All posts by brian solomon

Author of more than 70 books on railways, photography, and Ireland, Brian lives with his wife, Kris, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Brian holds a BFA in Photographic Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2022, he was presented with the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s prestigious Fred A.& Jane R. Stindt Photography Award for his lifetime achievements in railroad photography.
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Four Forty Eight in a Verdant Scene!

The eastward Boston section of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited is train 448. Typically referred to as ‘Four Forty Eight’.

On this day in 2012 (May 24, 2012), I exposed this digital image of the train on the final leg of its journey from Chicago to Boston as it rolled east of Palmer, Massachusetts near CP79. (Control Point 79, as measured in miles from South Station, Boston).

I was working with my Canon EOS 7D and the 28-135mm kit zoom lens that came with camera. I had the lens extended to 50mm, a focal length that with the sensor size equated to a slightly telephoto perspective. Color temperature and saturation were adjusted in post processing.

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Speeder Trip-Part 1

On Friday, May 21, 2021, I served as the pilot for a private speeder trip over the Conway Scenic Railroad.

The speeders were largely from a Pennsylvania-based group that consisted largely of various privately owned Fairmont cars.

I traveled in the lead car and made photographs of the trip as it progressed westward over Crawford Notch. This first batch features Conway Scenic’s Redstone Branch from the State Yard at Kearsarge to Mountain Junction in Intervale.

These photos are scaled JPGs from larger JPG files exposed with my FujiFilm XT1 using the Velvia color profile.

It was a beautiful, if unseasonably warm Spring day for a run over the former Maine Central Mountain Division.

Stay tuned over the coming days for more photos!

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Red Electric

In October 2016, Denis McCabe and I visited the Czech Republic seeking rail freight on the move.

The weather wasn’t brilliant, but we sure saw a lot of trains and a great variety of rail-operators and different types of locomotives.

One morning at Grygov, near Olomouc, we set up on the busy east-west electrified Czech mainline, and caught a procession of trains, including this RM Line Class 121 electric leading an eastward grain train.

Although the day was dull, the bright paint on the locomotive helped make for an interesting and compelling photograph.

Exposed digitally using a FujiFilm XT1.

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Roping Willey Brook Bridge-Some Gravity Defying Photos!

Last week involved high adventure!

The most adventurous was inspection of Conway Scenic’s Willey Brook Bridge in Crawford Notch (NH)—From below track level—by climbing through the girders with ropes, and abseiling the central support.

All activities in accordance with proper procedure.

I’ve accompanied bridge inspector Wayne Duffett of TEC Associates on several of Conway Scenic’s bridge inspections, but this one was by far the most memorable.

I made my photos using a Lumix LX7.

There’s a time an a place for a big camera, and times and places for small ones. A 4×5 studio camera would not have been well suited for this day’s photography.

Supplemental photography was supplied by Wayne’s pocket Nikon AW130 digital camera (a water proof model).

And there I am among the girders.
Not a place to visit if you have a fear of falling.
I don’t fear heights, but that first step is a doozie!

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Assembling Saturday’s Photofreight.

On Saturday, May 22, 2021, Conway Scenic Railroad will operate its annual Railfan’s Photo Freight. This will board its passengers at 9am and wander up and down the line in the tradition of a mixed local freight from the 1950s and 1960s.

Yesterday, May 19, 2021, our train crew assembled the train in the North Yard using locomotive 573.

I made these photos using my FujiFilm XT1 for use in company publicity and advertising. To obtain superior digital output, I converted the files from Fuji RAW to DNG format using Iridient X-Transformer then made adjustments in Adobe Lightroom.

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Fabyan Truss Inspection

Last week I accompanied Bridge Inspector Wayne Duffett on his inspection of the unusual truss bridge on the former Maine Central Mountain Division at Fabyan, NH.

The bridge dates from the 1890s. It originally served the Boston & Maine’s branch to Mount Washington that had run parallel to Maine Central for a few miles. At some point decades ago Maine Central decided the old B&M span was superior to its own and traded places.

I made these photos using my Lumix LX7. Images processed digitally in Adobe Light room to improve contrast, color and color saturation.

Greater bridge inspections were undertaken down the line! Stay tuned . . .

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Vr Pendolino at Tikkurila

In July 2015, I accompanied my friend Markku Pulkkinnen on tour of Finnish railways that included a visit to greater Helsinki.

At Tikkurila in suburban Helsinki, I made this photograph of a VR Group Pendolino on its way north toward Oulu.

