In November 1986, I exposed this view on a free roll of Kodak T-max 100 supplied to me by Kodak.
At the time, I was a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology learning about photography.
Where other students focused on perfume bottles and what not, I was more interested in capturing the scene on the old Water Level Route.
Amtrak’s morning departure from Rochester made for a good subject to test the free roll of film.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily.
On this day, 10 January 2005, I exposed this Fujichrome Sensia II slide of an Irish Rail train from Tralee at Killarney, County Kerry.
This was shortly before Mini-CTC resignalling would close the cabin and remove all the classic mechanical signaling.
At the time 201 diesels and Mark3 carriages were the norm and not noteworthy; but they seem pretty cool today.
I like the crow perched on the semaphore blade.
Tracking the Light Posts Every Day.
The ‘Ides of March’ 1997; Sagers, Utah along Union Pacific’s old Denver & Rio Grande Western mainline.
Fellow photographer Mel Patrick and I were traveling back from WinteRail ’97 (held in Stockton, California) and made a project of photographing trains in the Utah and Nevada deserts.
It was at 6:38 AM that I exposed this trailing view of a short BNSF piggyback train heading eastward toward Denver.
Tracking the Light Looks Back.
Tomorrow Wednesday January 9, 2019, at 730pm, I’ll be presenting a slide show on Conrail to the Amherst Railway Society in Palmer, Massachusetts.
Amherst Railway Society meetings are open to the public.
The program will feature some of my finest vintage slides; Kodachrome and otherwise.
Amherst Railway Society’s Clubhouse is located in the old Palmer Grange building on South Main Street near the intersection with Route 32, a stone’s throw from the old Tennyville Bridge over CSX’s former Conrail—Boston & Albany—mainline.
See Amherst Railway Society’s page for details:
http://www.amherstrail.org/ARS/meeting-Jan2019.php
Tracking the Light posts Every Day!
New Years Day I exposed two rolls of Ilford HP5 (400 ISO) using a Nikon F3 with f1.8 105mm lens.
In my wanders in Philadelphia to capture the festive splendor of the annual Mummers parade, I also made images of the city’s architecture and neighborhoods.
Philadelphia is a city of contrasts, and my aim was to produce stark and revealing photographs. Urban textures are enhanced by the silvery selenium enhanced highlight, inky black shadows.
By intent there’s a foreboding darkness to these images.
Granularity and shallow depth of field are characteristics my choice of lens and film and make for distinctive photos. These are distinctly different than digital images I made during the same outing.
My chemical process is non-standard: in addition to split processing the film (using two stage development), I selenium-toned my finished negatives to alter contrast.
I scanned the negatives using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner, then made very slight adjustments in post processing.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily.
On our SEPTA exploration January 2, 2019, we visited the Norristown Transportation Center, where we changed from the former Reading Company heavy rail line to the old Philadelphia & Western ‘High Speed’ line.
The elevated station for the old P&W route offers a stunning view of the trestle over the Schuykill River.
A grand view, yes, but the light was about as uninspiring as it gets; I was faced with dull, colorless January gloom.
I made a few photos of a Norristown-bound car scuttling across the bridge.
As color photos these are pretty hopeless.
You might ask, ‘why didn’t I just make a B&W film photo?’
My answer is: ‘I was traveling light, and didn’t bring a film camera’
I think I’ll just need to return on a brighter day.
Tracking the Light Posts Every Day. Even when its dull and colorless.
On Wednesday January 2, 2019, my brother and I made an adventure of exploring the SEPTA system.
We bought Independence Passes, which offer essentially unlimited travel on the SEPTA transportation system for a day, and we sampled a variety of modes and lines.
We began at Parkside Avenue by boarding the number 40 bus (GASP!), then to the Market-Frankford rapid transit. At Jefferson Station/Market East we picked up a heavy rail train to Norristown where we transferred to the old Philadelphia & Western high-speed line to 69thStreet.
From there the Media trolley to its namesake (yes, there’s a town called Media, Pennsylvania, and it’s one of the last with a single track trolley right up the main street.) Reaching the end of the trolley line at Orange Street, we walked to the old PRR station, and boarded a train that ran through to West Trenton, New Jersey, although we alighted at Woodbourne, PA to meet our friend Pat Yough, who took us by road to a nearby pub.
Our return trip retraced our steps to Philadelphia’s suburban station, where after some trials and missteps, eventually found the appropriate bus (GASP!) and this brought us back to where we began.
The light was dreary, but I made photos anyway using with both my Lumix LX7 and FujiFilm digital cameras.
