Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera with 18-135mm lens at 135mm.
This train originated in Boston the night before. I recall in the 1980s, when this run used to be named the Night Owl. Back in those times it ran Boston-Washington and carried a sleeping car.
At some point it was re-named the Twilight Shoreliner and carried a Viewliner. These days it’s the nameless train 67, which runs from Boston to Newport News, Virginia., sans Viewliner.
It’s a pity there’s no Amtrak sleeping car service overnight on the Corridor anymore.
Doug Riddell provided this location for Pat Yough and me during our Virginia-tour in early June. Eleven years earlier, Doug and I photographed a CSX coal train from nearly the same spot.
Yesterday’s post (see: A Thoroughbred versus a Heron) featured a series of photos of a Norfolk Southern freight on the lift bridge in the foreground that were made just a few minutes before I exposed this image.
Freshly painted Irish Rail 087 leads the container pocket wagons working as the DFDS Liner on April 3, 2015. The old signal cabin at Cherryville Junction is many years out of service.
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I’d spotted the Heron standing on the old Southern Railway lift-bridge at Richmond’s Great Ship Lock Park, before I heard the low throb of the 645 diesel.
“There’s a train coming.”
Doug Riddell was giving Pat Yough and me a thorough tour of the area, and we were looking for an angle to photograph Amtrak 67 on the nearby Chesapeake & Ohio viaduct.
I focused on the bird. Would it stay still long enough to catch it with the locomotive?
Here my zoom lens was invaluable. I made tight angle of the heron, and then pulled back to include the scene.
Exposed using a Fuji X-T1.
The SD40-2 eased around the bend. I kept my eye on the bird. How long would it stand there? Finally as the train drew closer the bird raised its wings and with a squawk took flight. I exposed a short burst of images. The tightest is a cropped view.
This is the full-frame un-cropped image. In the blink of an eye the Heron took flight and was gone.
Amtrak’s Autotrain (trains 52/53) is one of America’s most unusual daily services. This runs non-stop between Lorton, Virginia and Sanford, Florida and is designed as a passenger/auto ferry.
It is Amtrak’s longest and heaviest train. It is one of the only trains that is regularly scheduled to use the older 800-series General Electric Genesis diesel-electrics (model P40).
Because of its length and unusual motive power, it makes for an interesting subject, provided you can find a place to photograph it that conveys these attributes.
On Monday, June 8, 2015, Doug Riddell met Pat Yough and me at Ashland, Virginia. Among our goals for the day were to photograph Amtrak 52 (the northward Autotrain).
The old passenger station at Ashland, Virginia at dawn on June 8, 2015, looking south. Fujifilm X-T1 photo.The old passenger station at Ashland, Virginia at dawn on June 8, 2015, looking north. Fujifilm X-T1 photo. (White balance set to ‘daylight’ rather than ‘auto’ to enhance the effect of sunrise).Doug elaborates on his book Virginia’s Legendary Santa Trains. Lumix LX7 photo.
Based on our experience a few days earlier (see: Tracking the Light visits Ashland, Virginia—June 4, 2015) where we’d photographed the southward Autotrain in the rain, I’d suggested Ashland because of the long tangent and accessibility. Doug concurred and suggested a favorite spot near Patrick Street.
Amtrak number 53, the northward Autotrain, led by locomotives 831 and 816 at Ashland, Virginia. This train was running a on a ‘limited clear’ aspect behind a northward CSX intermodal freight. Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-135mm lens set to 135mm (telephoto). Notice the unusual grade crossing signal with the bracket arm at right.Amtrak number 53 is the longest passenger train consist in America, Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-135mm lens set to 34mm . Notice the unusual grade crossing signal with the bracket arm.
And so we waited. Good things come to those who wait! The morning was clear, and although 52 fell down a bit (it was running behind schedule), its delay benefited us greatly. Not only were we treated to a steady parade of northward trains with soft June sunlight, but the light gradually improved.
In the last couple of decades, a number of North American cities have adopted light rail as a preferred mode of public transport.Personally, I don’t make distinctions between light rail lines, streetcar lines, interurban electric lines, and/or trolley lines, since all use essentially the same technology with minor variations in the way they are adapted.
Exposed with a Lumix LX7.
Ground level view along Plume Street in Norfolk. Exposed using my Fujifilm X-T1 which has an adjustable rear display that facilitates holding the camera at a very low angle without requiring a chiropractic visit afterwards.
In early June, in between other Virginia-based rail-events, Pat Yough and I made a brief visit to Norfolk, Virginia to take a spin on that city’s new light rail system, which is cleverly called ‘The Tide.’