Finland is one of my favorite European nations and a wonderful place to watch trains.

Exposed using a FujiFilm XT1.

It is among the countries that I will feature today at 1pm in my Zoom presentation to the Virginia Rail Policy Institute titled “Optimizing shared-use rail corridors in Europe:  How do rail freight and passenger operations co-exist”

See: http://us18.forward-to-friend.com/forward/show?u=4f94dd611dde4fe207a64c0cc&id=a76983ce14

Tracking the Light is Brian Solomon’s Daily Blog on railways and photography.

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Pendolino at Arth Goldau-prelude to Zoom Program on Tuesday.

It was a bright afternoon at Arth Goldau, Switzerland on April 24, 2017, when I made this photo of an FS (Italian State Railway) Pendolino on its run from Milan to Zürich over the Gotthard Pass.

I was on a week-long tour of Switzerland with fellow photographer Denis McCabe to make images and gather information for my guide book on European railways.

Tomorrow (Tuesday May 18, 2021) at 1pm, I’m giving a Zoom presentation to the Virginia Rail Policy Institute titled “Optimizing shared-use rail corridors in Europe:  How do rail freight and passenger operations co-exist“

See: http://us18.forward-to-friend.com/forward/show?u=4f94dd611dde4fe207a64c0cc&id=a76983ce14 

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Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Ten Years Ago in Munich.

On this day, May 16, 2011, I exposed this telephoto image of a number 20 tram in Munich, Germany.

I was working with my Canon EOS7D with a fixed 200mm f2.8 telephoto.

Notice the unusual point-work on the tram track in the foreground.

Selective focus made possible by the relatively wide aperture with a long focal length lens helps direct the eye to the primary subject, allowing for other elements of the scene to remain slightly out of focus.

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Stuttgart, Germany June 1999.

I made a brief visit to Stuttgart during a trip to Germany and Switzerland in 1999.

On my first afternoon in Stuttgart, I exposed this Fujichrome Sensia II (ISO 100) color slide of a classic tram ascending away from the city center. Notice the effects of cross lighting. (The sun is to the left of the camera).

At the time I was working with an N90s with 80-200mm zoom lens, my standard camera combination for the period.

I’ve found that different types of equipment lend to different sorts of compositions. I wonder what images I would have made in Stuttgart if I could have carried the Nikon Z6 that I own today?

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HyRail at Hazens Eastbound!

Yesterday I traveled by road to the western reaches of Coway Scenic’s line at Hazens in Whitefield, N.H., with Wayne Duffett of TEC Associates.

At Hazens we set on the railroad to run east over the line to inspect bridges. This was the first leg in our latest adventure as part of the annual Conway Scenic bridge inspection.

I was a perfect day, sunny, warm and very pleasant.

I made these photos using my latest Panasonic Lumix LX7. Files were scaled from the camera-generated JPGs using the V (or Vivid) color profile. I made no alterations to color, contrast, exposure or sharpness.

The bridges got bigger as we worked eastward. More photos to come over the coming days.

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GP35 crossing the Ellis

As a follow up to my post from the other day featuring the old Mountain Division Bridge over the Ellis River at Glen, New Hampshire (ELLIS RIVER TRUSS AND EQUIVALENCE), I thought I’d offer this view of GP35 216 leading Conway Scenic’s Valley train over the same bridge.

Exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens.

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Paulins Kill Revisited

This is a post about a viaduct.

In March 2007, Pat Yough and I made a visit to the abandoned former Lackawanna Paulins Kill Viaduct in western New Jersey.

I was researching a book on railroad bridges, and needed to fill some gaps in my photographic coverage.

This was one of several massive concrete bridges built by the Lackawanna in the early 20th century. It has been disused since Conrail abandoned the Lackawanna Cutoff in the early 1980s.

Since that time the line has been repeatedly studied for reopening.

Previously on Tracking the Light in Jan 2014 I featured color photos of the bridge exposed the same day as these B&W images.

I made these photos on Fuji Neopan 400 black & white film using my Contax G2 rangefinder with 28mm Zeiss Biogon lens. I processed the film in Rodinal Special mixed 1-32 with water at 68F for three minutes and 15 seconds.

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Ellis River Truss and Equivalence.

A few minutes ago, this image came up in rotation on my screen saver.

I exposed it two weeks ago while on a bridge inspection with Wayne Duffett of the Ellis River truss at Glen, New Hampshire.

Reflections of the sun in the Ellis diffused by clouds bisected with the lattice girder bottom lateral brace of the bridge reminded me of a Minor White black & white print.

