Author of more than 50 books on railways, photography, and Ireland. Brian divides his time between the United States and Ireland, and frequently travels across Europe and North America.
Last weekend, Kris and I went to inspect a location near Coatesville on the former Reading Company’s Wilmington & Northern Branch where my father photographed a Reading Iron Horse Ramble back in July 1963.
I’d often wondered where the 1960s photo had been exposed and now we know.
The good news is that the tracks are still in service, and Reading Company 4-8-4 2100 is still around and presently under restoration.
However, the old Wilmington & Northern Branch has been fragmented and the tracks end a little ways compass north of this location. The other downside to this investigation, as is obvious from the photos, is that the trees and undergrowth have largely obscured the view of the line from the road bridge.
Here’s the very same location last weekend. The trees have encroached rather significantly, which was a little dispointing. Exposed digitally using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.This is a different angle than my father used 62 years ago, but provides a better comparison by showing more of the scene.
What is 15 degrees Fahrenheit equal in Celsius? My short answer is that 15F is too cold to leave the pub, so Google it on your phone and then we’ll both know!
Sometimes Seamus-the-Dog and I take short adventures together. Last week we nipped over to Strasburg just after sunset. Cold weather often contributes to great evening light and I was looking for an excuse to work with my 3Pod Everest tripod.
Something called an ‘Everest’ just doesn’t convey the sense of a warm weather device, and I bought this tripod for my winter night photography.
While Seamus sat in the comparative warmth of the car, I made a series of photos of the Strasburg Rail Road in the fading glow of a cold evening.
Among the benefits of my 3Pod tripod is that its easy to set up. This is an important consideration when the stinging winter air limits the amount of time I’m willing to invest in night photos before I run out of patience.
Gloves would be a good thing to consider next time around, and perhaps a scarf!
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will be hosting me on Saturday, February 25, 2025 from 10 to noon. Advanced booking is required. The Museum’s promotion reads:
“Here’s your chance to learn some great tips and techniques for photographing your favorite locomotives and railroad cars, in a class led by noted railroad photographer and author Brian Solomon.
Bring your smart phone, digital camera or film camera and get ready to take some memorable photos of the Museum’s historic equipment, like the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Tahoe, the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 No. 4935 and the Conrail GP30 No. 2233
The Railroad Photography 101 class will be held on Tuesday, February 25, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The cost is only $25.00 per person. The class size is limited to 15 individuals and is designed for beginning photographers ages 18 and over. The inclement weather is date Tuesday, March 4.
Brian Solomon earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photographic Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He produces a daily blog about railroad photography and his articles and photography have appeared in many railway magazines including Trains Magazine, Railway Age, Railroad Explorer, Railfan & Railroad, National Railroad Historical Society Bulletin, Germany’s Modelleisenbahner, the Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society and the UK’s Rail Magazine. Brian was presented with the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s prestigious Fred A.& Jane R. Stindt Photography Award in 2022 for his lifetime achievements in railroad photography. “
Sometimes I dream that I’m lost in some foreign city. I’m waiting for a tram, trying to get somewhere. I get distracted trying to make a photo. I follow someone and I end up somwhere else. I never see the sky. I never reach my desintation.
I awake and my photos vanish with the dream.
January 2012-exposed with a Canon 7D fitted with an f2.0 100mm lens. If I’ve been here once, I’ve been there 1,000 times.
Why make photographs in the same places of the same trains over the course of days, months, years?
This pair of images shows one reason. So often, even the same train at the same place looks different every time you photograph it.
Both of the photos below were made of Irish Rail’s V250 (laden sugarbeet train that ran from Wellingtonbridge Co. Wexford to Mallow, Co. Cork.) The photos were made within a few feet of one another in late 2005; these were exposed a few weeks apart, in the final weeks of Irish Rail’s final sugarbeet campaign.
Although both were made at approximately the same time of day, the lighting was completely different. In one the lighting was dull, in the other, the light dramatic because the sun was emerging from layers of cloud. In both photos, a mixed pair of Class 121/141 diesels were running around their train—a move necessary because of the lack a direct curve that would have allowed a direct move from Waterford to Cork.
The dull-light photo offers greater historical perspective. Beyond locomotive 134 is one of Irish Rail’s new InterCity ‘Mark IV’ passenger trains. While the sugarbeet concluded in January 2006, the MarkIV trains wouldn’t enter revenue service until May of that year.