Nice Siemens trams (light rail vehicles) glide along on regular intervals. Part of the route is built on an old railroad right of way. It is my understanding that plans are in the works to extend the route east toward Virginia Beach.
For four dollars you can Ride the Tide all day, and, if you so choose, take a bus ride too.A map of the Tide in downtown Norfolk. Lumix LX7 photo.The Tide taking the turn on Bank Street. Fujifilm X-T1 photo.Norfolk, Virginia is a tidy city. Plume Street. Lumix LX7 photo.At least one of the trams was dressed in a special livery. Lumix LX7 photo.At the east-end of the line. Old railroad tracks continue beyond this point and may someday carry the Tide further east.Tide rules. Lumix LX7 photo.Riding the Tide. Lumix LX7 photo.
It was 30 years ago today that I made this photograph on the platform at White River Junction, Vermont.
The conductor on Central Vermont freight 447 is waiting for his train to pull forward so that he can get on the caboose.
Exposed with a Leica 3A on black & white film.
That morning T.S. Hoover and I met Ed Beaudette on the platform. Ed supplied us with a line-up, and we made good use of the information. (Thanks Ed!)
After chasing CV 447 north, we returned to White River Junction and followed a southward Boston & Maine freight toward Bellows Falls.
At the end of the day we met George C. Corey at Springfield Union Station (Massachusetts) on the Boston & Albany and photographed the Conrail Office Car Special that was in town for Superintendent E.C. Cross’s retirement.
Last week, Doug Riddell and I made a visit to the diamond crossing at Doswell, Virginia where the old Chesapeake & Ohio line (now operated by Buckingham Branch but hosts CSX traffic) crosses the former Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac mainline.
We arrived just in time to catch an eastbound train. I was fascinated by these short CSX sand hoppers rattling across the diamond.
For Tracking the Light, I thought I’d prepare some practical tips on how to improve your odds of getting photos published.
As a prelude, I wrote these three short fictional episodes. The characters are all completely made-up, and the scenarios are all imagined. However if you read between the lines, you might find useful a hint to the reality of the matter . . .
Episode 1
In the Editorial Offices for Über-Art & Railway Journal, the phone rings:
Editor-in-chief,Hello production office, ÜA&RJ enterprises.
Contributor 1,Yo!You need rail pics? I’ve got tons of rail pics.
Editor,Well, we only do one issue a year, and we’re all set through 2018, but what do you have in mind?
Contributor 1, I’ve got lots of wedgies! Every kind of wedgie you’d ever want from the greater Tri-State area!
Editor, Which states are those?
Contributor 1, What? You don’t know? I thought you guys knew it all! The three Biggies! If you want wedgies from the Biggies, I’m your guy.
Editor, We really haven’t had a lot of call for that sort of thing. Maybe you have some glinting rails at sunset?
Contributor 1, Hell no! Don’t waste pixels on that sort rubbish!
Editor, Ok, well, maybe some abstract architectural images?
Contributor 1, No way. Just Wedgies Mac. Three-Quarter Wedgies. That’s what I’ve got. Only the best.
Editor, Right, right, ok so, maybe some pastoral scenery in the background?
Contributor 1, Nope. I crop that stuff out.
Editor, Hmm, well, I think we’re all set. Lots of photos here already. And did I mention, we’re all set through 2028? Oh my, look at the time! Thank you for calling ÜA&RJ enterprises!
Episode 2
At the Paste-up desk for All-Engines Magazine.
Art Director, We’ve got issues here! Page 67 needs an effin’ picture and alls we got here is words!
Junior Assistant Editorial Intern, I’m on it boss. I’ll get you a picture right a way. What do you want.
Art Director, Don’t be pestering me with trivia Boy! Just get me an effin’ picture, pronto!
Junior Assistant Editorial Intern, On it boss! Not to worry.
Assistant Layout Artist, Try calling that guy that was around last week, he has all kinds of pictures.
One minute later, down the hall, phone wedged in his ear;
Junior Assistant Editorial Intern, Hey Bud, are you the fellow that has all the Engine-pics?
Contributor 2, Um, well I prefer the term Photographs, but yeah.
Junior Assistant Editorial Intern, Great! Well Bud this is your LUCKY day. Here at A-E Magazinewe are looking for your shi . . I mean Photographs. Can you Email me a photo of an engine ASAP. Might use it . . . like on the cover, or something.
Contributor 2, Really? Wow! That’s great! I’ve a shot of an old Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 making lots of steam in front of the Strasburg depot, will that do?
Junior Assistant Editorial Intern, Hold the line Bud, lemme find out . . .
Hand covering phone, the JAEI shouts down the hall, I’ve a got a guy with some-kind of steam engine pic near a station someplace, will that work?
