We decided to stop by at the Tamaqua Station Restaurant on the way back from Scranton. It was sunny and bright, but not too hot, and during our previous visits we’d always dined inside, so why not try one of the outdoor tables?
A waitress came by to take our drink order. Kris had iced tea, and I ordered a Rusty Rail Fog Monster (a New England Style IPA, brewed in Mifflinburg, PA). About that time, Kris said, ‘”Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“A whistle! There’s a train coming.”
And, indeed, there was! Or at least a set of light engines.
A pair of Reading & Northern SD40-2s came up to the station and stopped, almost directly opposite our table. The crew changed ends, waited for the southward signal to clear, and then proceeeded into the Tamaqua Yard.
That worked out well!
Our meals were delivered, and afterward Kirs ordered dessert as the signal cleared to ‘Approach’.
Yesterday (July 29, 2025), I attended the Roundhouse Groundbreaking ceremony at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.
Work has begun on the long-planned six-stall roundhouse that will be used to house six former Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotives that are in the museum collection.
Museum Director Patrick Morrison led the ceremony with an introductory speech, followed by speeches by several key dignitaries, including former Museum Director David Dunn who, many years ago, got the ball rolling for the roundhouse construction.
Afterwards the assembled group was invited outside to see the site for the new structure and to ceremonial move some earth. I missed the earth moving as I was chatting with other guests, but I did make a few photos of the gilded shovels and other proceedings.
It was a landmark day in Pennsylvania railroad preservation! (Capital ‘R’ optional on ‘railroad’).
We were hundreds of feet below ground on the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour. We were led by John, our guide, and much of the tour was conducted on foot through the maze of subterrainian tunnels. We had ample opportunity to inspect the old mine and learn about the perils of anthracite mining.
I made all of these photos hand-held using my Nikon Z7-II with the ISO set at 8000 to 12,800 ISO.
Although shadows and highlights have been adjusted in these image, the files are converted directly from the camera RAW images, and not processed using PureRaw. At some point I will convert a few images using this advanced processing software for comparision.
It was a bright morning in Scranton, and I thought there was no better time to make sunlit photos of the old Delaware, Lackawanna & Western station than at first light.
This is now the Radisson’s Lackawanna Station Hotel, and we were staying on the 6th floor in the room behind the clock.
I grabbed my Nikon Z7-II, and I walked around the street-side of the classic Kenneth Murchison building making photos from various angles.
No Phoebe Snow this day and we weren’t ‘off to Buffalo,’ yet this classic old building still feels, looks, and even smells like a traditional railroad station.
What you see passing through on I-81 doesn’t give you any sense for what the place is about.
At one time there were dozens of active anthracite mines in and around the city with hundreds of miles of tunnels, many served by narrow gauge colliery railways.
The Lackawanna Coal Mine tour has been on my ‘to do’ list for a long time.
On our most recent visit to Scranton, Kris and I finally made time to take the tour. It was worth every minute and I’m looking forward to taking the tour again.
John, our guide, did an incredible job of conveying the history and the process of mining and stories of the hazards, trials, and difficult times endured by generations of anthracite miners in decades ago. In the early twenthieth century miners would start very young, with children five to ten years old being sent to help extract “black diamonds” from the earth.
Mines, even those opened and santized for visitors, are dangerous places, and we signed waivers before boarding the cable-hoisted railcar that lowered us deep into the earth. Although the last coal was mined here the year I was born, this is a real mine, and it was really cool to see in person.
Despite the inky darkness, thanks to my Nikon Z7-II and its high-ISO settings, I made many images.
More to follow in the coming days. Stay tuned . . .
One of the great things about Steamtown in Scranton, Pa., is that admission is free.
Last week, Kris and I arrived shortly after the park opened and spent several hours wandering around. There’s a lot to see and I hadn’t visited inside the museum in a number of years.
I made these images using my Nikon Z7-II and performed post processing using Adobe Lightroom. I’ve lightened shadows, reduced contrast and warmed the images as required for improved presentation.
I work with different cameras to make various types of photos.
