Four hours apart, I exposed pairs of photos of antique GP38s at two New England Railroad Stations using my Lumix LX7.
Just after 10:30am yesterday, I made a couple of images of the Snow Train departing Conway Scenic Railroad’s North Conway, New Hampshire Station. GP38 number 255 was positioned at the back of the train for the return run from Attitash.
Sometime around 2:30pm, I made photos of New England Central GP38 number 3845 at the station in White River Junction, Vermont. This is one of New England Central’s surviving original GP38s (with which the railroad started operations back winter 1995).
These mid-1960s era machine soldier on in regular service despite their age.
North Conway, NH.It was 7 degrees F when I exposed this view at White River Junction on February 4, 2023.
I find Amtrak’s old Metroliner cab cars a novelty.
These rolling antiques are vestiges of 1960s High Speed rail that have survived into the 2020s in regular revenue service.
On my exploration of the Lancaster area with Dan Cupper a few weeks ago, we stopped at Gap in the morning to photograph the westward Amtrak Keystone service No. 641, led by Metroliner cab car 9634 with ACS-64 634 at the back.
I wonder if I have a photo of this cab car in Metroliner service?
I made this telephoto sequence with my Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera fitted with a 70-200mm telephoto zoom. The yellow front works well with soft winter sun.
What are you supposed to do while waiting for trains?
How about take portraits of each other on the railroad platform.
That’s what we did two weeks ago at Paoli, Pennsylvania!
I made some views of my brother Sean and his partner Isabelle with my wife Kris as a westward Amtrak Keystone and SEPTA trains made station stops. Then Kris made a couple of photos of me with Sean and Isabelle using my Nikon Z7-II.
Hi ISO and auto white balance makes night photos easy!
Strasburg Rail Road is best known for its steam excursions, but the railroad is a common carrier and operates a thriving local freight business.
On our visit to the Strasburg, PA area last month, I was lucky to catch one of their freights on the move. This was led by the railroad’s former New York Central SW8 diesel 8618.
This classic General Motors Electro-Motive Division swticher was built for New York Central System c1953 and carried the number 9618. It is painted in a neo-New York Central scheme, and was Conrail 8618 for many years.
In the 1980s, I made many photos of Conrail switchers, and I wonder if somewhere among my slides and negatives I may have a photo of this locomotive in its former existence.
Strasburg Rail Road SW8 8618Strasburg Rail Road local freight viewed from Carpenters.SW8 8618 with two boxcars at Leaman Place along Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor—the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line.
Several nights ago, Kris and I delivered my brother Sean and his partner Isabelle to SEPTA’s Paoli, Pennsylvania station on the old Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line.
It had been quite a few years since my last visit and in the interval, the station had been modernized.
It now has high-level platforms and bright daylight balanced LED lighting.
As Sean & Isabelle waited for an eastward Amtrak Keystone to bring them to Philadelphia, I exposed a series of photos of passing trains.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set at 70mm; f4 at 1/30 ISO 400. Focus mode: AF-S.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set at 44mm; f4 at 1/125 ISO 400. Focus mode: AF-S.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set at 30mm; f4 at 1/50 ISO 2000. Focus mode: AF-S.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set at 24mm; f4 at 1/200 ISO 2000. Focus mode: AF-S.
Details of the exposures are in the captions. All files adjusted using Adobe Lightroom.
Google Maps makes it much easier to navigate to the west shore of the Susquehanna River at Marysville, Pennsylvania to reach the famed Rockville Bridge.
I recall pouring over maps in the 1980s, trying to locate the correct sequence of turns to get to River Road. The challenge of this location is that the path is indirect and the main highways running parallel to the river and railroad do not facilitate straight forward exits.
On my most recent visit, I followed Google Maps instructions to my map ‘pin’ situated at the westend of Rockville Bridge. I approached the bridge just as a Norfolk Southern freight was easing across the 48 stone arches.
I returned to the vantage point on the north side of the bridge that Kris and I had visited nearly a year ago. This allowed me to make a long telephoto view of the train and capture the dramatic sky to the east.
Photo exposed using a Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens. Nikon NEF RAW file adjusted using Adobe Lightroom.Photo exposed using a Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens. Nikon NEF RAW file adjusted using Adobe Lightroom.
Thursday I traveled with Conway Scenic’s Plow Extra to Attitash, and then east from Mountain Junction down the Redstone Branch to Kearsarge in North Conway.