White, famous for his exquisite black & white technique expanded upon the concept of equivalence as delineated by his teacher Alfred Stieglitz.

In his later year years White taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology. A decade after White’s death, I studied photography at RIT, and among my professors was Owen Butler, himself a student of White’s.

My photo is both a bridge and of a bridge.

Here I offer two interpretations of the same digital image. One features lower contrast and superior highlight detail.

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My Interview on EMD

Yesterday, May 9, 2021, Richard Luckin of Luckin Productions traveled to North Conway, NH., to interview me about General Motors Electro-Motive Division diesels.

I gave him and his production crew a tour of the railroad’s facilities and spoke about our selection of EMD diesels, then answered a variety of questions about the role of EMD, the success of its locomotives, and other historical queries.

During the course of the interview, Conway Scenic’s Valley train was coming and going, led by locomotive 573—an EMD GP7 diesel.

I think it all worked out pretty well!

Photos exposed digitally using my FujiFilm XT1.

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May 6th Conway Branch Work Extra.

It was a great day for a work train!

We had beautiful clear skies with fluffy fair weather clouds. It was warm with a slight wind, and the trees were just beginning to leaf out.

I traveled on the train, primarily riding in the caboose, and made photographs when it stopped to perform maintenance along the line.

I made these digital photos with my FujiFilm XT-1 with 16-55mm zoom lens. All of the images were processed in Adobe Lightroom, to adjust contrast, color temperature and saturation.

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Helpers at Cape Horn

It was a lazy late-summer evening in September 1990, when I hiked up to the tunnels at Cape Horn, east of Colfax, California on Southern Pacific’s Donner Pass crossing.

East and westward freights were converging upon me, and I wondered which would reach me first. Listening to my scanner, I knew the down hill train was close, when I hear the eastward freight roaring through Colfax below me, on its approach to Long Ravine.

In this telephoto view, I’m focused on the rear-end helper on the uphill eastward freight.

Exposed on Kodachrome 25 using a Nikon F3T with f4.0 200mm Nikkor lens.

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Clear Day at Moat Brook

Among the most pictured locations on Conway Scenic’s former Boston & Maine Conway Branch is the wooden pile trestle at Moat Brook.

This stream is named for the Moat Mountains compass west of the railroad.

A few weeks ago during my bridge inspection with Wayne Duffett of TEC Associates, I carefully studied the bridge and its environs, considering how to best find a different angle on the bridge.

It occurred to me: while the bridge is often photographed, the stream itself is not. The reason is simple: much of the year there is very little water in the stream.

Last week Thursday and Friday were very wet. But Saturday was clear and sunny.

I walked the line and secured a new vantage point compass east of the famous bridge and along the swollen stream, where I captured the returning Valley train led by GP35 216 with engineer Tom Carver at the throttle.

These photos were exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens,

I posted variations of these images on Conway Scenic’s Facebook page to assist with promotion of the popular Valley train on its Conway run.

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East Branch Bridge

Last week, I accompanied bridge inspector Wayne Duffett of TEC Associates on the second leg of his annual Conway Scenic bridge inspection.

Our first stop was the East Branch truss near Glen, NH.

I made these photos using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens. Images were converted from camera RAW to DNG format by Iridient X-Transformer then adjusted for internet presentation in Adobe Lightroom.

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Moose on the Kanc

In my life I’ve seen, perhaps, 8 moose in the wild.

Last month, I saw two of those 8 in one evening driving New Hampshire’s Kancamagus highway with Kris Sabbatino.

I made this photo using my Nikon Z6 with f4.0 24-70mm lens with the camera sensitivity set to ISO 40,000. Shutter speed set to 1/30th of a second.

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MBTA at Shirley

I’ve been photographing trains at Shirley for nearly 37 years.

Gosh that’s quite a while.

Kris Sabbatino and I paused at Shirley on the way back from Cape Cod last week.

We rolled by MBTA trains under clear Spring skies.

This gave me the opportunity to try out my third Lumix LX7 on moving trains.

I’d fitted the wee digital camera with an external viewfinder, a small electronic attachment that makes it much easier to photograph moving trains in bright sunshine with the mirrorless Lumix.

Working from the Lumix RAW file, I made this interpretation in Adobe Lightroom.

MBTA GP40MC_1133_works at the back of train 1406 running eastbound at Shirley, Massachusetts.

