In March, Kris and I stopped by the Middletown & Hummelstown railroad yard in its namesake town.
My last visit here was in 2009.
I made a few photos of M&H’s rare diesel locomotives, which includes an Alco S-6 switcher, an Alco T-6 switcher (that was one of last diesels built by Alco before it exited the domestic locomotive market) and a GE 65-ton center cab.
While I exposed a handful of black & white photos on film, I also made these digital images with my Nikon Z6.
Middletown & Hummelstown Alco S-6 diesel switcher is painted for Western Maryland, the locomotive’s original owner.
Yesterday, April 12, 2022, Conway Scenic operated a loaded ballast train on the former Maine Central Mountain Division.
Leading the train was former Maine Central GP38 255 acquired by CSRR last October.
I arranged to be in position at the west end of the Frankenstein Bridge to catch the up-hill move, and exposed this sequence of digital photographs using my Nikon Z6 mirror-less camera with 24-70mm Z-series zoom.
Although overcast, the lighting was well suited to a red locomotive with black ballast cars.
My old Lumix LX3 had the ability to save a handful of photos in the camera’s built in memory (without an SD card).
This was a great benefit, especially in those moments where suddenly I realized that, “Oh Sh!#! I left the SD card on my desk!”
Not a problem, the camera would store the image internally for downloading later.
On 11 April 2012, I had one of those unforgettable “Oh Sh!#!” moments when I’d spotted a colorfully painted LUAS tram on Abbey Street in Dublin and when I went to photograph it the camera advised me I was saving to the internal memory.
Phew!
That was ten years, and three Lumixes ago.
However, not only did the camera save the photo, but it was able to save both as a JPG and as RAW. And this was lucky, because a pesky afternoon cloud had just drifted in front of the sun, so my photo was very constrasty and slightly underexposed. Working with Lightroom I was able to lighten the original photo, correct the color temperature, and level the image.
My scaled but otherwise un-adjusted Lumix LX3 RAW photo.This image was created by working with the RAW file in Adobe Lightroom to bring up detail in shadow areas, correct the color balance and level, and lighten the overall exposure while retaining desired color saturation.
No hope with getting that kind of double save if you forgot to put film in camera! (Been there, done that!).
In two weeks time, I hope to be making use of my latest Lumix on the streets of Dublin!
This was among the many slides that I scanned yesterday.
In my ongoing effort to scan, archive, and organize my slide collection, I’ve been scanning slides, and reorganizing the original chromes so that they are placed together by similar subject.
Conrail is just one of dozens of my subject categories . Ultimately, I hope to subdivide the Conrail slides in to smaller categories largely based on precursor railroad routes.
This Kodachrome 25 image of a westward Conrail unit coal train was exposed in September 1988 at School Road in Batavia, New York, near milepost 399 on the former New York Central ‘Water Level Route’ main line using my old Leica M2 with 50mm f2.0 Summicron lens.
It is one of hundreds of Conrail photos I exposed between 1985 and 1999 of Conrail trains working the old Water Level Route.
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg is among America’s finest railway museums. Not only does the museum have one of the best collections of significant locomotives, rolling stock and artifacts, but their indoor display offers superb interpretation in a railroad themed environment.
During our visit on St. Patrick’s Day, I made these photos using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm Z-series lens.
Adobe Lightroom is an excellent tool for processing museum photos because it easily enables lightening of shadow, controlling highlights and contrast, while adjusting color temperature and color balance. This allows for significantly more pleasing images.
Statue of Pennsylvania Railroad’s Alexander Cassatt.Pennsylvania Railroad baggage car.Kris poses in front of Pennsylvania Railroad class D16sb 4-4-0. In 1981, I traveled behind this antique on the Strasburg Rail Road.Pennsylvania Railroad 5901, the only surviving Electro-Motive Division E7A.Detail of a statue of Baldwin Locomotive Works founder, Matthias Baldwin (1795-1866).Pennsylvania Railroad class B1 electric 5690.On January 1, 1980, I photographed this former PRR GG1 electric at New Haven, Connecticut. Today, it is one many locomotives displayed at the railroad museum of Pennsylvania.This Union Switch & Signal color light once authorized train movements on the Reading Company.
I wrote about Pennsylvania Railroad’s Rockville Bridge in my book Railway Masterpieces published in 2002.
“The third bridge at Rockville was started in 1900, and opened to traffic in 1902. It is listed in the Guinness Book of Rail Facts and Figures, as ‘the world’s largest stone arch railway bridge over a river’. It consists of 48 stone arch spans.”
Last month Kris and I paid a visit to the Rockville Bridge. As we approached this magnificent viaduct a westward Norfolk Southern freight was crawling across, yet we had arrived too late to catch the head end of the train on the bridge.
We decided to wait a little while to see if another freight would come along.
Finally after about 45 minutes, I could hear a GE diesel chugging away on the far side of the Susquehanna. As the train started across the bridge, the evening sun emerged from the clouds, producing some very fine light to photograph the train.
I exposed these photos with my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens firmly mounted on my mid-1990s vintage Bogen tripod.
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens set at 170mm, f5.0 1/500th of a second, ISO 200.Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens set at 76mm, f5.0 1/500th of a second, ISO 200.
Englarge section of the main photos to demonstrate relative sharpness.