For this post I’m displaying a few photos made with my Panasonic Lumix LX-7 of the Radisson Lackawanna Hotel in Scranton. Using the Lumix lent to a distinct view point and the photos exposed offer an alternative to those that I previously made of the same building with my Nikon Z7-II.
These are not better or worse, just different.
Playing with myriad camera systems allows for a continued exploration of familiar subjects.
On July 14th an intense thunderstorm dumped between five and seven inches of rain between Mt Joy and Manheim, Pa.
The next day after the storms had ended, Kris and I had some errands and went up to take a look at Norfolk Southern’s Lititz Secondary where we found several roads closed and others flooded.
I made a few survey photos of the standing water using my Lumix LX7.
Back in the winter of 1985, I was delighted to have photographed a Delaware & Hudson Alco RS-3 working at Colonie Shops in Watervliet, New York. My only regret was that I made all of my photos using black & white film.
Last week on our visit to Scranton, we had the fortuity to witness a local freight operated by Delaware-Lackawanna (a Genesee Valley Transportation short line). This featured a pair of antique Alco diesels including a former D&H RS-3 recently repainted into the classic lightning stripe livery.
I made these digital photos of the American classic as it switched the former Lackawanna yard adjacent to the Steamtown complex. I also exposed a few 35mm color slides (but no black & white views).
I never would have imagined back in 1985 that a Delaware & Hudson RS-3 would still be working in revenue freight service forty years later! Today, I wonder if any of the diesels working today will still be in service in another 40 years.
It was a blistering hot afternoon when we exited the Steamtown Mall on the elevated footbridge that offers views of the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western shops and yards that are now part of the Steamtown complex at Scranton, Pa.
Below us was a selection of Central Railroad of New Jersey passenger cars, DL&W multiple units, various cabooses and sad looking freight cars, plus a Reading Company RS-3, some F3s masquerading as a set of Lackawanna units, a few old steam locomotives, and a Leslie rotary plow.
As I was making studies of the museum’s antiques, we heard the unmistakable chortling sound of an Alco 244 diesel . . .
Last week, Kris and I stayed at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in Scranton.
I remember when this architectural masterpiece was but a forlorn ruin.
Today, it is a testimony to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and architect Kenneth Murchison.
I’ve previously written about this station in my book Depots, Stations & Terminals, published by Voyageur Press ten years ago. Below is an excerpt:
Murchison, was a respected New York architect who earned several important commissions for railroad stations in the early twentieth century. Murchison had studied in Paris and made prominent use of the Beaux-Arts style in his railway architecture. Among his significant early projects was Delaware, Lackawanna & Western’s new Hoboken Terminal on the west shore of the Hudson River across from New York City. This elaborate station complex replaced an earlier facility that had succumbed to fire and made prominent use of copper sheathing believed to be left over from the erection of the Statue of Liberty in nearby Upper New York Harbor.
Murchison followed up his success with Hoboken with an impressive five-story station for the DL&W at Scranton, Pennsylvania, constructed in 1908 . . .
. . .The importance of Scranton to Lackawanna, and to the competition from a host of other railroads here, mandated magnificence on the part of DL&W’s new Scranton station. Murchison was the right man for the job. Working in French-Renaissance style characteristic of the Beaux Arts movement, Murchison imparted Continental elegance on this Pennsylvania coal capital. He used massive colonnades on both the street and track sides of the station, and maintained classic symmetry. At the center of the roofline an enormous clock was flanked by stone eagles. The building was faced with Indiana limestone. An unusually deep hanging canopy encircled the structure to protect passengers when arriving and boarding trains, while Bush-style smokeless sheds, originally designed by DL&W chief engineer Lincoln Bush for Hoboken, were installed trackside. In the 1920s an additional story was added.
It was in this 1920s addition that we stayed on our recent visit. Our room was immediately behind the fifth story clock that faces the parking lot. (See below).
Photos exposed in July 2025 using my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
On our way to Scranton, Kris and I stopped at Tamaqua, Pa., for lunch at the Tamaqua Station Restaurant.
I was pleased to see that the article I wrote for Trains Magazine last year that features the restaurant had been laminated and displayed for visitors to enjoy.