Assistant Layout Artist, See if he has a diesel. Something a bit wedgie-like.
Junior Assistant Editorial Intern, Hey Bud, that steam ain’t gonna cut it, got any diesels?
Contributor 2, Diesels. Oh yes, I’ve got those. A great shot of a Conrail C32-8 bursting out of the State Line . . .
Junior Assistant Editorial Intern, He’s got a Conrail!
Assistant Layout Artist, Get it here, like yesterday!
Junior Assistant Editorial Intern, Hey Bud, that Conrail, that’s what we here at A-E Magazine are looking for. Send that over ASAP! Thanks Bud!
I’m inquiring as your needs and requirements for submission to your publications. I have in my collection a wide range of railway images from across South America, Mongolia, and Iceland, plus a complete photographic roster of every extant railway bridge on the former Cork, Bandon & South Coast. I love your magazine. Last month’s article on the Mallets of Mexico was by far the best treatment on the subject I’ve ever read! Kudos on a job well done. I look forward to hearing from you.
You timing is perfect. We are preparing a story on railway bridges in Cork for our September 2016 issue. Please send a sample of your material as soon as you can. If you have any vertical views of the Chetwynd Viaduct please send them along, we might find space for those. Also, I’ve forwarded your contact details to the editor of our sister magazine, Southern Hemisphere Rails. You may wish to send them a sample of your work at your leisure.
On Wednesday June 10, 2015, my brother Sean and I took a spin on SEPTA’s PCCs that work Route 15 along Girard Avenue in Philadelphia.
SEPTA PCC passes the Philadelphia Zoo. Exposed with a Lumix LX7.Amtrak ACS-64 619 rolls across Girard Avenue on its way toward Philadelphia 30th Street Station. Exposed with a Lumix LX7.SEPTA 15 Trolley near the Philadelphia Zoo. Exposed with a Lumix LX7.Service notice on-board a SEPTA PCC. Exposed with a Lumix LX7.
The cars and stops featured service-notices advising passenger of a scheduled bus replacement due to begin on Sunday June 14 to September 5th.
The reason for this service alteration is necessary track work on approximately two miles of line.
While the cars were running, we made a variety of photographs.
PCC from the PCC. Exposed with a Lumix LX7.Looking west on Girard Avenue in the smoky afternoon light. Exposed with a Lumix LX7.Photo of an eastbound 15 Trolley exposed with Sean’s Canon SX120.
I noticed a gauzy rosy quality to the afternoon light, which I assumed was typical urban pollution. As it turns out there were wildfires burning in Canada and the smoke had spread across the eastern United States. This was especially noticeably in the late afternoon.
View of a PCC from the standee window on a eastbound car. Lumix LX7 Photo.Sean watching the trolleys as we take a corner. Lumix LX7 Photo.Lumix LX7 Photo.At the turning loop near the casino. Lumix LX7 Photo.An outbound PCC catches the smoke-tinted glint. Lumix LX7 Photo.
In Philadelphia you can still buy tokens for a reduced fare on public transport. The regular cash fare is $2.25, but tokens are just $1.80 each, or five for nine dollars.
SEPTA token exposed with a Lumix LX7 on June 11, 2015.
It’s best though, if you don’t lose the tokens before traveling.
How many other American cities still use this quaint system of fare collection?
Sometimes its nice to imply location in a photograph. Here, I was really just interested in making a dramatic image of the equipment. It’s not often you get to experience a modern 4-8-4 roaring at you at 40 mph!
Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera with 18-135mm Fujinon lens set at 116.1mm, f7.1 at 1/500th of a second, ISO 400. The locomotive is eastward near The Plains, Virginia.
Thanks to Pat Yough and Vic Stone for their assistance in finding this location along the Southern Railway.
I was looking for an angle. Actually I saw this view on my first pass through town with Pat Yough on the previous morning.
There were hundreds of folks trackside, dozens up on top of the parking garage, but no one along Grant Avenue in Manassas, Virginia.
Although impressive from every angle, I find that the 611 looks great in profile. Also, I wanted to photograph its train which consisted of several interesting heritage passenger cars.
Vic Stone dropped me on the corner, and I exposed this ordered sequence of images in downtown Manassas using my Fuji X-T1. The exposure was tricky owing to the dark locomotive and the bright morning sky.
Image of 1 of 20.Image 2 of 20. N&W 611’s water car.Image 3 of 20.Image 4 of 20.Image 5 of 20.Image 6 of 20.Image 7 of 20.Image 8 of 20.Image 9 of 20.Image 10 of 20.Image 11 of 20.Image 12 of 20.Image 13 of 20.Image 14 of 20.Image 15 of 20.Image 16 of 20.Image 17 of 20.Image 18 of 20.Image 19 of 20.Image 20 of 20.