I traveled on the first revenue Mark IV from Dublin to Cork. A few years later, I was a member of the group that worked with Irish Rail to preserve 134. This locomotive is representative of the General Motors end cab diesels bought by CIE in 1961, which were the first EMD’s in Ireland, and among the earliest EMD’s exported to Europe directly from LaGrange, Illinois. (Early, but not the first).
So which is the more memorable photo? Interestingly, both are from my ‘seconds’, since neither image was deemed ‘first cut’ at the time of processing. There’s at least one lesson in that fact.
For both photos, the stories I can’t tell will make for interesting history in the future.
Irish Rail class 121 number 134 is part of a mixed pair at Limerick Junction. To the left is one of Irish Rail’s new Mark IV trains. 45mm lens.Irish Rail 124 glistens in stormlight at Limerick Junction during a run-around of V250 on its way to Mallow. Exposed with a 28mm lens.
Action photos at night are among my most challenging photographic endeavors.
The ability to increase the camera’s ISO to extremes makes capturing moving trains in the inky gloom easier than in my film days. Further aiding these efforts is AI technology used to minimize noise and other camera induced visual defects.
Previously on Tracking the Light, I’ve explored night photos enhanced using DxO Pure Raw software, which I’ve found remarkable.
For this image exposed at Windsor Locks, Connecticut of a southward CT Rail Hartford Line commuter train, I used Lightroom’s ‘denoise’ feature instead of DxO’s Pure Raw.
At some point, I made preform a more detail comparison.
I found that the ‘denoised’ image was in many ways superior to the straight RAW image.
You should see three images below. In addition to a scaled version of the full-frame RAW image, I’ve included two enlargements, one before and one after applying Lightroom’s ‘denoise’ feature.
Full frame RAW file following Adobe Lightroom’s ‘denoising’. This uses an AI interpretation to minimize the high noise in the original file as a result of working with 12,800 ISO. Original image exposed using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set at 24mm, 1/80th of second at f4.0. Enlarged portion of the RAW file prior to ‘denoising’. Enlarged portion of the RAW file following AI ‘denoising’ using Lightroom. Notice the lack of ‘pixelization’ (or granularity).
In March 1997, I paid a visit to the Canaan, Connecticut Union Station and made a series of photos. In October 2001 a fire destroyed much of the historic structure. A commendable restoration effort repaired the damage and returned the classic building to its former glory.
Kris, Seamus and I paid a brief visit to Canaan in November 2024, and I made series of contempory photos using my Nikon Z7-II.
In April 2005, I made a bunch of photos on Dublin’s recently opened LUAS tram network.
I loaded Fuji Sensia II (ISO 100) into my Contax G2 rangefinder. Although I exposed the photos using my normal formula, the roll was returned to me uniformly over processed. This resulted in substantially lighter slides than I’d expected.
Despite this problem, there was relatively little data lost. I scanned some of the slides the other day. I was easily able to restore this image by making some basic corrections to overall exposure, highlight and shadow detail, plus minor color corrections. Both the original over-processed chrome (too light) and the corrected version should appear below.
On October 4, 1993, I paid a visit to Groveton, NH to photograph this NHV GP9 working trackage around the old paper mill.
It was a dark morning, so I was working with Kodak E100 LPP Ektachrome that was rated at ISO 100, two stops faster than my staple color film: Kodachrome 25.
Despite the faster film, I badly miscalculated exposure and the resulting color slide was too dark for presentation. For more than 30 years, it sat in a Kodak box labeled ‘Seconds’ along with a host of other rare photos, including an Alco RS-11 passing the ball signal at Whitefield exposed earlier the same day.
To rescue the Groveton photo, I made a multiple-pass scan using a Nikon LS-5000 scanner driven by VueScan software. I significantly increased the sample rate to minimize the loss of data. Then I imported the RAW file into Lightroom, where I made a variety of heavy-handed adjustments to lighten shadows and hold detail in the sky in order to make for a more pleasing photograph.
Here, I’ve posted bothe unadjusted ‘dark’ photo, and my post processed version aimed to restore the scene so that it looked more like I recall the light on that morning many years ago.
My original scan of my slide as it appears without adjustment. This is more than a full stop underexposed.My rescued version of the same scan. I lightened the photograph, adjusted shadow and highlight areas, while making localized improvements to various areas of the scene, and adding saturation and contrast controls.
