A Busy, Bright and Clear Day Visiting Irish Narrow Gauge.
Last week, Mark Healy and I made another venture to photograph Bord na Mona’s (Peat Board) three-foot gauge industrial railway. This time we chose the network focused on feeding the Lough Rea Power Station at Lanesborough in County Longford.
Although we departed Dublin under cloudy skies, by the time we reached the Midlands, the clouds parted and we enjoyed most clear sunny weather for the remainder of the day.
From past experience, I’ve found that clear days are by far the best time to photograph Bord na Mona’s trains at work. The heavily harvested moon-like landscape of the peat bogs doesn’t translate as well on dull days. Also, the brown and cream livery on the locomotives and aluminum peat wagons look best with sun on them.
Finding a clear day in the Irish Midlands isn’t so easy. The weather is famously dull and changeable. On more than one occasion I’ve found that a forecast for fine weather proved overly optimistic.
For this excursion, I brought four cameras. Yes, four. In addition to the two digital cameras (Lumix LX3 and Canon EOS 7D), I had my Canon EOS-3 and a Rollei Model T 120-size camera both loaded with Fujichrome Provia 100F.
There’s certain types of images that I still like to put on film. Also, while I expose a lot of digital images (and make multiple back-ups of each and every file) I’m very reluctant to trust digital imaging for long term applications.
So, in the event of a digital apocalypse, I’d like to have a few Bord na Mona photos on color transparency film for posterity.
My film has yet to be processed, so here are a few of my recent digital results.
Lumix LX3 Photo.
Tune in tomorrow for more highlights from this most recent Bord na Mona adventure!
Also see previous Tracking the Light posts on Bord na Mona, including: More Adventures with Ireland’s Bord na Mona—September 2013, Bord na Mona, Lanesborough, August 10, 2013, Irish Bog Railways—Part 5, August, 2013, and Irish Bog Railways—Part 3, March 2, 2013.
Tracking the Light posts new material daily.
Please spread the word and share Tracking the Light with anyone who may enjoy seeing it!
http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/
Related articles
Did you get my emailed response? I sent one right away directly to your address.
Brian Solomon
Hello Brian
Very interested to find your photo blog, especially the Bord na Mona photos.
I’m what my wife would readily call a BnM fanatic and spend as much time on the bogs and railways as I can – living in England. I provide a “BnM guide” e-booklet to show other Brits how to find their way around – they don’t realise how vast some of the networks are!
I’m compiling a photo book about the railways & bogs and the men who work them. This not being done for profit – I just see it as a record of something unique and worth recording. Any money the book makes would go to a deserving railway – Dromod for instance. I think it could be something a bit special if it’s done right.
Would you be interested in contributing to the book? Several English blokes have sent me BnM photos but they tend to be formal three-quarter shots which show little background – or people or wagons or bridges……….
I’ll be following your blog from now on – Carthach sent me the link.
Regards
Ted McAvoy