In August 2011, I accompanied photographer Chris Guss on a night photo adventure on the Kansas City Southern at Ginger Blue, Missouri.
Chris negotiated with an area farmer to set up strobes in an adjacent field. We anticipated a northward freight. After a few test photos, the headlights of the freight announced its approach.
As it rolled by, I made these synchronized strobe illuminated night photo using my Canon EOS-7D using Chris’s lights.
Canon EOS7D with 24mm lens set at ISO 500, f6.3 1/200th second, illuminated with synchronized strobes.
Key to my composition was the classic searchlight signal at upperleft.
April 13, 2019: I traveled on Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s The West Awake rail tour that operated on Irish Rail from Dublin to Claremorris, Ballina and Westport, Co Mayo and featured rare multiple-unit operation of 071 class diesels.
I made these views using a FujiFilm XT1 mirrorless digital camera.
The Fuji’s built-in color profiles provided excellent color and contrast for the soft directional lighting characteristic of the West of Ireland. I made minor adjustments to color and contrast in post processing that effectively tweaked the images for improved appearance here.
Claremorris, Co. Mayo. XT1 with Fujinon 18-135mm lens set at 22mm; ISO 400 f9.0 at 1/250th secondClaremorris, Co. Mayo. XT1 with Fujinon 18-135mm lens set at 79mm; ISO 400 f7.1 at 1/250th secondWestport, Co. Mayo. XT1 with Fujinon 18-135mm lens set at 93mm; ISO 400 f6.4 at 1/125th second.Claremorris, Co. Mayo. XT1 with Fujinon 18-135mm lens set at 93mm; ISO 400 f5.6 at 1/180th second
Work trains are among my favorite subjects. So, yesterday morning when Conway Scenic Railroad’s Extra 1751 departed North Conway’s North Yard, I zipped over to Intervale a few photos and then followed the train west to Glen, New Hampshire.
The train was sent out to collect recently felled trees along the Mountain Division. Thearrangement of a GP9 hauling flatcars and a caboose at the back makes for some throwback images.
While the train was working at Glen, I arranged to make a few views from the caboose.
Later, to help promote Conway Scenic, I posted some of these images to the railroad’s social media where they caught significant notice: Wwithin 12-hours they had reached more than 16,000 viewers.
Photos exposed with a Nikon Z7-II as NEF RAW files then processed with Adobe Lightroom.
On January 25, 1993, I rolled by Southern Pacific Co. Modoc train (symbol ROEUM-Roper to Eugene, Manifest) climbing the grade at the Rt395 highway crossing near Viewland, California, where I exposed this single frame of Kodachrome of the helper as it trailed away into the desert fog.
Union Pacific abandoned this unusual railroad many years ago.
Between 1992 and 1994, I made at least a half dozen trips to the remote Modoc Line to capture freights on the move.
SP Modoc Line near Viewland, California. Exposed on Kodachrome 25 using a Nikon F3T with 35mm PC lens. Exposure about 30 seconds with camera mounted on a Bogen 3021 tripod.
It was the second day of a two-day Irish Railway Record Society diesel tour on Irish Rail.
After the first day, the train had laid over at Killarney where a bunch of us made the most of this famous tourist town.
On that morning, I arrived back at the station in time to catch the tour for its run to Tralee and back to Killarney (before continuing via Mallow, Limerick Junction and Waterford on its circuitous return trip to Dublin). Some of the tour passengers opted to rest a little longer a Killarney and so skipped the excursion to Tralee. Understandable (After all it was a soft day).
Approaching Farranfore on the return run to Killarney, the rain turned to snow. While waiting for the signal to clear, I made this sequence of photos from the vestibule of the train using my FujiFilm XT-1 digital camera.
On this day 13 years ago, a group of my Irish friends and I set up in the Rhein Valley at Boppard-Hirzenach.
Working with a Canon EOS-3 with f2.0 100mm lens, I made these Fujichrome slides featuring the trailing views of passenger trains heading toward Köln, Germany.
In these views overhead electrification, a cluster of buildings nestled into a hillside plus tidy fencing and recycling recepticles make for perfectly Continental views of trains on the move.
A DB Class 120 electric works at the back of an IC passenger train.
Working with my old Leica M2 loaded with Kodachrome 25 slide film, I made this view of an eastward Delaware & Hudson freight led by New York, Susquehanna & Western SD45s crossing Conrail’s impressive Portage Bridge over New York’s Letchworth Gorge.
This was among my favorite mid-Spring morning locations. Winter run off made the Upper Genesee Falls especially impressive, while the sun illuminated the north side of the bridge.