On our January 2007 Austrian epic, photographer Denis McCabe and I drove a hired car up a hill at Penk in the Alps to score this view of a massive arched bridge on the Tauern Pass.
Traffic over the route is light compared with either the Brenner or Semmering alpine routes. Yet, we caught several trains in a relatively short span of time.
Here, an ÖBB Siemens Taurus electric leads an Intercity passenger bound for Villach in southern Austria.
The scale of the bridge seems out of proportion with the railway; its like an O-scale structure carrying an N-scale train.
In mid January 2007, I was visiting Austria with photographer Denis McCabe.
On one cool sunny evening, we had set up at Brixlegg, where ÖBB crosses the River Inn. The view west presented the shadowy wall of an Alpine ridge, accentuated by patches of snow.
As the final golden solar rays of this January day graced the rails, I made a series of Fujichrome slides of an ÖBB Bombardier-built Talent railcar on its eastward journey across the Inn.
I’d borrowed a Canon EF75-300mm lens from Denis, and used this with my Canon EOS-3 camera.
The other night, I scanned some of these slides using a Nikon LS-5000 scanner.
Canon EOS-3 loaded with Fujichrome Velvia100, fitted with EF75-300mm zoom.
Working with my Fuji XT1, I made a series of 1/2 to 3 second exposures of Strasburg Rail Road SW8 8618 by the light of the full moon.
While, I had the benefit of a 3Pod Tripod, I didn’t have the use of the specially made clip that holds the camera to the ball head. Unfortunately, that was attached to my Nikon Z7-II, which I’d left at home.
I made due by firmly holding the camera to the tripod during exposure.
After importing the RAF Raw files, I converted these to PNG format using DxO Pure Raw software, and then imported the converted file into Adobe Lightroom for adjustment.
Exposed in RAF RAW using a Fuji XT-1 with 16-55mm Fujinon Lens.
I’ve been making shadowy photos of trains at Palmer, Massachusetts in the gloom of night since the early 1980s. In my early days, I made black & white night photos of Central Vermont RS-11s and GP9s at Palmer. Back then, I often augmented existing light with a hand held Metz electronic strobe.
On our most recent trip, I made a long exposures of New England Central GP38-2 2168 working purely with existing light.
For this exercise, I braved 10F degrees in a light coat with my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens mounted firmly on a 3Pod Everest tripod. I made a series of 15 second exposures using the Nikon NEF RAW format and then adjusted the files in Adobe Lightroom.
The NEF format offers exceptional dynamic range which allowed me to significanly lighten the shadow areas to reveal impressive amounts of detail.
Since Spring 1999, CSX GP40-2s have worked the Palmer local.
I’ve paired two views of CSX GP40-2s on the local at CP83 (control point 83, as measured in miles west of Boston, Ma). In both photos, the lead locomotive is positioned in almost exactly the same place.
The first photo was exposed on Fujichrome using my Contax G2 rangefinder in June 2005, this is from the north side of the tracks; the second was made a few days after Christmas 2024 with my Nikon Z7-II, from the south side of the tracks. Both views feature the trackside billboard, which has been there in one form or another since at least the mid-1940s.
My friend Bob Buck had photographed steam locomotives at this same location with the billboard (or one of its early predecessors).
CSX local Palmer, June 2005.June 2005.Dec 28, 2024.
The blue hues of evening offer a wonderful time to photograph idling locomotives.
Photographer Tim Doherty, arrived at the junction at Coteau, Quebec in time to make the most of dusk.
A set of Canadian National GP9RM diesels were resting between runs.
I made this view on Fujichrome with a Nikon F3 and a telephoto lens mounted firmly on a tripod. Here’s a tip: when making this type of photograph, despite the need for a long exposure, it is better to lean toward over exposure than risk losing data to the inky blackness of under exposure.
This slide was among those that sat in the dark for more than twenty years. Last week, I scanned with my Nikon LS5000 scanner, and processed the TIF file uisng Adobe Lightroom.
This is complicated lighting situation; two distinct types of artificial light mixed with the blue glow of dusk. The harsh yellowing sodium-vapor lighting is especially problematic.
On a rainy December afternoon, Kris and I met my old friend Dan and his wife Mary at Palmer’s Steaming Tender for lunch.
We were seated by a window facing the Boston & Albany—today’s CSX’s Boston Line.
