2 on the Fly.
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I’ve been fascinated by Fuji’s mirror-less cameras for a while. Pat Yough has a couple of them. In my previous post, I wrote of my fleeting experience with Pat’s X-T1. The other day, Pat gave me his X-E2 to play…
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Tracking the Light Tests a Fuji X-T1
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An ideal test of new equipment might include a thorough tutorial, followed by a gradual immersion into the camera’s distinct features in order to be operationally confident prior to making any serious photos. I didn’t do any of that. It…
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Tracking the Light SPECIAL POST: Knowledge Corridor Test Train—December 19, 2014
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Today (Dec 19, 2014) Amtrak operated a test train north from Springfield, Massachusetts on Pan Am Southern’s recently rehabilitated Boston & Maine Connecticut River Line in preparation for re-routed Vermonter service (expected to begin at the end of this month). My…
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Amtrak’s 600 at Zoo Junction.
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Sunday, December 7, 2014. Tracking the Light presents a few views at this busy location. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor is in transition as the old battle-worn AEM-7s are being phased out and the new Siemens ACS-64 ‘City Sprinter’ locomotives gradually assume their…
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Oak Lane Revisited; 55 years later.
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Back on November 14, 1959, my dad photographed Reading Company T-1 2124 charging through Oak Lane station on Kodachrome. But where is Oak Lane? Obviously this is in suburban Philadelphia. However, when I consulted a modern day SEPTA rail map,…
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Tracking the Light Special Post: Vermonter to Amherst
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Today’s (December 17, 2014) views from Amtrak’s Vermonter en route from Philadelphia to Amherst, Massachusetts. Posted live from the train! I write from the relative comfort of an Amfleet coach on Amtrak number 56, the Vermonter. Below are some views…
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Exploring Philadelphia on SEPTA.
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Friday December 5, 2014. SEPTA’s Independence Pass offers great value for the $12 price and more importantly gives you the freedom to jump from train to train and one mode to another without worrying about buying individual tickets. My brother…
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Along the Main Line—December 4, 2014.
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Tracking the Light presents 14 recent images—a work in progress. Not any old mainline, but The Main Line—the former Pennsylvania Railroad west of Philadelphia. This is hallowed ground in the eyes of PRR enthusiasts. My brother and I spent several…
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Rainbow Consist in the Missouri Valley.
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Tracking the Light remembers the Chicago, Central & Pacific. On April 23, 1995, Howard Ande and I chased this westward CC&P freight through the Missouri Valley to Council Bluffs, Iowa. CC&P was a short-lived 1980s-era Illinois Central Gulf spin-off. This…
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Southern Pacific Weso, Nevada.
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Tracking the Light Daily Post: Weso is a contraction implying ‘Western Pacific Southern Pacific’. This is the control point at the western end of the famed ‘paired track’ where SP’s and WP’s single track mainlines were coordinated during World War…
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View of the Hudson Valley from Breakneck Ridge.
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It was a clear September 1989 morning when I parked near the twin former New York Central tunnels at Breakneck Ridge and followed a hiking trail to this commanding vantage point looking back toward Cold Spring, New York. I exposed…
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Tracking Light Views All Aboard!
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This evening (December 12, 2014) Pat Yough and I attended a talk by guest curator Mike Froio at New Jersey’s Monmouth Museum about the on-going exhibit of railway photography titled All Aboard! Railroads & The Historic Landscapes They Travel. This features some…
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Brian Solomon’s Night Photo Challenge-Part 5.
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San Francisco Panorama, September 2009. For my final Night Photo Challenge image, I thought I’d display this image. This is not an ordinary ‘night photo’, but there are no PhotoShop computer generated enhancements. Except for cropping, which I did after scanning the slide,…
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Brian Solomon’s Night Photo Challenge-Part 4.
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Misty Night in the Old Moravian Capital. Olomouc—known as Olmütz in the day of the old Hapsburg Empire when it was the capital of Moravia—is an ancient city dating back to Roman times. I found it an exceptionally photogenic small…
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Alcos in Scranton: Brian Solomon’s Night Photo Challenge-Part 3.
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Delaware-Lackawanna shops, Scranton, Pennsylvania, October 13, 2005. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: I was researching and photographing for my book Working on the Railroad, when I made this image in the rain at Scranton. The former British…
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Brian Solomon’s Night Photo Challenge-Part 2.
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Dusk at Killucan Cabin, May 3, 2002. This was a favorite place of mine to make photos, and before the cabin was closed, I spent many afternoons and evenings here. This image was exposed several years before Irish Rail implemented the…
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Brian Solomon’s Night Photo Challenge-Part 1.
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In response to my recent nomination by Phil Brahms and Blair Kooistra for the Facebook Night Photo challenge, I’ve selected five groups of photos that I feel might be interesting to review on Tracking the Light. I have to admit,…
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Rainy Night on the Main Line.
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Tracking the Light; Five photos on the old Pennsylvania Railroad. A Post-Prologue to a Night Photo Challenge . . . On December 1, 2014, I’d met my latest deadline, and so I finally had a few minutes to make photos…
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Wisconsin Central F45
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Tracking the Light Mystery Location! I’m taking a poll: Can you guess where I made this photo of Wisconsin Central F45 6656 on May 4, 1996? Be specific! By the way, just in case you missed the notice, the previous Tracking the…
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CSX at Middlefield.
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Tracking the Light Daily Post: A View from a Favorite Location. For this photograph, I’ve selected an off-center composition and used strong side-lighting and selective focus to increase the sensation of depth. Tracking the Light posts new material every morning. Please share Tracking the Light! http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/…
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Union Pacific at Rock Creek
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A Tracking the Light silhouette. On August 15-16, 2009, I’d been camping in California’s Feather River Canyon near the curved Rock Creek trestle. In the early light of dawn, I made a series of photos of this Union Pacific container…
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Shirebooks Journal Features Cable Cars by Brian Solomon.
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This is the second of three posts in my three part series covering San Francisco’s Streetcars. Shirebooks recently published my book Streetcars of America co-authored with John Gruber. Click the link below to see their site: http://www.shirebooks.co.uk/blog/san_francisco_streetcars_cable_car_pioneer_lone/ Related articles Golden Gate…
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Tracking the Light Daily Post: Photographing the Shinkansen at Speed
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Capturing Motion. Working with a Nikon N90S with 80-200 zoom lens and Fujichrome Provia 100 I made this zoom-pan of a Series 100 train blitzing the station at Shizuoka, Japan. The trick to making a zoom-pan is use a relatively…