While I anticipated the eventual need to adjust the image of 611, these photos were scaled directly from the in-camera Jpgs. I have reversed the order to convey the sense of the train moving forward.
Do you think I should have started this presentation with the tail car?
Rolling along on the old RF&P Amtrak 94 was gradually losing time as heat and slow orders conspire to ensure I get more train ride for my money.
At Washington D.C. I had to opportunity to stretch my legs and exercise my Lumix LX7 while engines were exchanged; 155 for 636.
On board Amtrak 94.Spotting a friend on the platform at Ashland! Hey Vic!Passing Amtrak P42 number 172 on the old RF&P.Train watchers at Fredericksburg.Lorton, Virginia where the Auto Train is loaded.Alexandria, Virginia as seen from Amtrak 94.DC Metro at King Street, Alexandria, Virginia.Private cars at Washington Union Station.Amtrak’s ACS-64 610 at Washington Union Station.
I’m between Richmond and Ashland, Virginia, sorting out hundreds of digital photos exposed over the last few days in Virginia on the way to my next series of destinations.
The great thing about digital photography is the ability to review your results during the trip. The bad thing is the desire to look at your pictures instead of the scenery out the window.
Through the miracle of on-board wi-fi I can post my photos nearly as I make them.
Amtrak 95 June 9, 2015. Exposed with a Lumix LX7.
Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.
This is a new soft cover book that features a wonderful selection of vintage railroad photographs from the Center’s collection.
There’s a nice mix of dramatic action views of locomotives and trains, sunset silhouettes and glint images, human interest, architecture and scenic panoramas.
While my photography isn’t represented, I am listed among the credits for helping with the book. I’ll admit my participation was fairly minimal, but some years ago I helped scan photographs from the Wallace W. Abbey, Perry Frank Johnson and Leo King collections.
Also, back in 2010, I helped with the driving on a road trip with John Gruber to Minneapolis to collect some of the Abbey collection.
It’s nice to get a mention, and I’ve enjoyed looking at the photographs. Thanks to Scott Lothes, Jack Holzhueter, and Jordan Radke for a job well done!
If you have any interest in railway photography, I think you’ll like this book, and you may be surprised by some of the images within! At $19.95 it’s a bargain. Buy two copies and share the joy.
Old GRS upper quadrant semaphore with Type 2A top of mast mechanism on CSXT’s former Monon at South Raub, Indiana. There’s lots more great signaling photos and detailed information in the book! Exposed with a Contax G2 with 28mm Biogon lens on Fujichrome Velvia.
This features semaphores, search lights, position lights, and one of my favorite types of antique signal: the Hall disc.
I’ve dedicate the book to the late Harry Vallas with whom I spent many hours discussing the finer points of railroad signaling.
June 6, 2015; Manassas, Virginia. I had plenty of opportunity to study this famous locomotive and make visual studies of it.
I have an ulterior motive (not that I need one). I’ve been finishing up a book project tentatively titled ‘How a Steam Locomotive Works’ and I needed detailed views of various components.
Exposed with a Fuji X-T1.
What better engine to visually dissect than a freshly restored streamlined 4-8-4!
Yet, my mission was to make more than just close ups and I also photographed the train at speed working the line to Front Royal. More photos soon!
Exposed with a Fuji X-T1 June 6, 2015.Exposed with a Fuji X-T1.
Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.
I’d had a ticket on Amtrak 95 for Main Street in Richmond. However, a call to my old friend Doug Riddell resulted in a change of plan.
I’ve known Doug for more than 20 years, since I was worked at Pentrex Publishing. Now Doug is retired from Amtrak and living near Ashland.
Getting off the train in the middle of the street is an experience. Especially when its raining. Doug and I had lunch at the Trackside Grill, a short walk from the station.
We positioned ourselves along the street near the passenger station to catch Amtrak’s Auto Train, which as I soon learned, still routinely runs with Amtrak’s older 800-Series Genesis diesels.
Amtrak’s Autotrain with a pair of 800-Series Genesis. Fuji X-T1 digital camera.Track speed down the street is limited to 35 mph during the day. Fuji X-T1 digital camera.Fuji X-T1 digital camera.The Auto train is Amtrak’s longest and heaviest run. Fuji X-T1 digital camera.June 4, 2015 at 6:05 pm at Ashland, Virginia. Fuji X-T1 digital camera.Amtrak 125 makes its station stop on Track 3 at Ashland, Virginia. This is one of the relatively new trains destined for Norfolk, Virginia.
The weather wasn’t the best, but there was plenty of action on the old RF&P and it was great to see Doug again.