This former Reading Company station has great atmosphere and offers a great menu selection. Kris didn’t have the opportunity to sample the desserts on this visit, so we agreed to return soon.
On our January 2009 visit to Trebusice, Czech Republic, several freights passed, led by classic CD 122 and 123 electric locomotives. In addition, we saw these locomotives coming and going to collect empty and loaded coal trains from nearby yards.
This added a little bit of color to a monochromatic environment.
Photos exposed on Fujichrome using a Canon EOS-3.
The original images were scanned using a Nikon LS5000 slide scanner and the TIF files were processed in Adobe Lightroom to improve color and contrast.
Last week Kris, Seamus and I took a drive to Peach Bottom, Pa. This is among the river towns along the Susquehanna River with photographic opportunites of Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch.
We investigated several places with views of the river and I made these photos with my Nikon.
Exploration is part of the fun and part of my process. Perhaps someday we will get lucky and catch a train passing Peach Bottom.
Tracking the Light is on autopilot while Brian & Kris are on holidays.
Long ago I noted that there seems to be an inverse ratio regarding railroads with traffic and those passing bucolic photogenic scenery. With a few notable exceptions, the rule is simple: pretty places require lots of patience or great fortuity; while grim, dire venues often benefit from a concentration of traffic.
Rural Vermont: pretty and pretty quiet. Industrial overbuilt northern Indiana: bustling with trains seemingly on the move at every bend in the line.
It was a cool, gray afternoon in January 2009 when Denis McCabe, Tim Doherty, and I visited Trebusice in western Czech Republic (Czechia). Here we found an intensively utilized multiple track electrified line surrounded by strip mines, yards, and heavy industry.
The place was crawling with trains, and correspondingly bleak.
Fascinating, yet apocalyptic. Photogenic because of its exceptional severity.
I exposed a roll of Fujichrome using a Canon EOS 7D. Monday, I scanned a few of the slides. Did I also expose some Kodak Tri-X? I should have. Gray was the operative color. I’ve included a few images here. More to follow in the coming days.
Tracking the Light is on autopilot while Brian & Kris are on holidays.
We paused at Blackhorse Road to roll by Strasburg Rail Road’s evening train. I’ve made countless photos from Blackhorse and the adjacent Carpenters Cemetery, so I thought I’d try something a little different.
As engine 89 approached the crossing, I took a position in the graveyard. To make my photo, I adjusted the flexible rear display on my Nikon Z7-II, and held the camera at arm’s length over my head to gain some needed elevation.
Although, I was able to frame up my composition, I found it difficult to keep the camera level. Ultimately, I straightened the image in post processing, which also included adjustments to contrast, exposure and saturation.
I can’t complain about the car in the photo; it’s ours!
Tracking the Light is on autopilot while Brian & Kris are on holidays.
Hazy midday summer sun presents difficult lighting for photographing trains on the move.
The overall light quality is flat, yet shadow areas are muddy and indistinct. This especially challenging on the underside of equipment and tree leaves.
The other day at Amos Herr Park in Landisville, Pa., I photographed Amtrak’s eastward Pennsylvanian. Moments before it came into view, a small fuzzy cloud dulled the already dull light.
The simple solution to this problem is to avoid photographing in midday summer light.
In this instance, I am seeking a post-processing solution to mitigate the problem and help produce a better image.
Below is a sequence of images. The first is the scaled, but otherwise unmodfied NEF Raw file. Next is my first attempt at adjusting color, contrast and exposure in an effort to improve the overall appearance of the photo. I wasn’t satisfied with this effort, so for my next attempt I converted the image to black & white and then selectively adjusted contrast and exposure.
In the final image, I manually reintroduced color to the photo, carefully controlling saturdation and luminance for specific parts of the spectrum using the Lightroom slider controls. Although imperfect, this allowed me to control the amount and intensity of color in defined areas of the image. If it looks a bit artificial that’s because it is! This is the product my controlling AI technology to colorize the image using information stored in the original file. It is not organic or natural.
