TOME is the interlocking on Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch at Port Deposit, Maryland. As discussed in Wednesday’s Tracking the Light post, we had been anticipating the progress of Norfolk Southern’s 596-unit coal train, which had been delayed as a result of a false reading by the high-and-wide detector near Port Deposit.
Once the train was under way again, we drove to the signal bridge at TOME, which displayed a yellow-over-flashing-green aspect—“Approach Limited.” This means proceed, approaching the next signal at Limited speed—defined as 40 mph for freight trains and 45 mph for passenger trains.
My goal was to capture the train with this signal aspect. This is a nearly impossible challenge in a single still photograph. So, I made this series of images, in which one of the images shows yellow-over-dark. It’s not perfect, but it conveys the spirit of the scene.
50mm f/1.4 with Nikon Z6-III, set at ISO 16,000, f/1.6 at 1/160 second.
In the final image, the leading locomotive has shunted the circuit, and the signal has dropped to red-over-red, its most restrictive aspect.
PLEASE NOTE: As of 744am on October 2, 2026, Tracking the Light was suffering from an unknown technical problem that may make it difficult to see/download some or all the photos attached to this post. I will aim to repost the entire content at a later time when the system is working better. I’m sorry about the inconvenience. The editing process has been made difficult, which also makes it hard for me to see how the post looks during editing.