I boarded at 30th Street Philadelphia a little while ago and just made a station stop at Wilmington, Delaware. This is leg four in my latest journey.
Main waiting room and concourse at Philadelphia 30th Street Station on June 4, 2015. Lumix LX7 photo.Solari board announcing train 95. We departed 8 minutes late. Lumix LX7 photo.Amtrak 95 arriving on track 5 at Philadelphia 30th Street Station on June 4, 2015. Lumix LX7 photo.
Engine 620, one of the new Siemens-built ACS-64 electrics is in the lead.
Today’s destination: Richmond. This weekend my plan is photograph Norfolk & Western locomotive 611. Stay tuned!
June 3, 2015 was a lucky day. I’d traveled to Harrisburg on Amtrak’s Keystone to visit Kurt Bell at the Pennsylvania State Archives to research for a book. I don’t make it Harrisburg very often, and while there are lots of interesting items in the archives, all study and no photography makes Brian dull and edgy. (pardon the referring myself in the 3rd person but it was a necessary allusion.
So afterwards, I wandered around the city, took a look at the Susquehanna River Bridges, then up to explore the view from the bridge over the old Pennsylvania Railroad west of the Amtrak station.
As it happens this is good in both directions. And in the course of just a few minutes I had trains east and then west.
I was surprised by the westward train. ‘What’s this?’ I thought when the locomotives came around the corner by the station shed. ‘That’s not an ordinary Norfolk Southern locomotive.’ Hardly.
A westward Norfolk Southern autorack train 15J passes the Harrisburg passenger station. Exposed with my Fuji X-T1.
Savanna & Atlantic heritage locomotive passes the restored Harris Tower. Exposed with my Fuji X-T1.I was blessed in my fortuitous timing. XT-1 close up view.
My good fortune! It was locomotive 1065 painted for Southern Railway affiliate Savanna & Atlanta. Hooray! Well, that makes up last week’s trip to the Hoosac Tunnel
I’m glad I didn’t waste too much time looking at the Susquehanna, I might have missed this! After the train went by, I rang my friend Paul Goewey in Massachusetts to check the internet to find out what train I’d seen. (My scanner was in Philadelphia, good place for it, right?) Later he got back to me with the details: symbol freight 15J.
Since I began Tracking the Light in July 2012, I’ve composed and posted 1,000 individual posts! Check out the Tracking the Light Archives.
Presently, (8:52 am on June 3, 2015) I’m at 30th Street Station, Philadelphia waiting for Amtrak’s Keystone to Harrisburg.
Below are a few photos exposed within the last hour with my Lumix LX7.
Parkside Avenue Philadelphia near the site of the fame Centennial Exposition in 1876.SEPTA Silverliner V Philadelphia on June 3, 2015. Lumix LX7 photo.SEPTA AEM7 2303 with push-pull set in Philadelphia on June 3, 2015. Lumix LX7 photo.SEPTA’s 38 bus, which is how I reached Center City, Philadelphia today. Lumix LX photo.CSX intermodal train glides along the Schuylkill River on the old Baltimore & Ohio. No Royal Blue today. Lumix LX7 photo.
May 24, 2015, fellow photographer Tim Doherty and I aimed to intercept Amtrak 57, the southward Vermonter at Bellows Falls. Vermont. (Is there another?).
Exposed with a Fuji X-T1.
It’d been a few years since I last visited this classic railroad junction. My first visits were back in the late 1960s early 1970s, when my family would come up to experience the old Steamtown.
I was impressed to find the old three-head searchlight signal still in operation by the station. These relics are disappearing fast. I feature the searchlight among other vintage signal hardware in my new book Classic Railroad Signals now available from Voyageur Press.
Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera.Amtrak station, where? Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera.Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera.Searchlight signals were once common but are rapidly being replaced.Amtrak 57 makes its station stop at Bellows Falls. Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera.
Too often travelers today tire themselves by focusing on reaching their destination. My intention is to make getting there part of my trip and not just some necessary endurance to get where I’m going.
Newark, New Jersey’s never looked so good. I blinked and I thought I was near the Port of Rotterdam! Lumix LX7 photo June 2, 2015.
This means: Stopping off. Taking a break. Changing direction. Changing modes. Having a proper lunch. Going for a side trip. And then, eventually getting back on track.
I’m planning to intercept Norfolk & Western 611, by the way.
Mixed in with my regular Tracking the Light posts, I plan to have these ‘Special Extra Posts.’
Presently I’m near the heart of the old Pennsylvania Railroad.