This bridge was erected by the Erie Railroad in 1875, and was considered the first example of a tower supported viaduct, a type that in the late 19th century became a popular type of construction for long and tall bridges.
Norfolk Southern inherited this section of the former Erie from Conrail. The old bridge was in poor condition and had required a 5 mph slow order. NS finally replaced the aged viaduct in 2017 with a modern arched truss.
An eastward Delaware & Hudson freight carrying loads of rock salt eases across the Portage Bridge at 9:25am on April 7, 1989.
For me April 7, 1989 sticks in my mind as a great day to photograph along the old Erie Railroad. This was just one of many images I made that day.
Over the last few months as I’ve continue to organize the tens of thousands of slides that comprise my collection, I been looking for a few specifics.
In January, I paid a visit to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, where Amtrak AEM-7 915 is on display. I made several photos of this classic locomotive.
What I find odd, is that old 915 was nearly brand new when I paid my first visit to the museum back in 1981.
Amtrak AEM-7 915 and Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 number 4800 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. January 2023. Nikon Z7-2 image exposed in January 2023.
This led to a search for 915 when it was in service. Initially, I thought this shouldn’t be too difficult, since I spent a lot of time along the electrified Northeast Corridor during the 1980s and 1990s when the AEM-7s were plentiful and still wore their as-delivered paint scheme.
Yet, as I scoured my countless Amtrak slides, 915 seemed to elude me.
Finally, the other night I found a vintage Kodachrome slide of 915 doubleheaded with its sister 916 on a train at New Haven, Connecticut. I’d made this view from the front of an MTA/CDOT multiple unit.
Amtrak AEM-7s 915 and 916 at New Haven, Connecticut in December 1981. K64 with Leica 3A.Enlarged version of the same slide.
I scanned this slide using a Nikon LS5000 scanner and adjusted the TIF scan using Adobe Lightroom.
Six years ago—5 April 2017—I spent about an hour photographing modern Italian passenger trains at Firenze Santa Maria Novella.
I captured the impressive parade of sleek looking passenger trains using my Lumix LX7 digital camera. This compact and lightweight camera offers versatility and the ability to produce a very high-quality image.
I like the camera because of its exceptionally sharp Leica Vario Summilux zoom lens, and because it simultaneously outputs in both JPG and RAW with a variety of built in color profiles.
While in some situations, I carry the Lumix as a supplemental digital camera. On my 2017 Italian adventure, it served as my primary digital camera. But I also was working with a Nikon F3 SLR to expose black & white negatives and color slides.
It was cascading rain when I made this grab shot of a Comboios de Portugal suburban train arriving at the station in Coimbroes in suburban Porto on 4-4-2014.
Exposed with a Panasonic Lumix LX3 at ISO 200 f2.8 at 1/200th of a second.
On Sunday morning 2 April 2017, I joined the first TGV departure from Brussels Midi to Paris Gare du Nord.
With just a hint of daylight in the sky, I made these photos of the train on the platforms at Midi Station using my Lumix LX7.
By the end of the day, I’d reached Milan, Italy.
Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW image. File adjusted in Lightroom and scaled as a JPG for internet presentation.Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW image at ISO 80, f1.8 1/10th second. File adjusted in Lightroom and scaled as a JPG for internet presentation.Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW 12.28MB file. This original image was adjusted in Lightroom and scaled as a JPG for internet presentation. Exposure details: ISO 80, f1.8 1/6th second.
For today’s April 1st post, I’ve selected photos made on this date in 2011 and 2017.
Both were made of modern passenger trains on the move. The top photo from 2011 was exposed of an Up Irish Rail ICR approaching Memorial Road in Dublin. The lower photo features a Siemens electric railcar on SNCB at Scaarbeek in Brussels, Belgium.
Exposed on 1 April 2011 using a Canon 7D fitted with an Canon EF200mm f2.8 USML lens.Exposed on 1 April 2017 with a Lumix LX7.
On this day four years ago—31 March 2019—Denis McCabe and I visited a busy level crossing on Comboios de Portugal (Portugal’s national railway) double-track main line at Santarem, north of Lisbon.
In just a few minutes, we witnessed a parade of freight and passenger trains.
The crossing was manually operated, and the crossing tender had her work cut out for her. No sooner than one train had cleared, when another approached.
I made these photos with my FujiFilm XT-1 digital camera. Files were exposed as Fuji RAW and adjusted using Adobe Lightroom.