Unmodified NEF RAW file.Adjusted NEF RAW file using slider controls to modify color balance, color temperature, contrast and exposure, with a mask on the sky to make specific adjustments.File converted to monochrome and with significant adjustment to contrast and exposure.This is the product my controlling AI technology to colorize the above monochrome image using information stored in the original file.
On July 13, 2014, I visited Palmer, Massachusetts to try to make photos with trains and the rising full moon.
At the time I was working with my Canon EOS7D and a 100-400mm Canon zoom lens.
With the camera firmly mounted on a tripod, I exposed this photograph near milepost 83. It was a relatively long exposure (2/5ths of a second) using ISO1000 and a 190mm focal length.
This image vexed me. It is nearly there, but the moon is overexposed and the headlight is too bright.
Last night, I imported the Canon CR-2 RAW file into PureRaw for correction and conversion into DNG format. Then I imported the DNG into Lightroom for adjustment.
The processed photo is better than the unconverted image, but it’s still lacking. I wonder if using my modern Nikon Z cameras and PureRaw processing if I could have overcome some of the flaws inherent with this photo?
Canon CR-2 RAW file following correction and conversion and the first round of image adjustement using LightroomLightroom work window reflecting the first round of corrections and original metadata.Canon CR-2 RAW file following correction and conversion and the second round of corrections.Adobe Lightroom workwindow showing the changes to create the PureRaw converted image with second round of corrections
Tracking the Light examines the process of Railroad Photography Daily!
Yesterday evening, Kris, Seamus, and I paused at Leaman Place in Paradise to roll by Amtrak Keystone 649 that was racing toward its Lancaster, Pa., station stop.
The light was perfect. Clear sky with rich low sun.
Often at Leaman Place, I’ve used a telephoto lens. But yesterday, after experimenting with several moderate focal lengths, I settled on a wideangle view made with my 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom. I set the lens to 27mm. My shutter speed was 1/1600. This nicely stopped the train.
I was impressed by the freshly painted Amfleet cars in the consist. These wore Amtrak’s latest Phase VII scheme. Only after I downloaded and examined these photos did I notice that this was a short consist. Keystone trains are typcially five cars, this one was only four.
At 3:43pm on April 13, 2025, I exposed this single Ektachrome 100 color slide of Amtrak’s westward Pennsylvanian passing Underpass Lane in Mexico, Pa.
The camera was fitted with a Nikkor f2.0 35mm lens, which has long been one of my favorite lenses. I don’t use it often, but it rarely lets me down.
I scanned the slide using an LS-5000 Nikon slide scanner powered by VueScan software. Below are two versions of the same scan. The top is the scaled, but un-modified version, the second is following post processing adjustments improve appearance.
One of the challenges with the Word Press platform that presents Tracking the Light is that the photo files get compressed. This tends to minimize the subtle changes I make to files during processing. Unfortunately, I don’t have any control over this effect on the Word Press presentation.
Scan prior to post processing adjustments.Adjusted image improved using Adobe Lightroom to alter shadows, highlights, contrast, saturation and sharpness.
In the mid-1980s, I’d have a Leica rangefinder loaded with Kodachrome and my father’s Rolleiflex Model T with 120-size Verichrome Pan black & white negative film.
In the 1990s, it was multiple Nikons with slide film with various ISO sensitivity.
During the early 2000s, I worked with a Contax G2 rangefinder for wideangle photos and Nikons for telephoto views—all loaded with 100 speed Fujichrome.
Today, I carry Nikon mirrorless digital cameras, and occasionally a Lumix or Fujifilm digital camera, while once in while bringing out one of my 1990s-era Nikon F3s loaded with Ektachrome.
Such was the situation at Horseshoe Curve last October.
Here I’ve made two photos of the same westward Norfolk Southern hopper train. The first photo was exposed on E100 Ektachrome using the F3 with f2.0 35mm lens; the second is a digital photograph made with my Nikon Z7-II.
This comparison is about style, rather than image quality. I make different kinds of photos using different equipment and materials. There’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. I have both images and they both work for different reasons.
E100 Ektachrome with a Nikon F3 SLR with Nikkor AF f2.0 35mm lensNikon Z7-II mirror-less digital camera with 24-70mm lens. The image has been slightly cropped.