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Amtrak at Prospect Park

In December 2014, Pat Yough lent me his FujiFilm XT1. At the time I was seriously considering this camera system.

We drove to Prospect Park near Philadelphia, Pa., where I put the camera through its paces. I wanted to see how it handled sunset situations.

Among the test photos I made was of this northward Amtrak train on the Northeast Corridor led by then-new Siemens ACS-64 Number 607.

Ultimately, I bought an XT-1, and I’ve been using one for more than 6 years.

This photo was adjusted from the camera RAW using Adobe Lightroom to manipulate shadow and highlight settings as well as fine adjustment to color temperature.

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Amtrak’s Empire Builder on the Milwaukee Road

Historically, the Seattle-Chicago Empire Builder traveled on Burlington’s rails east of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Amtrak’s modern incarnation of the Empire Builder uses CP Rail’s former Milwaukee Road east of St Paul, following a route across central Wisconsin.

Today, the Empire Builder is among the oldest names still used by an Amtrak train.

I made this photo near Reeseville, Wisconsin on a photographic adventure with John Gruber back on August 22, 2011.

Exposed using my Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.

Tracking the Light is a daily rail-photo blog by Brian Solomon

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Amtrak is 50 Today!

May 1, 1971, Amtrak was born—Fifty years ago today.

I wrote about Amtrak’s 50th anniversary in my May 2021 Trains column.

To commemorate this half-century mark on Tracking the Light, I’m posting this scan of a color slide I that I exposed back in October 2000 of Amtrak P42 No. 1 crossing the Quaboag River at West Warren, Massachusetts.

At the time, I was working to fulfill a assignment for Mark Hemphill, then editor of Trains. Ultimately, Trains used a similar view of this same locomotive on this same bridge that I made a few days later. That photo showed P42 No. 1 panned using a slow shutter speed to convey speed.

Exposed on Fujichrome using a Nikon N90S. Amtrak train No. 449 the Lake Shore Limited, westbound at West Warren, MA.

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Freight Pan Silo

Last Friday evening (April 23, 2021), Kris Sabbatino & I made sunset photos at the Cape Cod Canal lift bridge.

Mass-Coastal’s freight was assembling its train at Canal Junction in Bourne, Massachusetts, giving us several opportunities for silhouettes of the train moving across the bridge.

Clear skies made for ideal sunset silhouette conditions.

Working with my Nikon Z6 digital camera with 24-70mm f4.0 lens I panned the train as it pulled north across the bridge. For this image, I had the ISO set to 100, aperture set to f4.0 (it’s widest setting), and the shutter at 3/5ths of a second to capture the motion.

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Rail transit marathon

Bordeaux—Five Years Ago.

It was a clear pleasant afternoon in Bordeaux, France on April 29, 2016, when I made this photo of a wireless Alstom tram using my first Lumix LX7 digital camera.

I was visiting this elegant French city on business with my father.

Bordeaux opted for a ground-based power supply for its modern tram system in historic areas of its city center.

Below are two variations of the same photo. The top is the camera produced JPG (scaled for internet without adjustment), the bottom is my interpretation of the camera RAW file with adjustments made using Adobe Lightroom.

Lumix LX7 camera generated JPG with the VIVID color profile, scaled fro internet presentation.
Lumix LX7 RAW file interpreted using Adobe Lightroom; shadows lightened, level improved, and color balance adjusted. Note the hue of the tram.

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GP28 Details

Model GP28 with just over two-dozen domestic examples built may be considered one of General Motors Electro-Motive Division more obscure diesel-electrics.

It was contemporary with the relatively popular GP35 with which it shares a similar external appearance.

Where EMD’s GP35 was a high-horsepower model using a turbocharged variation of the 16-567 diesel to deliver 2,500 hp, the GP28 used a 16-567D1 aspirated with a Roots blower and delivered just 1,800 hp.

The GP28 was only in production for a few months during 1964 and 1965, and may be viewed as a transitional model between the GP18 and GP38.

I don’t recall having ever photographed a GP28 in action until last Friday.

Kris Sabbatino and I were fortunate to capture Mass Coastal GP28 2009 during the course of its daily duties on Cape Cod.

Working with my Nikon Z6, I made these photos as it worked near the Cape Cod Canal lift bridge at Bourne, Massachusetts and nearby at Monument Beach on the Falmouth Branch.

Monument Beach, Massachusetts.

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Impressive New Grade Crossing at Hyannis

Recently, Mass Coastal/Cape Cod Central has installed an expanded and impressive new grade crossing where Route 28 intersects the north end of the Hyannis, Massachusetts yard.