I traveled from Dublin to Brussels, Belgium on 30 March 2017. It was the first day of a grand railway adventure across central Europe during my research for my guide book on European rail travel. On the second to last day of the trip I twisted my ankle in Rome while making a photo a tram passing the Colosseum.
I began my rail journey with a trip on SNCB’s Zaventem Airport train into central Belgium and I made these photos on the platform of Brussels Nord using my first Lumix LX7.
These images are JPG’s created from Lumix RAW files that were adjusted using Lightroom.
Part of my strategy for Conway Scenic Railroad’s Spring ad campaign has included placement of large ads and articles in a variety of magazines.
Bus Tours Magazine is an industry publication for tour operators. This is significant because my introduction to Conway Scenic nearly 25 years ago was with bus/train tour group Great Trains Escapes.
The March/April 2023 issue arrived in my office yesterday which features my short lead in article about the railroad, complete with a photo I made a couple of years ago with my Canon EOS7D with 200mm lens of GP9 1751 leading the Mountaineer at Crawford Notch. On the opposite page is a variation of Conway Scenic’s standard ad for the Mountaineer.
Bus Tours Cover photo by Detroit Princess Riverboat.
Bus Tours Magazine March/April page 4.
Exposed with a FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm Fujinon lens. ISO 200. Fuji RAW image adjusted with Lightroom.
Last night, I interviewed some of my friends at the Berkshire Scenic Railroad via Zoom for an article I’m planning for Trains Magazine.
Among the items on the agenda was a bit of history behind SW8 8619.
Kris and I photographed this historic former New York Central locomotive last May on a trip with the New York Central System Historical Society.
I made this image on Ektachrome slide film with my vintage Nikon F3 during a planned runby at Zylonite, Massachusetts on a vestige of the former Boston & Albany Adams Branch operated on weekends by Berkshire Scenic.
This is one of three former New York Central SW8s that I photographed last Spring!
Exposed on Kodak Ektachrome slide film with a Nikon F3 and 24mm Nikkor Lens—May 2022.
Going back over my digital files, I’ve selected two photos; one from Five Years ago in Northern Ireland; and one from 10 years ago at Islandbridge in Dublin.
This image on 27 March 2018 features an NIR Belfast-bound CAF 4001 series diesel railcar appraching Greenisland. This was exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm zoom lens set to 123mm, ISO 400 .I preserved Irish Rail’s down IWT Liner of 27 March 2013 using my Canon EOS7D fitted with a 28-135mm Canon lens set to 105mm. Camera set to ISO400.
In the early evening on 21 April 2017, photographer Denis McCabe and I were set up along the shore of Lake Geneva at Chillon, Switzerland.
Although I had two digital cameras with me, I opted to make this photograph of an SBB express on Fuji Provia 100F color slide film.
Last night I scanned the slide using a Nikon LS5000 slide scanner for presentation here. I like the full rich color offered by this traditional photograph.
The other day, Conway Scenic Railroad’s Buildings & Grounds crew coated the North Conway, New Hampshire station lobby floor with a glossy polyurethane protective finish. I made a few photos for the company’s social media.
Digital photo exposed with a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
The resulting images reminded me a photo that I made at Washington Union Station back in May 2022. In that image, I preserved Daniel Burnham’s classical architecture using a Zeiss Hologon flat-field super-wideangle lens fitted to my Contax G2 rangefinder.
In both photos I used the same visual technique: to maximize the effect of a reflective floor, I placed the horizon relatively high in the frame, while keeping the camera close to the floor.
Looking out at the mounds of melting snow from my office in the North Tower of Conway Scenic Railroad’s North Conway Station, and surveying a bleak, gray, wet landscape, I couldn’t help but think back to Spring in Dublin.
Twelve years ago, I made this selection of digital photos with my Canon EOS7D. The Canon lenses have a rich soft color to them that suits Spring well.
On 24 March 2011, I was focused on Irish Rail’s freight an permanent-way trains.
Irish Rail 217 leading a down IWT Liner approaching Cherry Orchard in suburban Dublin. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.Trailing view of Irish Rail’s IWT Liner at Cherry Orchard in suburban Dublin. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.Irish Rail 072 leading a permanent way train at Islandbridge Junction.Old four-wheel barytes wagons converted to spoil/ballast service on the move at Islandbridge Junction in Dublin. Afternoon view on 24 March 2011 of Irish Rail’s UP IWT liner crossing the River Liffey at Islandbridge.
Thirty-five years ago today, March 23, 1988, at 8:16am, I exposed this Kodachrome 25 slide of Conrail’s TV-300 roaring east on the former Erie Railroad mainline east of Adrian, New York in the Canisteo River Valley.