Last October, Kris, Seamus and I chased a westward Norfolk Southern freight on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Middle Division from Huntingdon to Tyrone, Pa.
Although I exposed a few digital photos, I’ve been waiting for this image for months.
Yes, I still occasionally expose color slides. However, where I once would shoot several rolls a day, these days it took me almost eight months to work through four rolls of Kodak Ektachrome. Finally, I boxed these up and sent them off to AgX Imaging in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan for E6 processing. https://www.agximaging.com
On Monday, my four boxes of slides were returned to me in good order.
Owing to exceptional selectivity, I had a high ratio of success with the processed photos. A few were disappointing (mostly as the result of underexposure), but there are many very satisfying photos in the selection.
I made this image from the station platform at Tyrone of the NS westward train as it reached the apex of the curve. I was working with a vintage Nikon F3 with f2.0 135mm lens loaded with Ektachrome E100. I scanned the slide using a Nikon LS-5000 slide scanner.
Below are two versions of the scan. The first is the unmodified scan, more or less the way it looked right out of the scanner (converted to JPG and scaled for internet presentation). The second is after some nominal post-processing. More slides to follow!
I store all of my digital image files chronologically.
Typically, I make a monthly file for each camera and download all of the images on a regular basis. When time allows, I assign caption information to the file name. At the end of the month I make copies of the file, which I then store on various types of media.
Ultimately, I make a copy of a year’s worth of digital images and store them on a ‘working hard drive’—a drive that I keep connected to my lap top. The other copies simply get stored as back up. I should have at least three copies of every digital file.
Normally, I avoid erasing files. I’ve learned the perils of erasing images. You just NEVER know when a file will be needed, so I don’t throw them away.
Months ago, I was looking through images from July 2018, and discovered to my chagrin that several hundred image files were missing from my ‘working drive.’
Not a problem, I thought, I’ll just copy them off the back up, and went to locate the correct hard drive. I found the drive and opened the July 2018 file, only to discover the files were not there either!
I transferred the incomplete July 2018 file! While I made four copies of the file, all were missing the last couple of days of photos.
What was especially galling, is that many of these images were on a trip that I’d made with Chris Guss in Northern Indiana, which is not a place I frequent very often. We’d had productive day making images of trains along Norfolk Southern’s former New York Central mainline and of the South Shore on the streets of Michigan City.
Among other trains, we caught an Indiana Harbor Belt freight led by a pair of peculiar looking Gensets that I’ve never seen pictured anywhere, except by my own lenses.
After considerable digging around, I was able to locate three of my missing image files from the July file, but the rest had vanished like ether in bright sun. And, worse, I had no record of the Indiana Harbor Belt photos!
I suspected that I’d moved a group of images for naming but then failed to move them back to the main file before making my copies.
For months this ommission vexed me. I hate losing photos.
Saturday, I unpacked a carton of hard drives from our move last year. I began going through them looking for the missing photos. And finally, I located the complete July 2018 Fuji Digital file. This had all of the missing photos! I’ve since copied the missing images to my various storage drives.
There are lessons here: Be very careful when making backups! Always make at least one copy of everything so that you can find it again. Never assume a specific file exists somewhere else; and always avoid erasing backups and original images.
Some years ago I made a list of three popular places I wanted to visit but had managed to miss in all my travels:
Cape Cod, Niagara Falls, and the Grand Canyon.
Having grown up in Massachusetts, the first location may seem incongruous.
The first place I managed to ‘tick’ on my list was Niagara Falls. Previously, I’d visited the city of Niagara Falls, New York where I’d made numerous railroad photos of the yards and bridges over the gorge. However, I never managed a view of the waterall.
My opportunity arose when I traveling with Pat Yough and Chris Guss in February 2010. We had visited Toronto, and on our way to Buffalo, I asked if we could swing by the waterfall, which we did.
I made this image of the frozen falls from the Canadian side using my Lumix LX3.
Interestingly, several years later I paid a visit to Cape Cod with Pat Yough. Since then, I met Kris who has strong Cape Cod connections, and we were engaged on the Cape in 2021 and now pay annual visits there.