Tracking the Light Posts Everyday.
In our wanders around Philadelphia on New Year’s Day, I made dozens of digital image with my new Lumix LX7.
For these photos I was using the external viewfinder, an attachment that connects via the top of camera hot shoe. This makes it easier to compose in bright daylight.
Brian Solomon’s Tracking the Light Posts Daily.
At 730 pm this coming Wednesday, January 9, 2019, I’ll be presenting a slide show on Conrail to the Amherst Railway Society in Palmer, Massachusetts.
Amherst Railway Society meetings are open to the public.
The year 2019 marks the 20thanniversary of the divide of Conrail operations between CSX and Norfolk Southern so I thought this would be a good time to reflect on Conrail’s operations.
The program will feature some of my finest vintage slides; Kodachrome and otherwise.
Amherst Railway Society’s Clubhouse is located in the old Palmer Grange Hall on the south side of South Main Street near the intersection with Route 32, a stone’s throw from the old Tennyville Bridge over CSX’s former Conrail—Boston & Albany—mainline. Ample parking is available.
See Amherst Railway Society’s page for details:
http://www.amherstrail.org/ARS/meeting-Jan2019.php
Tracking the Light Posts Every Day.
Many years ago, my old pal T.S. Hoover and I would make a project of photographing the old New Haven Railroad during the holiday season.
This past New Years Eve (December 31 2018), I maintained this tradition, although that wasn’t my intent!
I was transferring from Amtrak 405 from Springfield to Amtrak 195 from Boston. Let’s just say the Boston train wasn’t holding to the advertised and I had ample time to wander around and make photographs of the passing action.
New Haven isn’t pretty, high level platforms combined with a plethora of poles, catenary masts, catenary, signs, garbage, stray wires and other visual clutter hasn’t improved this classic setting, but there’s a great variety of equipment on the move.
No GG1s, RDCs, FL9s, E8s or other relics that made this a fascinating place when I was a teenager. For that matter there weren’t any E60s, AEM-7s, F40s or SPV-2000s either.
Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!
Low clouds, bright city lights, and lots of freight on the move; that was my brief experience touring Houston’s railroad yards on the evening of December 18, 2018.
Tom Kline gave my father and me a whirlwind tour and I made atmospheric grab shots as we drove around.
The photos here were made using high-ISO on my FujiFilm XT1. These were made ‘on the fly’, handheld from Tom’s truck without benefit of a tripod or set up time.
I was delighted with my results and I’ve promised Tom that someday I’ll return for some daylight photography.
Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!
Here’s a few views of the annual Mummers Parade held on Philadelphia’s Broad Street.
My brother has attended the parade for 21 years. This was my third or forth Mummers.
I made these photos with my new Lumix LX7.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily!
Back in October 2018, I reported how my old Lumix LX7 suffered a failure owning to being drowned two days in a row.
Later I reported how I resuscitated the camera by leaving it in a zip lock bag with rice for four days in an effort to dry it out.
For two months the camera struggled on.
In the mean time my old friend Ken Buck offered to sell me his rarely used LX7.
Last week I took him up on the offer, as my original LX7 had finally reached the end of its usefulness.
The other day, I put the ‘new’ Lumix LX7 to the test and made these photos of Amtrak 57, the Saturday southward Vermonter making its station stop at Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
Low sun is a key to dramatic railway photos, and shortly before the train arrived, the clouds parted.
This is now my third Lumix LX-series camera. My first was a LX3, that I used from October 2009 to April 2014; my second was the ‘Zombie Lumix’ previously described. Long live my third Lumix!
Tracking the Light Posts Daily!
Some weeks ago, I had a few minutes before running an errand. I stopped in at CP83 near the old Palmer Union Station.
My timing was nearly perfect. Not long after I arrived, I heard a familiar roar to the west.
The air was clear, and the sounds of EMD 645 diesels were resonating as they worked eastbound.
I thought, ‘must be the B740’ (the CSX local freight that typically arrives in Palmer about mid-morning to work the interchange.)
I walked up to the South Main Street bridge. As the train approached Palmer, it enters a short down grade, so the roar quieted. This change in pitch might confuse a novice visitor, who might become discouraged at the very moment a train is about to pass.
Sure enough, after a couple of minutes, CSX B740 rolled into view and took the switch at CP83 onto the controlled siding.
Perfect low and clear December sun over my left shoulder made for a calendar scene.
I exposed these views using my FujiFilm XT1.
Tracking the Light posts daily!