The rails were alive and freight trains were on the roll.
Some time after a very long westward manifest freight cleared the diamond (where CSX crossed New England Central at grade), a local freight arrived to work the yard with a set of three GP40-2s.
For more than 25 years these vintage EMD’s have be stalwarts on the Palmer local. I complimented the crew on their ‘antiques’, but they seemed unimpressed with the old diesels.
I made these images from our seat as the engines arrived.
I think that’s a better title than, “What?!! Not another photo of a Metroliner Cabcar!”
During the shorter days, I make greater use of evening. The paucity of daylight, and demands of daytime obligations leave comparatively few sunlit hours to make photographs during the winter months.
After Christmas, I made this view of Amtrak 494, the Valley Flyer, during its brief station stop at Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
My Nikon Z7-II was mounted upon a 3pod Everest tripod. The ball head and quick-release clip make this trip quick and easy to set up.
I exposed this photo at ISO 1000, at f4.0 with a 3 second shutter speed.
I exposed this photo at ISO 1000, at f4.0 with a 3 second shutter speed.
Why not use a slower ISO and a longer shutter speed to produce an image with less noise, better color and greater dynamic range? Train 494 often stops for just a few moments, and I didn’t want to risk train movement, by extending the shutter speed to 15 seconds or more.
Soft evening light at the Norfolk, Mass., station on the Franklin Line made for interesting conditions to picture the arriving train. For the last few years, MBTA has been working on completing the second track here. As of a couple of weeks ago, the project remained unfinished.
I could hear the MBTA F40PH-3 from the time it accelerated away from its Walpole, Mass., station stop. Before long the headlight came into view at the east end of the long tangent. I was ready, cameras in hand.
Exposed using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
MBTA F40PH-3C 1052 leads Train 721 on the Frankline Line at Norfolk, Mass.
On October 24, 2004, I used my Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 45mm Zeiss lens to capture VIA Rail’s TheOcean (from Halifax) crossing the Lachine Canal at Wellington on approach to Montreal Central Station.
Cool weather and a still morning contributed to the mirror-like surface on the canal water.
The lead locomotive was an F40PH-2 painted to advertise the motion picture Spiderman-2.
The other night, I used my Nikon Z7-II to capture the constellation Orion in the evening sky.
Although an amazing camera, when fitted with the Z-series 24-70mm lens, this picture making combination suffers from vignetting when used at the widest aperture.
I needed an 4.0 aperture to picture the starry sky while keeping my total exposure time to just 30 seconds, when set at ISO 200.
To minimize the effects of the vignette, I converted the NEF RAW file to a PNG file using DxO Pure Raw software. Once converted, I imported this file into Lightroom to make a few corrections.
Below is both the adjusted file direct from the NEF RAW, and the adjusted PNG file to show the advantage offered by converting the RAW using Pure Raw.
The light streaks moving through the image are from an eastward Amtrak Keystone bound for Philadelphia on the old PRR Main Line. Please note that in both versions, the images have been compressed by the Word Press platform used by Tracking the Light to display the photos via the internet.
Scaled JPG made from the NEF RAW file without DxO Pure Raw conversion. Note the constellation Orion in the sky toward the top center of the photo.This is the same NEF RAW file as above, but following conversions to PNG format using DxO Pure Raw to denoise the image, and more importantly, eliminate the effects of vignetting inherant to the 24-70mm Nikkor lens at f4.0. Notice the more uniform rendition of the night sky, especially in the corners of the frame.
This isn’t about one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs—althought it could be . . .
On the eve of my 38th birthday, I gazed across the Peel Basin on the Lachine Canal in Montreal toward the rising autumn sun. Photographer Tim Doherty and I were on the last day of an epic trip to Montreal.
As we awaited the arrival of VIA Rail’s The Ocean from Halifax, I worked with my Contax G2 rangefinder to compose a view of the grain elevators on the far side of the water, making the most of the reflections in the still morning light.
This slide was among the hundreds from that trip that had sat in the dark until a few days ago. One of the benefits of film is that you can leave processed images unattended for decades without risk of losing them to a hard drive failure.
My pictures of the long distance Budd train are pretty nice too.
Fujichrome slide exposed using a Contax G2 rangefinder on October 24, 2004.
Recently I’ve scoured my collection looking for representative photos to print.