My primary objective of this trip was to make video footage of the plowing and plow crew for Conway Scenic, both to document the activity and to help promote the railroad.
I used my Nikon Z-series mirrorless camera to record both still photos and video. In general, I feel more confident in my ability to work with still images than video, but I still made a lot of video clips which I am now editing into a short film that will hopefully play on Conway Scenic’s Facebook page as well as other accessible media.
Below are a few of the still photos from Thrusday’s adventure on the rails.
Amtrak Keystone train 643 passes Christiana westbound.
Last week, I caught up with fellow photographer, author and Trains contributor Dan Cupper, who offered to spend the day showing me railroads in the Lancaster/Strasburg area of Pennsylvania.
Among the places we visited was the archives/meeting house of the Lancaster Chapter, Inc., National Railway Historical Society which is located in the old Pennsylvania Railroad freight house at Christiana, Pennsylvania.
While I’d visited this the passenger station earlier in the week, the day our our visit had much better weather. Also, it was my first ever visit inside freight house where we were met by the chapter’s Stephen Himpsl.
Among the things we explored were views of the freight station and the old passenger station from both sides of the former PRR Main Line.
The passenger station hadn’t served in its intended role since the 1950s, but had been restored and was in good shape.
I made a variety of images using my Nikon mirrorless cameras including those presented here. Most received post-processing adjustment using Adobe Lightroom to better present the data captured by the camera’s NEF RAW files.
More to come on our explorations at Christiana and other nearby locations.
Pennsylvania Railroad sign on the old Christiana freight house.Lancaster Chapter NRHS has a variety of artifacts and memorabilia on display, including this Lionel GG1 electric locomotive.
Tuesday (January 24, 2023), Conway Scenic Railroad sent its 1934 vintage Russell snow plow westward to clear the line to Attitash .
There was at least a foot of snow on the ground.
The plow operated as Work Extra 255, with former Maine Central GP38 255 at the back pushing.
I was able to stay ahead of the plow extra and made several sets of photos using my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens. I also recorded some video with my Z7-II mounted on a tripod.
Work Extra 255 approaches the Route 16/Route 302 grade crossing near White Mountain Oil in North Conway, New Hampshire. That’s my photo on the railroad’s billboard to the right of the tracks. I exposed it using my Fujifilm XT1 with 12mm Zeiss Touit lens. Silver Line Graphics did the design work on the billboard. Work Extra 255 approached Glen-Ellis station.Work Extra 255 clears the line near Goves west of milepost 66.
Winter has finally made its footprint in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
After weeks of unseasonable weather that led to speculation that snow was a thing of the past, a series of snow storms has brought plently of snow.
Following a heavy snow fall that lasted most of the day on Monday (January 23, 2023), Conway Scenic called a plow extra on Tuesday to clear its lines.
I made these views of Work X255 in the yard at North Conway as the crew was getting ready to head west to Attitash.
I worked with the NEF RAW files in Adobe Lightroom to make the most of the dramatic sky. Adjustments included my standard repertoire; lighten shadows, darken highlights, adjust color temperature and color saturation and scale for internet presentation.
Later I followed the Plow Extra west to make photos of it clearing the tracks.
I was lucky last Wednesday as Amtrak P42 number 145 wearing ‘Phase III’ heritage paint was leading train #42, the eastward Pennsylvanian.
Although the so-called Amtrak Phase III was introduced in the mid-1970s, for me it represents the predominant scheme that adorned Amtrak locomotives during the 1980s. I made countless color slides of F40PH diesels, and AEM-7 and E60 electrics in this scheme.
Amtrak repainted a several of its P42 Genesis diesels in 2011 to mark the railroad’s 40th Anniversary. In addition, several of Amtrak’s dual-mode 700-series Genesis units have also been painted in this scheme.
I was delighted to catch Amtrak 145 working the old Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line at Gap, Pennsylvania, and made a series of digital images using my Nikon Z-series digital cameras.
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm Z-series zoom. Photo cropped for effect.Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm Z-series zoom.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom.
I often work with multiple cameras. Since purchasing my Nikon Z7-II at the end of last year, I now often work with both my Nikon mirrorless cameras in tandem. I’ve fitted my Z-series 70-200mm zoom to my Z6, and a Z-series 24-70mm to the Z7-II.
This arrangement gives me the flexibility to make a variety of different angles quickly, swaping back and forth between the two cameras as needed.
In addition to that, I’ll often have my Lumix LX7 at hand and sometimes an older Nikon loaded with film.