Check out the row of crossing flashers!

Work was still on going last week when I made this image at dusk.

Exposed using a Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens.

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Ballast Train at West Barnstable, Massachusetts

Kris Sabbatino and I were very lucky to catch a relative unusual move on Cape Cod last Friday (April 23, 2021).

Mass Coastal’s rare EMD GP28 (road number 2009) led a train of MassDOT ballast cars eastward on the former New Haven Railroad at West Barnstable, Massachusetts.

I was delighted to catch this unusual locomotive (one of less than three dozen built) in good sunlight. In addition to this digital photo exposed using my Nikon Z6, I also made a sequence of color slides with my Canon EOS 3 with 100-400mm lens.

Mass Coastal at West Barnstable, Mass. April 23, 2021.

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Frankenstein on the Billboard

As part of my responsibilities as Manager of Marketing and Events at Conway Scenic Railroad, I organize the creation of our billboards in the Conway-area.

For this season’s billboard, I opted to feature our Mountaineer crossing the Frankenstein trestle on the former Maine Central Mountain Division. The Billboard design was the work of Silverline Graphics; printing and installation was performed by Gemini Sign and Design.

I exposed the billboard photo last autumn using my FujiFilm XT1. And using the same camera, I photographed the billboard itself where our Conway Branch crosses Rt302/Rt16 near White Mountain Oil in North Conway.

Also, I adjusted the photo file that appears on the billboard using Adobe Lightroom using the same MacBook Pro that I use to prepare Tracking the Light.

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Energy Train Crosses the Canal

We saw buzzards in the sky.

Hmm, so that’s why its called Buzzards Bay!

On Thursday afternoon, Kris Sabbatino and I arrived on the Bourne, Massachusetts side of the enormous Cape Cod Canal lift bridge just as the Massachusetts Coastal Energy train was approaching to cross.

Fortuitous timing considering we had left Center Conway, New Hampshire after 930am.

I exposed these photos using my Nikon Z6 digital camera and modified the color, contrast, and level using Adobe Lightroom.

April 22, 2021, Cape Cod Canal.

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Bridge Inspection

Bridges fascinate me.

I wrote about them in a book in 2007.

Kris Sabbatino has called me a ‘Bridge Goob’ (which translates to ‘rabid bridge enthusiast’.)

Trusses are my favorite.

Of all the trusses, I think I like the Whipple Truss the best. But these have become exceedingly rare.

Earlier this week, I joined Conway Scenic’s bridge inspector Wayne Duffett on the annual inspection of the bridges on our Conway Branch.

We traveled in a company HyRail truck from Conway to North Conway and Wayne inspected all the bridges and culverts on the line.

I made several hundred photos to document the event.

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April 22, 2016.

Five years ago I spent the day exploring the modern tram system centered on Valenciennes, France.

This is a model system that was built and equipped by Alstom.

FujiFIlm XT1 photo.

This was my second visit to this moderately sized French town and its immediate suburbs.

Lumix LX7 photo.

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Metz

On April 21, 2016, I made a rail trip across north eastern France. Among the places I changes trains was at Metz on the edge of a formerly heavily industrialized coal region.

I made photographs of the enormous and elegant 19th century station here using both my Lumix LX7 and FujiFilm XT1 digital cameras.

This was my only visit to Metz, and I look forward to returning some day.

Until 2020, April was always a big travel month for me.

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Irish Rail Glounthaune—April 20, 2015

Six years ago on this day I was visiting Cobh Junction at Glounththaune, Co. Cork.

The Irish Rail station at this suburban Cork village continues to make good use of its classic footbridge, of the sort once common to stations across Ireland.

In recent years many of the old lattice-construction foot-bridges have been supplanted by massive modern structures that lack the simple elegance and basic utility of the old bridges—many of which remain in place as unused relics.

Working with my first Lumix LX7, I made these photos of the footbridge and Irish Rail 2600-series railcars that work suburban services that pause at Glounthaune on their way to and from Cork to outlying stations at Cobh and Midleton.

The Lumix LX7 with its Leica lens and cleverly designed imaging system produces extremely sharp photos with great depth of field.

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Railfreight RastatT

On this day (April 19) five years ago my Irish friends and I visited Rastatt, Germany, a known rail-freight choke-point on the DB rail network.

I made this photo using my FujiFilm XT1 showing freight wagons on southward freights queued up while waiting for signals at the Rastatt station .

Rastatt, Germany on April 19, 2016.

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