I still like to see my images in analog format, and a moderate size print offers a great way to study photographic quality in ways that may not be apparent when viewed digitally.
I’ve sent two orders of out. One to Adorama’s Printique service for 8×12 inch prints. The other to Shutterfly for 8×10 inch prints. This included a mix of old film photos and digital images from over the years, including some very recent images. In both instances, I selected ‘matte’ surface, because I’ve found that this holds up better and is easier to scan.
Among the photos sent to Printque was this view of an empty Reading & Northern coal train at Tamaqua, Pa. I exposed this on a trip with Dan Cupper in October 2023.
My print orders are expected to arrive on Thursday, which should allow me to compare print quality from the two suppliers, and allow me to enjoy my photographs. Kris and I have some surplus photo frames, so maybe a few will soon decorate our walls!
By virtue of their service requirements, road switchers are intended as bi-directional locomotives. That said, it still looks a bit strange to find a single Norfolk Southern SD60E working the New Holland Branch local.
The other day, Kris, Seamus-the-Dog, and I found NS 6987 working long hood first at Leola, Pa. I thought this made for some interesting photographs, but I don’t think Seamus was impressed.
During the course of my railroad photography, I aim to preserve ordinary day-to-day railroad working, as well as preserved railways, special events, and unusual and unique occurrences.
Photos exposed digitally using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
The other night, New England Central’s former Canadian National GP40-2L 3038 was working the yard at Palmer, Mass.
This was an opportunity for me to make some High ISO photographs for experimentation and comparison using the DxO Pure Raw 4 software to denoise and correct for lens defects.
In this situation, I was especially interested in seeing how well the software corrected for the high-pixelation of the image exposed at 12, 800 ISO using my Nikon Z7-II.
Below are two sets of images. The first is a scaled camera NEF RAW file (plus enlarged detailed view), followed by the same NEF RAW file but processed using DxO Pure Raw 4 software. If everything posts correctly you should see four images.
Scaled NEF RAW file without Pure Raw conversion.Enlarged section of the above photo (Scaled NEF RAW file without Pure Raw conversion.)Scaled NEF RAW file following Pure Raw conversion to denoise the image and correct for lens defects. Note the lack of pixelization.Enlarged section of the above photo (Scaled NEF RAW file following Pure Raw conversion to de-noise the photograph.) Compare this image with the earlier enlargement.
I’ve been reviewing and scanning slides that I made on a trip to Quebec in October 2004. While a few of these photos have appeared in my books, most have sat for more than 20 years unattended and unedited.
This slide caught my eye. It shows a westward VIA Rail train west of Coteau, Quebec on the Canadian National. This was a trailing shot that I exposed on Fujichrome using my old Contax G2 rangefinder.
Comcolor in Springfield, Mass., processed the film. and I scanned the slide yesterday using a Nikon Coolscan 5000 (LS-5000) powered by Vuescan 9.8.42.05 software, then made final adjustments using Adobe Lightroom.
The other day, I posted some photos that I’d made of a two-unit, two-car freight passing Limerock on its way from Lancaster to Lititz, Pa. My success, led me to try again. So before Christmas, Kris and I made another exploration of Norfolk Southern’s Lititz secondary, and this scored us an even shorter freight.
It is seen here under clear skies approaching the West Lexington Road grade crossing with a lone GP38-2 and single boxcar.
Exposed digitally using a Fujifilm XT1 with 16-50mm Fujinon lens. Fuji RAF raw files were converted to PNG format using Iridient X-Transformer and then imported into Adobe Lightroom for final adjustment and scaling for internet presentation.
On our most recent visit to Palmer, Mass., in addition to architectural photos of the old Union Station building, I also made some views of Amtrak 448, the eastward Boston-section of the Lake Shore Limited rolling by the building.
I’ve made similar views over the years by day and by night. In recent years the brush along the tracks has partially obscured the view of passing trains. I opted to include the brush in the photo, rather than make a tight view that may have cropped the station, which was the primary subject.
Below are two versions from the same NEF RAW file. One is a JPG converted straight from the RAW without denoise or demosiac adjustment. The second was converted using DxO Pure Raw 4, which includes both denoise, demosiac features that removes/mitigates pixelization and diestracting artifacts as result of using the sensor at high-ISO (in this case 12,800), and also corrects for lens defects that are specific to my 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom
Over the last few weeks I’ve been experimenting with a demo version of the DxO Pure Raw 4 software. This was recommended to me by Tracking the Light reader David MacKenzie. This sophisticated software requires several minutes of processing time for exach file, but cleans up many of the objectionable qualities inherant to high-ISO files, and allows for significantly superior end results.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to display a variety of results using DxO Pure Raw 4, and other processing software.