Number 600 is the first of Amtrak’s Siemens Mobility-built ACS-64 electrics. This was named to honor Amtrak president David L. Gunn.
I made this high-speed broadside pan of the class leader as it worked the back of a Keystone train at Atglen, Pa..
I’d set my Nikon Z7-II camera in aperture priority mode and designated the aperture setting at f3.5. This allowed the camera to select the correspodining shutter speed based on the camera’s preselected pattern metering. When I release the shutter, the shutter speed was at 1/800 of a second. (ISO was set to 200)
Owing to the speed of the train, these setting allowed for a slight blurring of the background and foreground, while my panning motion kept the locomotive crisp.
Working with the NEF RAW file, I adjusted the highlight and shadow areas in post processing. I’ve posted two versions below, one is slight brighter with lighter highlights than the other, reflecting nominal changes in post processing settings.
Thursday evening, Kris, Seamus-the-Dog and I went for an evening drive.
The sun set through a rain shower, then the fireflies illuminated the landscape, and as darkness fell a fireworks display colored the night sky on the eve of American Independance Day.
I made this selection of photos using my Nikon Z-series mirrorless digital camera. Even though there’s only one railroad-themed image in this selection, I feel they meet the criteria for ‘Tracking the Light’.
I thought a cool photo would be nice treat for a hot summer day!
I’m working on an article for Firecrown on winter photography and I’ve been sorting through more than 35 years of snowy images.
On February 22, 1993, I was on-hand at Emigrant Gap, California to photography Southern Pacific’s famed Leslie Rotary snow plows that were being prepared for a run over Donner Pass.
It had been snowing for days and the railroad needed the plows.
I made this image on Fujichrome 100 featuring the whirling blades of massive Rotary plow.
I scanned this image using a Nikon LS-5000 slide scanner and processed the RAW file using Adobe Lightroom.
On a very frosty morning in February 2010, I visited Toronto with photographers Pat Yough and Chris Guss.
We braved the Arctic-chill on the four-track line near Sunnyside, west of Toronto Union Station.
Shortly after sunrise, using my Canon EOS-3 with a telephoto lens, I exposed this Fujichrome slide of an eastward VIA Rail LRC train meeting an outbound GO Transit commuter train.
I scanned this slide the other day using a Nikon LS-5000 slide scanner and processed the Tif file using Adobe Lightroom.
Below is the unprocessed scan and the processed version of the same image, plus the Adobe Lightroom work window to show the changes that I made.
Scaled but otherwise unmodified scan of an original Fujichrome slide.This is the same image as above following a range of adjustments to level, contrast and exposure aimed at improving the appearance of the image and maximize the data in the scan. This was scaled following post processing.Screen shot of the Adobe Lightroom work window showing the slider controls used to adjust the scanned slide.
During the early summer, the evening sun sets north of Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line. The combination of the angle of light and pollution lingering in the western sky makes for some excellent evening glint.
We paused at our usual place at Jefferson Drive in Greenfield, east of downtown Lancaster, Pa., and here I caught Amtrak’s westward Keystone train 653 that was running just a few minutes behind the advertised time.
I made a series of NEF RAW files using my Nikon Z7-II with the 24-70mm lens set at 70mm.
Below is a comparison between post-processed files.
The top reflects the NEF RAW file before Adobe Lightroom adjustment and correction; the next is the same NEF file following Lightroom adjustments to lighten shadows, control contrast, and correct for color; the second to last photo is the same image-file converted into a DNG using PureRaw and then adjusted using Lightroom. The last image is a screenshot of the Lightroom work window of the DNG conversion following processing corrections which shows the position of Lightroom slider controls.
You tell me: can you see the difference in processing?
NEF RAW file prior to adjustment and correction.NEF RAW file following Lightroom adjustment and correction; notice the effect on shadow areas and changes to the sky.NEF RAW file converted into a DNG using PureRaw and then adjusted using LightroomAdobe Lightroom work-window showing the postions of adjustment slider controls reflecting the corrections and changes to the converted DNG file.