Amtrak train 93 pauses on track 5 at Philadelphia 30th Street Station. LX7 photo June 2, 2015.That ad! I’m thinking: K4s Pacific, Chinese Wall, Big Shed, Gothic head house and a bit of a nasty ol’ grade—but think the oil company has other ideas. LX7 photo June 2, 2015.Amtrak number 93 at the top of the Solari Board. By the way: it was two minutes ahead of the advertised. LX7 photo June 2, 2015.Classic terminal station. LX7 photo June 2, 2015.Streetcar in the rain! SEPTA’s number 10 crosses Market Street. LX7 photo June 2, 2015.
A little while ago, I changed from Amtrak 493 to Amtrak 93. In the the ten minute interval, a Metro-North train arrived from Grand Central and Amtrak Acela (train 2154) made its station stop at the adjacent platform.
The good news, Amtrak 93 is very well patronized, with at least 40 passengers transferring from the shuttle. The bad news, I’m wedged into train 93 which was already pretty crowded. Yet it beats driving on I-95! (And is cheaper too).
Amtrak engine 111 with train 493 from Springfield. Lumix LX7 photo.Amtrak logo on P42 111.Metro-North M8. Lumix LX7 photo.Amtrak 2154 arrives at New Haven. Lumix LX7 photo.Trailing power car on 2154. Lumix LX7 photo.Acela service 2154 with trailing power car 2032, and a Shore Line East engine in the distance. Lumix LX7 photo.Amtrak Acela 2154 departs New Haven for Boston. Lumix LX7 photo.Amtrak AEM-7 923 (looking a bit worse for the wear, but still working!) leads train 93 at New Haven. Lumix LX7 photo.Tracking the Light on Tracking the Light. Like a view between two mirrors . . .sort of. Lumix LX7 photo.
It’s a nicer day to be on the train. A few minutes ago I boarded Amtrak train 493 (Springfield-New Haven shuttle connection to train 93).
Amtrak sign at Windsor Locks. The ‘station’ is just a short platform with a shelter.Tight view of Amtrak P42 number 111 leading train 493 as it approaches Windsor Locks, just before 11 am today.Passengers boarding. Three got on here, including myself. Another 5-6 passengers boarded at Windsor, and a good few at Hartford.Old school Amfleet; rock solid and comfortable, but the windows are kind of small. Standard Amtrak equipment.
I exposed these photos with my Lumix LX7, scaled them on-board the train using my MacBook and uploaded them on Amtrak’s free WiFi.
As I write this the train is approaching Berlin, Connecticut.
MBTA’s Beacon Street line to Cleveland Circle is a classic median running trolley route. Coolidge Corner is situated on a gradient and a gentle curve with a traditional traction shelter and lots of trees that help make it a cool place to photograph.
On our whirlwind tour of Boston transit a few weeks ago, Pat Yough and I spent a little while making photos here. The streetcars pass often, so in a relatively short period of time we were able to make a variety of angles.
An outbound MBTA Green Line train on the Beacon Street line near Coolidge Corner. Lumix LX7 photo.Coolidge Corner. Lumix LX7 photo.
This is one of the Green Line routes and some of the cars are in the 1970s-era green and white livery, while others are in a more modern teal and silver. I find the older livery photographs better.
Personally, I preferred the days when the PCC’s ruled this route, but those days are long gone. It’s still an interesting place to experiment with different camera-lens combinations.
Using my Lumix LX7 I made this very low-angle view of an outbound streetcar. The Lumix LX7 offers great depth of field, which allows for photos like this. I like the blade of grass at the far lower right.Vertical view of an outbound car exposed with my Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-135mm lens.The classic transit shelter provides added interest and a bit of historical context. This isn’t a modern light rail line, but rather a traditional trolley route operating modern cars. Fujifilm X-T1 photo.
Good luck, bad luck; it’s all relative. Over the years I’ve made many visits to the Hoosac Tunnel. I recall a visit with my father in the mid-1970s, back when the way to East Portal was a dusty dirt road. We waited patiently for several hours, and eventually gave up.
The other day, a fellow photographer Tim Doherty and I drove up to the tunnel on spec, but with the anticipation of catching an eastward train. The rumor-mill had circulated reports that Norfolk Southern’s New York Central heritage locomotive was leading an eastbound.
We arrived at the tunnel, investigated a few angles, and were about to leave again, when the signals lit up: green-over-red-over-red.
The signals lit green-over-red-over-red: clear. A train was lined east, and very close. No time to waste.
As many of you know, I’ve authored a book on signals, and I know a little bit about the subject. The aspect displayed was clear, and since this was on the home signal for a siding, that means it was lined by Pan Am’s dispatcher in North Billerica. More to the point, the signal was dark when we arrived, and I know from previous experience that the signals here are approach lit.