JPG converted straight from the RAW without denoise or demosiac adjustment. Compare with the convert version. ISO 12,800 f4.0 at1/10 second. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to70mm, and mounted on 3Pod tripod. Image converted using DxO Pure Raw 4, JPG output using Adobe Lightroom. ISO 12,800 f4.0 at1/10 second. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to70mm, and mounted on 3Pod tripod.
A few nights ago, Kris and I visited the Steaming Tender railroad-themed restaurant, located in the old Palmer (Mass.,) Union Station.
This historic building was designed for the Boston & Albany Railroad by noted Massachusetts architect Henry Hobson Richardson, famous for his romanesque Victorian style. It is one of a few surving Richardson-styled stations on the former Boston & Albany route.
ISO 100 f4.0 at 4 seconds. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to 37mm, and mounted on 3Pod tripod.
Photos were exposed using my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
On January 1, 1995, I spent the day traveling around Chicago on the CTA with my brother Sean.
This was one of a few photos that I made on Ektachrome with my Nikkormat FTN fitted with an f2.8 135mm lens.
Although, I took notes on the day, I didn’t write the details on this color slide. A reader has told me it was exposed north of the Loop from a footbridge at Belmont station on the Brown/Purple Lines. This information matches locations in my notebook.
Thirty years is a long time, and in my notebook I was already complaining about my fallible memory.
For decades, I’ve paid visits to the Connecticut Trolley Museum (at East Windsor) during their Festival of Lights, when they operate vintage trolley cars at night under a tunnel of electric lights.
In 1983, the museum used one of my Ektachrome slides for a postcard.
The other day, Kris and I paid a brief visit to the museum, where I made a few digital photos, as well as an Ektachrome slide or two for posterity.
The photos below were exposed digitally using my Nikon Z7-II (with 24-70mm lens) mounted on a 3Pod tripod. I still have another 31 slides to expose on the Ektachrome before I’ll send the film for processing.
Z7-II with 24-70mm lens at 24mm, f4.0, 3 sec, ISO 64Z7-II with 24-70mm lens at 52mm, f4.0, 4 sec, ISO 64
On a recent visit to Port Clinton, Pa., I made this photo of Reading & Northern SW8M 803. This antique EMD switcher is well worth photographing.
End-cab switchers were once common on American railroads, but in recent decades the type has become increasingly scarce.
This particular locomotive was built in 1951 for the Lehigh Valley, and according to R&N, it once carried the number Lehigh Valley 270. It survives on the R&N roster along with other vintage examples of EMD’s end-cab switchers, and is among several operational examples of former Lehigh Valley switchers remaining in Pennsylvania.
Exposed using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-Series zoom lens.
Norfolk Southern’s local on the Lititz Secondary rolled along at a jogging pace.
I’d previously scoped out a few angles from West Lexington Road at Limerock in Lititz, Pa. When I arrived, the the short train was coming into view. I had ample time to make these images using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-50mm Fujinon lens
All were exposed as RAF Raw files, then converted into DNG format using Iridient X-Transformer. This software makes more effective use of the Fuji Raw format. Working from the converted files, I made adjustments to exposure, contrast and color balance using Adobe Lightroom, and then produced scaled output for digital display here.
We called into Port Clinton on a Sunday afternoon where we found a pair of Reading & Northern SD40-2s switching out a freight. Near the west end of the yard the railroad has erected a replica of a Hall Disc signal.
Born in the Victorian-era, the Hall Disc signal was one of the earliest varieties of electrically actuated ‘automatic’ signals. This simple signal displayed just two aspects, and was assigned to variety of applications on many different railroads. Boston & Albany was among one of the first to use Hall Discs in automatic block service.
Among the many railroads that employed Halls were: New Haven; Delaware, Lackawanna & Western; Lehigh Valley; and Chicago & North Western.
The Reading was among the last railroads to install Hall Discs, and was famous for its late use of this unusual type of hardware, which continued in the 1950s. Several of Reading’s Hall discs have been preserved, including one that is prominently displayed at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