Last week, I was poised at Gap, Pennsylvania on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line that is now operated by Amtrak. Most of Amtrak’s trains are Keystone corridor push-pull sets powered by Siemens-built ACS-64 electric locomotives. An exception is the New York-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian that runs daily and its typically led by a GE-built P42 Genesis diesel.
I got a tip that the eastward Pennsylvanian (train 42) was running with a P42 wearing one of the heritage paint schemes and I was in position to make the most of that train, while waiting on its late-running westward counterpart (train 43). Watching a train tracking ap on my phone, I wondered which train would reach me first.
I heard a GE chugging to the east and turned to find train 43 working west led by P42 number 117 . First I made a few images with the Z6 and 70-200mm, then made a few close up photos with the Z7-II and 24-70mm, before making a couple more trailing views with the Z6. I’ve included six of these images here in order of exposure to provide a sense of how I made the most of these cameras in tandem.
Z6 with 70-200mm.Z6 with 70-200mm.Z7-II with 24-.70mmZ7-II with 24-.70mmZ7-II with 24-.70mmZ6 with 70-200mm.
Minutes after train 43 went by, I spotted train 42 in the distance with the aforementioned heritage-painted locomotive in the lead. Stay tuned for those photos!
Winter sun and clear skies on Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road open a host of photographic opportunities!
For Monday’s return run of engine No. 90 from Leaman Place, Kris and I selected a vantage point at Carpenters at Blackhorse Road—where the line takes a gentle curve by an old Graveyard.
I made a few color slides using my Nikon F3 and 180m lens and then a series of digital photos with my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
The sildes remain to be processed, but I’ve posted a selection of the digital images here.
Engine 90 is a Baldwin 2-10-0, a type known as a decapod for its arrangement of ten driving wheels. I am working on a new book with Kalmbach Media tentatively titled Steam Locomotives by th Numbers that will tell the story of steam locomotive development and application using wheel arrangement as the system of organization.
Monday Kris and I spent several hours photographing Strasburg Rail Road 2-10-0 No. 90 under blue skies with brilliant sun.
I made this selection of photos using my Nikon Z6 and Z7-II mirrorless digital cameras.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.Nikon Z6 with 70-200mmNikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
It was frosty on Monday morning when Kris & I visited the Strasburg Rail Road. Among the equipment we photographed was the famous Norfolk & Western J-Class 4-8-4 number 611.
In recent years this magnificent late-era steam locomotive has made guest appearances on the Strasburg Rail Road.
The enormous streamliner seems a bit out of place on the rural branchline, but it was great to see and photograph this machine again.
The big locomotive was cold. We were not so fortunate to catch it in action, although over the years, I have photographed 611 on various occasions under steam.
All photos were made with a Nikon Z7-II with Nikkor Z-series 24-70mm zoom lens.
January 15, 2023: Kris and I spent the day driving to Strasburg, Pennsylvania. We arrived just in time to make photos of 2-10-0 No. 90 arriving with the last scheduled train of the day.
With the setting sun just above the horizon, we had some beautiful winter light to photograph this historic machine in action. Cold weather can offer the best conditions to photograph steam locomotive because of the superior light and dramatic effects of condenstation.
I made these images using my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm Nikkor zoom lens.
Strasburg Rail Road No.90 at East Strasburg station, Pennsylvania.
I’ve been photographing trains around Greenfield, Massachusetts for more than 40 years.
Sometimes there have been long waits. Sometimes I got lucky.
Saturday, Kris and I were driving south on I-91. I asked, “would you like to stop by East Deerfield Yard”
She said “ok!”, so we jumped off the Interstate at Route 2, and took the roundabout (traffic circle) and headed east. At that moment I saw containers rolling east on the old Boston & Maine Fitchburg line.
“That’s 22K, the NS intermodal train”.
We zipped over to East Deerfield Yard—located railroad timetable east of Greenfield—where I had just enough time to make these photos using my new Nikon Z7-II.
Nothing fancy, but these are lucky shots. I was delighted!
I always like it when luck prevails!
Norfolk Southern-Pan Am Southern symbol freight 22K at East Deerfield Yard.
With these ‘in the bag’, we drove to the Connecticut River bridge for more photos. Why waste a lucky day?
A week ago Saturday (January 7, 2023), Kris and I participated and observed in Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts’s Covered Wagons in the Snow, a trip I helped plan and organize.