The circuit for the signal at East Portal is relatively short. This meant we only a had couple of minutes to set up. Failing to recognize this could have cost us the desired photograph.
I needed some time to get ready: Exposure was problematic. There was a patch of sunlight immediately in front of the inky black of the tunnel portal, while part of the stone facing was also lit. Complicating matters, either condensation or exhaust was emanating from the tunnel portal causing a gauzy ill-defined patch at precisely the location where the locomotive would exit.
A bit of mist or exhaust was exiting the tunnel portal. This would complicate my exposure.
After a minute or two: a dull roar, followed by the gleam of the headlights, and soon the grade crossing bells were ringing. I set my camera manually, but I was cautious not to underexpose too severely, as a black locomotive against the blackness of the tunnel could be difficult to rescue in post processing.
When the locomotive exited, the combination of the ditch lights, headlight and white ‘raccoon stripes’ made for a slightly brighter front end than I anticipated. But I only had a few instants to make my photographs and if I wasted time trying to refine the exposure, the moment would be lost.
I exposed a burst of images with my Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera, knowing at the time the exposure was too bright. I then popped of a couple of color slides with my Canon EOS-3 with 100mm telephoto. I think my slides were closer to the mark (regarding exposure) than the digital images.
Notice the gauzy haze which make the headlights seem a bit fuzzy.As Pan Am Southern train 14T emerged from the east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel, I exposed a burst of digital images. At the time of exposure, I knew I was over-exposing the image, but I’d rather risk slight over exposure in this situation, than allow a black locomotive to sink into the shadows of the tunnel.This image was made a moment or two after the first. Some nominal adjustments for exposure in post processing compensated for my slight over exposure on site. The lesson: always expose using RAW because this captures more information.
After the fact, I worked with the Camera RAW file to balance the exposure; and so my end result is pretty good. I’ll be curious to see the slides when they return from the lab.
Our bad luck? The night before, the locomotives for this train had been swapped out at Binghamton, NY, and so we caught a fairly ordinary Norfolk Southern Evolution-Series GE diesel instead of the one-of-a-kind New York Central-painted heritage locomotive.
Oh well: total elapsed time at Hoosac Tunnel, less than 15 minutes! So, I’m not complaining.
I’d learned via Facebook that it was Railroad Illustrated’s annual ‘Day in North America.’ The day dawned cloudless and bright, and while I had a full schedule of events for the day, I opted to make the most of the first part of the morning.
I’d stopped into Palmer, where I’d found a couple of New England Central locomotives in the yard. Then opted to travel up the Quaboag River Valley.
This landed me at my familiar spot in the old Warren, Massachusetts yard. My knowledge goes back a good long time. While there’s not been a switch in the Warren ‘yard’ in my lifetime, although I can recall when the line was double track, and the old Warren Crossovers were around the corner to the east.
Way back in the day (and that day was more than 60 years ago) Warren was served by a local freight. Go back even further and there was really quite the complex of tracks at Warren.
Now a carwash occupies part of the property. Yet the old passenger and freight stations survive, and someone has put some effort into fixing up the windows in the passenger station.
I contemplated all of these things while patiently waiting for a wheel to turn.
Then the phone rang . . .
Doug Moore, a loyal Tracking the Light reader (and sometimes proofreader and fact checker) said to me, “there’s an eastbound piggyback train through West Warren, it should be to you shortly! I’d seen your car parked there by the station.”
Hooray for good information! (Thanks Doug).
Without a moment to waste, I sprung into action, made my test photos, when the train roared into view, I exposed these photos with my Fuji X-T1 (and also a super-wideangle view on Provia with my EOS 3).
An eastward CSX intermodal train, probably Q012, approaches Warren. Exposed with a Fujifilm XT1 digital camera.A closer, more traditional view from the same location. Exposed with a Fujifilm XT1 digital camera.
The Boston & Albany yard may be gone, but the mainline lives on.
Some of my earliest memories of the Green Line and the Boston Museum of Science
Much has changed since the days when I used to stare in wonder at Boston & Maine 3713 on display out front of the museum while trains of 2-3 old PCCs hummed along the elevated structure across the street.
In mid-May 2015, Pat Yough and I went for a Green Line spin to Lechmere and back, stopping over at the Science Park station for a few photographs.
Boston’s Museum of Science is on the left. Exposed digitally with a Fujifilm X-T1 with Fujinon 18-135mm lensIn-bound Green Line train near the Science Park station. Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera. 18-135mm lens.Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera with Pat Yough’s 32mm Carl Zeiss lens with Fuji X-mount. Sharp!Roughly the same angle of an outbound Green Line train exposed with my Lumix LX7 with offers a wider view than the 32mm Zeiss lens.