I was perched upside a hill with my Leica M2 fitted to a Visoflex with Leitz 200mm Telyt lens mounted on a tripod.
I’d driven down in the early morning from my apartment in Scottsville, New York, having scoped out this spot several weeks before.
I arrived about 10-15 minutes ahead of the train, which I could hear from several miles away; the rolling thunder of the stack wells behind a classic throbbing of EMD diesels.
A little more than a decade later, I returned to this place with photographer Mike Gardner and repeated the exercise with an eastward CP Rail freight. By that time Conrail had reduced the old Erie to single track.
Twenty-Five years ago, I was exploring Irish Rail, and seeing this amazing railway for the first time.
Dublin’s Pearse Station impressed me. The capacious Victorian train shed with a mix of electric and diesel trains reminded me of Philadelphia’s great termini; Broad Street and Reading Terminal.
But also because it was the oldest big city station in continuous use. The station opened in 1834 and although greatly altered over the decades, this had always served as a Dublin hub.
Today, it is rare to find a diesel here, except on permanent-way trains, and more rarely on RPSI diesel tours. Yet, back in 1998, it was a common sight to find a 201-class General Motors diesel-electric working a push-pull Mark3 set in suburban service. The sound of the big GM was amplified under the shed.
Irish Rail 231 at Dublin Pearse Station in 1998. Fujichrome slide scanned with a Nikon LS5000 scanner.
I made this photo on Fujichrome Sensia (100 ISO) using a Nikon F3T with 24mm Nikkor wide-angle lens. Looking at this photo today, it amazes me how few people were on the platform.
Saturday, we stopped in at White River Junction, Vermont where we found resplendent Vermont Rail System GP38-3 number 206 catching the late winter sun.
This classic locomotive began its career as Southern Railway 2741, and originally featured a high short hood. Last year, VRS had it repainted into its red and white livery.
I made this selection of photos using my Lumix LX7.
On Friday, Kris and I stopped by East Deerfield Yard near Greenfield, Mass., where we found a pair of Pan Am Railways’ General Electric DASH8-40Bs (B40-8) switching.
McClelland Farm Road at East Deerfield-the ‘New’ bridge, completed in 2018. Lumix LX7 photo.Lumix LX7 photo of Pan Am Railways 5946 at East Deerfield, Massachusetts.Lumix LX7 photo of Pan Am Railways 5946 at East Deerfield, Massachusetts.
The trailing locomotive was Pan Am 5946, a former CSX unit, and originally New York, Susquehanna & Western number 4034.
I figured I had a photo of this engine in my files, since I photographed many of NYS&W’s GE’s at the time of delivery back in 1988 and 1989.
I found the photo I was seeking. NYS&W 4034 was paired with a Norfolk Southern unit at SK Yard in Buffalo on May 4, 1989, shortly after it was built by General Electric.
Kodachrome 25 slide exposed with a Leica M2 with 90mm f2.8 Elmarit.
Yesterday, Kris and I were driving around South Deerfield, Massachusetts.
I knew Amtrak train 55, the southward Vermonter was getting close, so I used my iPhone to check the ASM.Transitdocs.com App. This is a train locater and revealed that the train had just departed Greenfield. I knew we had about 5 minutes before it passed, so we drove to the grade crossing at Pleasant Avenue in South Deerfield.
Working with my Lumix LX7, I made this view of the train approaching the crossing and framed by some classic rural American mailboxes. I was delighted to discover that the train was led by Amtrak P42 number 100 wearing distinctive navy heritage paint to celebrate 50 years of Amtrak service!
Amtrak train 55 at Pleasant Avenue in Deerfield, Massachusetts.
This file was adapted from the camera RAW image using Adobe Lightroom to correct color balance and adjust highlight and shadow detail.
In preparation for my Keynote speech on the history of New England Railroading to the New England Rail Club last night, I culled through hundreds of representative images.
Ulimately, I displayed 67 slides, including a variety of 19th century views and maps, along with more than a dozen of my own images.
Among the photos that I didn’t display was this photo of an MBTA train taking the crossover on the Boston Line at CP4 near Allston, Massachusetts on October 6, 2011.
My talk was attended by several hundred members of the club and well-received.
On the evening of 15 March 2013, I walked around Dublin making photos of civic structures that had been lit with green-tinted light to celebrate the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day holiday.
To hold my cameras steady, I worked with a mini Gitzo tripod with adjustible ball head.