Previously, I presented photos of the train. Here, I’m displaying photos of the train crew, Mass-Bay’s car hosts, and a few of the dozens of photographers that participated.
All photos were exposed using my Nikon Z6 and Z7-II digital cameras.
On January 13, 1994, I braved frigid temperatures at Hoffman Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota to photograph the eastward Twin Cities & Western freight on Kodachrome.
In the distance is a former Milwaukee Road diesel stenciled for Soo Line.
Exposed on Kodachrome 25 using a Nikon F3T with Nikkor f4.0 200mm lens.
Another classic from my files: this Kodachrome slide was exposed on my epic trip to Montreal with Tom Carver 30 years ago.
Among the inspirations for the trip was a tip that Tom received that CP Rail had placed back into freight service several of its ‘Bigs’- a nickname for its six-motor Montreal Locomotive Works diesels.
These classics had been stored owing to a downturn in traffic, but placed back into service in early 1993, which presented an opportunity to see and photograph these rare diesels at work. So, despite exceptional cold, Tom and I had braved winter in Montreal.
Only about a dozen or so of the six-motor MLWs were working at that time and mostly in relatively short-haul freight services. We followed one freight to the Port of Montreal. I made this view using Tom’s 28mm lens in Hochelaga neighborhood of Montreal on the afternoon of January 12, 1993.
Kodachrome 25 slide exposed with a Nikon F3T and borrowed Nikkor 28mm lens.
On this day, photographer Tom Carver and I were at Val Royal, Montreal to photograph Canadian National’s electric suburban trains.
In the orange glow of evening on a memorably cold day, I exposed this Kodachrome 25 slide using my old Nikon F3T with Nikkor 200mm lens.
Little did I know then, that 30 years later I’d be working daily with some of these very same cars: Conway Scenic Railroad operates former CN electric cars 6739, 6743, 6745 and 6749 as coaches on its excursion trains.
CN electric multiple units approach Val Royal, Montreal on the evening of January 11, 1993.
Thirty-five years ago, I made this view of a Conrail coal train working the Charlotte Running track at Charlotte, Rochester, New York. At that time, a short vestige of the old Hojack Line (Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg) still crossed the Genesee River.
This was exposed on Kodachrome 25 slide film using my Leica M2 rangefinder fitted with a 50mm Leitz Summicron lens.
It was among the images featured in my 1989 article on the railroads of Rochester published in Railpace Newsmagazine.
Looking at Google Earth last night, I gather there’s very little left of this scene today!
On January 10, 1988, I made this Kodachrome slide of Conrail SD50 6779 leading a coal train at Charlotte, NY.
Saturday, Kris and I traveled on the Mass Bay Special, “Covered Wagons in the Snow” that worked Conway Scenic from North Conway to Notchland. We went out on the headend, traveling with Train Master Mike Lacey on GP38 252, then traveled eastbound on the passenger cars where we participated in a few of the photo runbys.
I was working with three cameras; my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens; my new Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens; and a Lumix LX7.
Someone asked me how many camera’s I had. “Here? Or in total?”
“All of them.”
I lost track at 13. That’s probably bad luck.
Below are a selection of images that I made using the Z6 with 70-200mm lens. All were processed digitally using Adobe Lightroom and scaled for internet presentation here.
January 7, 2023, Conway Scenic Railroad hosted Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthuasiast’s Covered Wagons in the Snow photo charter.
I helped arrange and organize this uncommon trip and spent countless hours working with Mass Bay RRE’s Dave Brown, members of the 470 Club (which owns the two former Boston & Maine F7As that were the stars of the day) and the Conway Scenic staff to refine the details.
Mother nature cooperated and provided several inches of fresh powdery snow the night before the trip.
The morning of the trip, I conducted a safety briefing with Mass Bay’s people, and Kris and I made photos of the F-units in the North Conway, NH yard.
We traveled on the train and during the course of the trip we made hundreds of winter F-unit inspired images.
More to follow over the coming days!
Nikon Z-6 Mirrorless digital camera with 70-200mm lens.Nikon Z-6 Mirrorless digital camera with 70-200mm lens.Nikon Z-6 Mirrorless digital camera with 70-200mm lens.
Snow was falling on Conrail’s Southern Tier route on January 7, 1994. This portion of former Erie was alive with through freight
I made this view of the westward OIBU passing the old station at Silver Springs, New York, where Erie had maintained an interchange with the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, later B&O. Since 1986, this facilitated a connection with G&W’s Rochester & Southern.
