On our way north on Highway 309, we made short detour on West Spruce Street in Tamaqua, Pa.
A pause at the yard office at the north end of the old Reading Company yard, found us a selection of Reading & Northern’s EMD diesels idling in lovely late-afternoon light.
Soft sun was streaming through autumn leaves in a dream-like setting.
I made these photos with my Nikon Z7-II, but I also exposed a couple of Ektachrome slides. I’ll be curious to see those images, since this type of light is difficult to capture effectively on slide film.
We were navigating the streets of Lilly on our way toward Cresson, Pa., when we spotted the headlight of a train on Track 2,
I pulled in near the tracks at SIP 254.3 with just enough time to jump out and grab some cameras to expose photos of what turned out to be westward loaded trash train.
I know some of my readers will be quick to say; ‘that’s a load of garbage.’
In mid-October, Kris and I intercepted the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society’s excursion on the Nittany & Bald Eagle. This paused at Tyrone, Pennsylvania, where I made photos of Lycoming Valley 2011 (a former Southern Pacific GP35) surrounded by backlit brightly colored leaves of trees along the line.
In an earlier time I might have refrained from making these images because of the chain link fence between me and the tracks. In this instance, I accepted the fence as a feature of the location. The leaves more than made up for it.
A week later we returned to Tyrone. It was late in the day and the sunlight was low and foliage was brilliant. But during that brief visit, not a wheel turned, neither on the Main Line nor the Bald Eagle Branch, so I photographed the tracks with trees.
Using the ASM.transit.com web page, I watched Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian make eastward progress on the Main Line. The sun crept over the hills to the east of where Kris and I were waiting. When the train was 25 minutes east of Johnstown, I said, “We should be seeing a headlight soon.”
My composition was based on the late-season foliage on the far side of the three-track mainline.
I didn’t know that PRR-Tuscan red Pullman Colonial Crafts was tied to the back of the consist, but I was delighted to catch this vision of the earlier era on the roll.
It’s always a pleasant surprise to see something like this without anticipation.
The next move was just trash—literally. Stay tuned!
Amtrak Train 42, the eastward Pennsylvanian, works upgrade at Lilly, Pennsylvania. PRR-Tuscan red Pullman Colonial Crafts at the back of Train 42.
On our first full day visiting Cape Cod, Kris and I paused at the old New Haven Railroad station in West Barnstable.
I’d set up my Nikon Z6 with an FTZ adaptor that allows me to use my older Nikon lenses with the modern mirrorless camera.
One of the more unusual lenses in my arsenal is a 1990s-era f2.0 135mm telephoto with Defocus Image Control. I rarely use the defocus feature, but have found that this lens offers a wonderful visual perspective, especially when used at its widest apertures, which is how I employeed it for this study.
I’m a proponent of selective focus, and this is a great tool for experimenting.
There were no trains on the horizon during our brief visit, so I selectively focused on the historic rolling stock that has been stored at West Barnstable for many years. I’ve previously feature these old railroad cars on Tracking the Light. On each visit the trials of time seem more evident.
About ten years ago I was photographing at Washington, Mass., near the summit of CSX’s Boston Line —the former Boston & Albany—and saw my first ever FedEx trailer rolling west on an intermodal train.
I’m sufficiently antique that I remember sending a package when the company was called ‘Federal Express.’
At the end of October, Kris and I caught an eastward Norfolk Southern intermodal train at Lilly, Pa., that was largely hauling FedEx boxes. We were both impressed—especially by the BNSF stack wells.
I made these images using my Nikon Z-series mirrorless cameras.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, my brother and I would routinely travel on Amtrak from Springfield or Hartford (with a change at New Haven ) to Rye, New York.
Why Rye?
To the average passenger, Rye was a fairly ordinary suburban station on the former New Haven Railroad electrified mainline. For my brother and I, it was the designated station for my grandparents to collect us for the short drive to their Co-op City apartment in The Bronx.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Rye was also a residence of Roger Lewis, Amtrak’s first president.
Upon alighting from an Amfleet coach on the westbound platform, we met my grandfather who was waiting for us. He understood my desire to rush up to the head-end to make a photo of the train before we headed away.
I made this view of our engineer at the throttle of E60 972 as he was looking back waiting for the signal from the conductor to depart Rye for New York’s Pennsylvania Station.
Exposed on Kodak 5063 (Tri-X) film using a 1930s-vintage Leica 3A rangefinder. Processed in Kodak Microdol-X in my mother’s sink.
October had been pleasantly warm in Pennsylvania, so it was a bit of shock when we arrived at Lilly near the summit of the Alleghenies to find it was a raw 27F! Luckily we’d packed some long sleeves.
Crisp cool air carries the sound well, and long before the headlight came into view, Kris and I could hear this heavy eastward Norfolk Southern freight laboring up the ‘West Slope’.
Years ago, I would have used my telephoto lenses to frame an eastward train beneath the classic PRR signal bridge that once stood at Lilly, but this was removed a few years ago when NS resignaled the line.
Notwithstanding, this is still a neat place to watch a train clawing its way upgrade. This was a monster. In addition to locomotives at the headend, there was a mid-train ‘DPU’ (radio remote control distributed power unit), and a helper at the back.
I made these photos using my Nikon Z cameras. This was the first of several trains we caught that cool morning. Soon the sun was over the ridgeline and we continued a wonderful day of photography!
In the evening, as we were leaving Seafood Sam’s in Sandwich, Massachusetts, a horn blast announced the passage of Mass Coastal’s ‘Energy Train’.
This short freight carries garbage from a loading point near Yarmouth Port to an off-Cape incinerator near Rochester.