The steel-girder elevated that once extended toward North Station was replaced years ago by a new tunnel with a steep ramp up to the concrete-faced elevated that still passes the museum.
Lechmere looks much the way that I remember it.
Some places never seem to change . . . and then one day all of sudden they are unrecognizable . That day may be soon approaching. Afterward memories fill the gap where photographs leave off.
LX7 photo at Lechmere.Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera fitted with a 32mm Carl Zeiss lens with Fuji X-mount.
Now, is this a fair comparison? Pat Yough lent me his Carl Zeiss Touit f1.8 32mm lens to test on my Fuji X-T1. So I made two similar photographs at the same spot of successive MBTA PCCs at Cedar Grove (first stop west of Ashmont).
A more conventional comparison would have taken a more scientific approach by perhaps mounting the camera on a tripod and photographing a static subject with constant light.
And that would be a good test, its true. But that’s not what I was going to do.
Lens in hand (or more precisely, attached to my Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera), I wanted to see what the lens could do as a working tool. How does it handle? How quickly does it focus? What is the color like? Does it seem sharp?
I was comparing it against my ‘catch all’ Fujinon Super EBC XF 18-135mm zoom. At the moment this is the only lens I have for my Fuji X-T1 and I’ve been using it for just about all the photos I’ve made with the camera.
First I used my Fujinon lens of PCC 3262; then 8-minutes later the Zeiss of PCC 3260.
Exposed using my Fujifilm XT-1 with the Fujinon 18-135mm zoom lens set at 25mm. Exposure f5.6 at 1/500th of a second. ISO 800.This is the view with the same camera, but using testing Pat Yough’s Carl Zeiss Touit 32mm lens (with Fuji X-mount). Exposure f3.5 at 1/500th of a second. ISO 250 (Notice that was was able to use a much lower ISO with the Zeiss lens, which in theory allows for better image quality, although at this small size, it would impossible to tell.)
While the 18-135mm is a great lens, it has two drawbacks. It’s bulky and relatively slow (f3.5 –f5.6 depending on the focal length). The Zeiss lens by contrast is lightweight and very fast.
But the really important point of this exercise is the end photos. Which is better overall?
The Fujinon image was made with a slightly wider focal length. Well that’s the advantage of a zoom-lens, right, the ability to adjust the focal length on the spot.
However, one of the unspoken advantages of a prime lens (a fixed focal length lens, such as this Zeiss 32mm) is that it forces the photographer to work within the limits of the given angle of view. Sometimes this makes the photographer (me) work a little harder when composing the photograph.
I found the Zeiss to be fast-focusing, very sharp and it provides excellent clean color. On the downside, the field of view is slightly narrower than I like.
Using the Zeiss 32mm on the Fuji camera reminds me a lot of my old 50mm Leica Summicron (which owing to my use of it with a traditional 35mm-film Leica M, provided nearly the same field of view as does the Zeiss on my X-T1.). The 50mm Summicron always seemed a bit too narrow, but the results I got from the lens have really stood the test of time.
I phoned Julie—Amtrak’s automated agent, as you do when you’d like to know if a train is running on time. Amtrak 448, the Lake Shore Limited was a little more than an hour late leaving Springfield.
Dennis LeBeau, Wolfie the dog, and I waited at the bridge in East Brookfield, Massachusetts east of CP64. I said, “448 left Springfield 40 minutes ago. It’s about 25 minutes to Palmer, so it ought to be between Warren and Brookfield by now. We should be seeing a headlight in a couple of minutes.
Brookfield is milepost 66 on the old Boston & Albany. There hasn’t been a station there in my lifetime. East Brookfield is at the east end of long tangent, which provides lots of warning for eastward trains.
Dennis looked west, “There’s your headlight, just like you said.”
I wandered back and forth on the bridge trying to find the most suitable angle. Ultimately I settled on this spot to the north of the mainline. All things being equal, I wish I’d brought my Fuji X-T1; this would have made a nice 135mm view to bring in the green trees and track-ladder in the distance.
Exposed with my Lumix LX7 at f1.7 1/800th of a second, ISO 200 at 7:16pm on May 20, 2015.
Engine 48 was leading train 448 at CP 64. Got all that? Great! Too often, I have to explain the fundamental difference between an engine number and train number.
To the uninitiated this seems like a trivial difference. But to those in railroad operations it could be life or death.
Really it’s a question of hardware versus software. The locomotive is the hardware, the train is a service. Today engine 48 leads 448, but tomorrow it will lead another train with another number. On the timetable, everyday train 48 and train 448 are combined as one between Chicago and Albany. And there’s the confusing coincidence. Train 48 and locomotive 48 are different; one being a service, and the other an engine.