Dublin’s Heuston Station, lit green for St. Patrick’s Day. Time exposure with a Lumix LX3. Lumix RAW file adjusted using Adobe Lightroom to obtain better color balance and improve shadow detail.The Wellington Testimonial in Dublin’s Phoenix Park had a hint of green light reflecting of its eastern flank. Exposed digitally using a Canon 7D.
A month ago, Kris and I drove by the Seashore Trolley Museum near Kennebunkport, Maine.
I loved this place as a kid. The old railway cars and trolleys fascinated me.
On our most recent visit, I found it stange to find a pair of Boston Blue Line cars on ‘Restoration Row’. It used to be that the cars at Seashore were all ancient relics from a time before I was born.
Lumix LX7 photo; February 2023.Lumix LX7 photo; February 2023.
I applaud the museum’s foresight to have preserved these Blue Line cars for posterity and I hope they obtain the necessary resources to restore them. Maybe some day we’ll go for a spin on them
In 1999, I made a color slide of similar cars at work on Boston’s Blue Line, before I boarded a flight across the Atlantic.
Blue Line cars at the Airport Station in June 1999. Exposed on Fujichrome slide film with a Nikon.
Ten years ago, I made this view with my Lumix LX3 of a LUAS Green Line tram crossing over a boat in Dublin’s Grand Canal.
Last night I imported both the in-camera JPG and the camera RAW files into Adobe Lightroom.
I scaled the in-camera JPG, but made no changes to the appearance of the image.
However, I did implement a series of adjustments to the camera RAW file in order to improve the overall appearance of the photo.
Notice the difference in sky detail and the relative contrast of the canal with the surrounding scene, as well as improved color temperature and color saturation.
Lumix LX3 photo at Charlemont on the Grand Canal, 13 March 2013. Scaled In-camera JPG, no changes to contrast, color, or other visual parameters.Photo created from adjusted Camera RAW file. Note sky detail.Lightroom Work Window showing color adjustments to the Camera RAW file.
Twenty two years ago, photographer Mike Gardner and I made a project of photographing Norfolk Southern coal trains that served the Strawberry Ridge power plant in central Pennsylvania.
On this day, we followed a loaded train from Gallitzin toward Northumberland. It was misty and heavily overcast.
At Tyrone, the train diverged from the Main Line onto the former Pennsylvania Railroad Bald Eagle Branch, a line maintained in part by short line Nitany and Bald Eagle.
Mike and I set up on Washington Street in Tyrone, where the Bald Eagle branch came right up the middle of the street.
I made this photograph on Ilford HP using a Nikon N90S with Tokina 400mm lens. My goal was to accentuate the unusual trackage with a big train.
This would be a neat place to feature on a model railroad.
Bald Eagle Branch at Tyrone, PA, March 2001. Ilford HP5 with Nikon N90S and 400mm lens.
Working with a 1960s era Nikkor f2.8 135mm lens on a Nikon F3T, I made this view of DB passenger trains from beneath the arched trainshed at the Köln Hauptbahnhof (Cologne, Germany).
It was a hot day in August 1998. The camera was loaded with Fuji Sensia 100 color slide film, an emulsion that I found to be well suited to the soft light of German summer. This rendered the colors well, especially DB red, while handling the extreme contrast.
The slide was scanned using a Nikon LS5000 slide scan powered by VueScan 9.7.99 software. Set at: 64 bits per pixel (64 bit RGB), scan resolution 4000 dots per inch, fine mode, color profile ‘white balance’ and output as a TIF file. Minor corrections were implemented in post processing using Lightroom version 5.5.
On March 10, 2015, I was at my old favorite location at ‘the box’ along the St. Johns Road in Dublin looking down at Islandbridge Junction.
I’d been waiting for locomotive 084 to come around leading a permanent way train.
The lighting conditions were perfect. The train came to a stop in front of me. I made a burst of photos with my Fujifilm XT1. And somehow I ended up with substandard images.
In one view, I’d held the camera off-level, in most of the others I’d committed a Phoenix Park Faux Pas by clipping the top of the Wellington Testimonial—that enormous obelisk otherwise known as ‘the monument’.
I don’t always get it right but I thought I’d share this pair of flawed photos as a lesson in paying attention.
The monument appears to be leaning to the right.And here I chopped the top off. Poor Show!
On 18 July 2007, I exposed this Fujichrome slide using a Nikon F3 with a f2.8 180mm Nikkor telephoto of trams crossing the river Danube in Budapest, Hungary.
This was among the photos I included in my photographic exhibition ‘Silver & Steel’ first shown in Palmer, Massachusetts later that year.
On a personal note, my paternal great-grandfather, Eddie, emmigrated to the USA from Budapest in the 1890s.