We jumped in the car and Kris navigated our way to the old New Haven station in Buzzards Bay near the west end of the massive Cape Cod Canal lift bridge. The ghostly presence of the mighty span loomed beyond in the gloom.
I set up my Z7-II on my mini Gitzo tripod as the headlights of the freight illuminated the girders of the lift span. With my camera set to ISO 6400 and 12,800 for better low-light capture, I made this series of the train passing.
Our visit to Cape Cod focused on the shore, the ocean and elements of natural beauty. This was Seamus-the-Dog’s first visit to the ocean and he loved the sights and scents and atmosphere of this new environment.
This is a selection of images from my Nikon Z mirrorless cameras.
The other day, Kris directed us to Cape Cod Central’s Sandwich (Massachusetts) station where we made a selection of photos.
Here we found some classic old buildings along the line, plus beautiful autumn foliage and rich morning light—that made for some excellent photographic conditions.
Late autumn operations can be be sparse on Cape Cod. No trains were expected during our visit to Sandwich, and as it happened, none passed.
Every morning, we’ve stopped for breakfast and coffee at the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans, Massachusetts. This is located near the site of the former Old Colony Railroad Station (a component of the New Haven System).
The railroad has been gone for more than half a century. Today little remains of the Old Colony at Orleans except the right of way, a mural, and a few signs.
The Cape Cod Rail Trail represents an adaptive re-use of the track bed.
I try to imagine the sound of a 4-4-0 approaching the town with a short passenger train in tow.
It’s just not there for me. The ghosts of the Old Colony are ephemeral. I need some stronger coffee.
Rail trail looking west toward Buzzards Bay.Rail trail looking railroad east toward Provincetown. This is more or less on the site of the old station.This mural decorates a wall near the Hot Chocolate Sparrow. I’ve featured it previously on Tracking the Light.An old USGS topographical map that dates from before the age of the automobile.
In a gentle curve, under an azure dome and against a backdrop of rusty autumn leaves, an intermodal train races west on Norfolk Southern’s ‘three main track’ —former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline at Cassandra, Pa.
The sun was over my right shoulder at an angle low enough to capture truck detail, but high enough to allow for a full-daylight exposure.
The zoom on my Nikon was set to 46mm, which nearly matches the field of vision of the avarage human eye.
This is nearly a perfect of image of modern freight railroading today. There were no complications caused by wayward clouds, rampaging graffiti artists, or unsightly shadows from random wires.
In October we paid a brief visit to the Everett Railroad at Hollidaysburg, Pa. Here we found the railroad’s 2-6-0 No. 11, under steam having recently returned with an excursion.
It was the first time I’d ever seen this Alco gem in person, let alone under steam. According to Everett’s website, No. 11 served Rhode Island’s Narragansett Pier Railroad for many years before being sold to New York’s Bath & Hammondsport. It is a handsome machine that had drawn a small crowd of admirers.
We were running short on time, so I made a few quick photos, before we headed off to our next destination.
Someday, we will need to give the Everett a more extensive study.
My birthday has been a great opportunity to get great photos.
This year, I was up early and drove to Gap, Pa., where I hoped to find peak foliage. My enthusiasm was high, but the sun was still below the horizon.
Amtrak Keystone 605 was due, and I needed to get a bit creative. So I set my Nikon’s Z7-II’s ISO to 4000 in order to use a fast enough shutter speed to stop the train rolling by a bright red-orange tree in the early morning light.
Back in my Kodachrome days I would have settled for a blur of the train and tree.
On this October birthday morning, I used a shutter speed of 1/800th of a second, which stopped the action nicely. The tree and train made for some nice colors.
In the quiet bucolic setting of the Railroad Overlook at Cassandra, Pa., anticipation is part of the joy of witnessing the passage of freights over the former Pennsylvania Railroad ‘Broad Way’.
The aural sensation of an approaching eastward freight on its ascent of Alleghenies begins with a distant roar. Kris tells me that I often don’t hear what she says, “…but you can hear a freight train five miles away!” I had a hearing test this summer and the doctor informed me that I have the hearing of a twenty year old.
“There’s GE’s in the lead, but it sounds like there might be EMD helpers too.”
After a little while a headlight appeared at the west end of the long tangent looking toward Portage. Oddly the sound initially fades when the train comes into view, only to return in a swell as it grows closer. This train is a monster and it was down to a crawl.
The other photographers standing on the bridge were engrossed in conversation and seemed oblivious. So I said, “There’s an eastbound close.”
“How close?”
I pointed.
“Oh!” And with that positions were taken.
Working with two cameras, I made this sequence of photos, paying special attention to catch the helpers working at the back.
As my late friend Bob Buck would say, “It was a good show!” And it was.
In Conrail days, I made many memorable visits to the West Slope of Alleghenies. The former PRR mainline was always alive with freight.
It had been almost three years since our last visit to this hallowed ground. Last Saturday we made an overdue pilgrimage.
We arrived at the Railroad Overlook at Cassandra, Pa. just before 1pm. There were a fair few photographers already in position, plus an extended Mennonite family enjoying a PRR-themed picnic.
It was quiet for the first half hour.
Light clouds crossed the sky, and a set of light helpers went West toward Cresson. I made photos to capture the aura of the place. And then a distant roar, just barely audible above the rustle of leaves.
This season has seen some glorious sunny weather and brilliant foliage.
I’ve been aiming to make the most of it!
Last week, I exposed these views of Amtrak Keystone 643 at Hoover Road west of Gap, Pa., The flaming red sumac leaves in the foreground are key part of my compositions.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm set at 32mm, 1/1000th of a sec, f4.0 100 ISO.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm set at 39mm, 1/800th of a sec, f4.0 100 ISO.