Conrail OIBU (Oak Island to Buffalo) at Silver Springs, New York. Exposed on Fujichrome Velvia slide film. This was back in the days when Fuji printed ‘Velvia’ right on the mounts of the slides to distinguish their flagship slide film from other varieties .
On the afternoon of January 29, 1988, Conrail TV7 was changing crews at Buffalo’s Frontier Yard on the old New York Central Water Level Route.
Compositionally, this photo has always both intrigued and annoyed me. I wish I’d either got a little closer or framed in a way so that the top of the locomotive hadn’t been cutoff.
As it stands the image is awkward and imperfect, yet it serves as a window in time to another era.
Inbound and outbound crews were preserved for posterity.
Exposed on Kodachrome 25 using a Leica M2 fitted with 50mm f2.0 Summicron. Scanned with a Nikon LS5000 scanner.
Yesterday, I brought my new Z7-II to work and made a few photos around the Conway Scenic Railroad and on my way home in the evening.
These images are all adjusted and scaled from the Camera NEF (RAW) files.
Now to set the date on the camera to 2023!
NX Studio work window of the above image.Conway Scenic Railroad former Maine Central GP38 255.NX Studio work window of the above image.NX Studio work window of the above image.NEF file adjusted for high impact with altered contrast and inceased saturation.NX Studio work window of the above image.
I’m including two photos to usher in 2023. The first is one of the last photos that I made in 2022: a telephoto image of Mount Washington that I made from the viewing area off Route 302 near Bretton Woods yesterday afternoon when Kris and I were returning from Littleton, New Hampshire.
Mount Washington, New Hampshire, as photographed on December 31, 2022. Notice the route of the Mount Washington Cog Railway.
The second image is from a scan that I made yesterday evening of a vintage Kodachrome 25 color slide . I’d exposed this view of Conrail’s PASE (Palmer to Selkirk) on the afternoon of June 1, 1989. This is among my classic chromes and shows Conrail’s 6611, one of ten distinctive GE-built C32-8s that regularly operated over the Boston Line (former Boston & Albany main line) beginning in 1984. My slide had remained in the yellow Kodachrome box from the time it was processed until yesterday.
Conrail PASE was a short-lived symbol freight that forwarded traffic from Palmer, Massachusetts to Selkirk Yard near Albany, New York. This view was made at milepost 84, located within the town of Monson, Mass., just over the Quaboag River from Palmer, which can be seen in the distance.
The BIG event for me on New Year’s Eve was the arrival of my latest camera! I hope to feature photos from this picture making machine over the coming weeks. I’ll reveal details about this new camera in upcoming posts during 2023! Stay tuned . . . .
October 17, 1987: I was set up along the New York State Barge Canal at Clyde, New York and photographed an eastward freight led by SD60 6841.
At the time this was one one of only a handful of SD60s on the Conrail system. It was originally an EMD demonstrator. I deemed it unusual and in my notes I wrote. ‘SD60!’
Unfortunately, I’d over exposed the slide by at least a full stop, and it was this defect that landed it in the junk pile for more than 30 years.
Scanning allowed me to easily correct for most of effects of overexposure, while postprocessing in Lightroom enabled color and contrast corrections.
Recent news of exceptional snowfall in western New York State led me to review some of the photos I made during my years in Rochester, NY in the 1980s.
I was digging BIG box of slides lettered ‘3rds’—those that had been deemed unworthy during an edit many years ago and put aside. Certainly some of those slides are poor interpretations. But mixed in are some gems.
On January 27, 1988, I made this photo of a westward Conrail Trailvan piggyback train west of downtown Rochester, New York at milepost 374 (included in the image a lower left) at Lincoln Park. The train was kicking up snow as it raced along the former New York Central Waterlevel route.
My camera of choice was a Leica M2 rangefinder fitted with a 90mm Elmarit that was loaded with Kodachrome 25 slide film.
The most likely reason that I rejected this photo was because it was partially overcast. Other than that it looks pretty good to me today!
Scanned at 4000 dpi with a Nikon LS 5000 scanner and VueScan software. I imported the TIF file into Lightroom and outputted three versions; the top is scaled but unaltered, the bottom two versions benefit from a variety of minor corrections to level, color temperature, exposure and saturation. The middle version is warmer than the bottom.
Unadjusted Scan, Kodachrome 25 exposed with Leica M2 and 90mm Elmarit lens.