As a follow up to Saturday’s post, I am posting this sunny morning photo of Conway Scenic Railroad’s GP35 216 the I exposed using the Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera fitted with a vintage manual-focus Nikkor f2.5 105mm lens.
Here I’ve opened the aperture to its widest setting and manually focused on the front of the locomotive.
To demonstrate the exceptional sharpness of this lens with the digital camera I’ve also included a much enlarged portion of the image focused on the number boards.
This telephoto view with shallow focus helps set off the front of the locomotive from the rest of the scene which adds both drama and intrigue.
Among the features of the Nikon Z6 kit that I bought in 2020 is an adapter to fit older Nikon lenses directly to this modern digital body.
Although I briefly experimented with this adapter when the camera was new, by in large, I’ve made my photos using Nikon Z-series zoom lens specifically designed for the camera.
The other day on a whim, I decided to fit my old Nikkor F2.5 AI 105mm to the Z6 and make some photos of the chickens in the back yard and of Boomer the dog. I was amazed at the exceptional sharpness of this lens when used wide open (f2.5). This allows for razor sharp selective focus.
Selective focus on Joy-the-Rooster Chicken (center).
Since the lens is fully manual, I had to set aperture and focus the old fashioned way (with some help from a focusing aid in the camera).
My success with 105mm making the chicken and dog photos led me to take a few images with this lens around the North Conway, NH railroad yard where I work. During the last week the lads have been cleaning the trains in preparation for Conway Scenic Railroad’s Spring operating season and they made for good subjects to test the selective focus technique.
On this day three years ago, photographer Denis McCabe and I wandered the narrow streets of Lisbon, Portugal.
I used my Fuji XT1 to make this portrait oriented view of a classic tram navigating a steep narrow street.
Iridient software does a more effective job of interpreting the data from the Fuji camera RAW files than Lightroom.
Last night I imported the Fuji camera RAW file into Iridient for conversion to DNG format and then imported the DNG file into Adobe Lightroom for minor adjustments tothe color, constrast and exposure in order to make the most of the camera sensor.
On Monday, March 28, 2022, Conway Scenic began the process of clearing the former Maine Central over Crawford Notch.
Last year, the railroad reached the summit on March 31st, which was something of a early record for Conway Scenic. In a normal year, the line might remain closed through April.
Former Maine Central 255, a GP38 acquired from the Vermont Rail System late last year, was chosen to make the clearing run West.
Where last year I traveled on engine 573, this year I pursued the first train on the road, and departed about two hours after it left the North Conway yard.
The crew on first movement over the line west of Attitash (the limits of Snow Train operation) expects to find obstructions. During the winter fallen trees, rocks and ice accumulation routinely block the line.
I knew Extra 255 was west of Bartlett, so at various places beyond Bartlett, I inspected the track. Near the Arethusa Falls grade crossing, I contacted the engine crew via train radio to find their location.
They had made it as far as the rock cutting west of the Frankenstein Bridge, where the engine was blocked by a significant ice fall.
I hiked up to the bridge and made photos of the engine returning east.
One of the privileges of working for Conway Scenic is the ability to request a lift back down hill. The brief engine ride saved me another half mile hike in freezing temperatures. When I got back to my car it was just 23F.
This was the first rail movement across Frankenstein of 2022.
In the 1960s my father, Richard Jay Solomon, made numerous photos of Reading Company’s famous Iron Horse Rambles. This included countless photos of Reading T-1 2102.
As I’ve previously recalled on Tracking the Light and in the pages of Trains Magazine, these photos were, in part, my inspiration for the HO-scale Reading Company that I’ve been building in my Finacé’s basement.
Early in the planning for the railroad Kris and I bought an HO model of 2102, and in February last year (2021), I ran one of my father’s famous photos of this engine, a picture that I featued in my book Locomotive, 20 years earlier (see below).
A week ago Friday (March 18, 2022), Kris & I visited Reading & Northern’s Port Clinton, PA offices and obtained permission to visit the 2102 and make photos. This was a privilege and a real thrill. It was the first time I’d seen this engine up close.
Later this year R&N plans to have this magnificent machine operating in excursion service on their railroad.
My father’s image of 2102 on an Iron Horse Ramble in the 1960s.My HO scale recreation of 2102 seen at speed on our interpretation of the Reading Company.My recent digital photography of Reading & Northern’s former Reading Company 2102 at Port Clinton, PA.
Tracking the Light Post Daily!
In the 1960s my father, Richard Jay Solomon, made numerous photos of Reading Company’s famous Iron Horse Rambles. This included countless photos of Reading T-1 2102.
A week ago (March 18, 2022), Kris and I called into the Reading & Northern at Port Clinton, Pennsylvania.
We obtained permission to be on the property and make photos.
Although, I had visions of seeing something older, grander, and of greater personal interest, I was impressed by the vintage EMD diesels sitting outside the company offices.
Reading & Northern 2000 was a classic SD38, a 2,000 hp six-motor EMD, built for the Penn Central in 1970, and later served Conrail.
Where the GP38 was a common type (as were the GP40 and SD40 models), the SD38 was unusual—a real rare bird with just 63 built.
I’ve only photographed a scant few SD38s in all my years wandering North American rails, including those operated by Conrail, the US Steel roads: Bessemer & Lake Erie, Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range, and Elgin, Joliet & Eastern; and at least one Grand Trunk Western unit, that back in 1986 showed up on Central Vermont in Palmer, Massachusetts leading a cable laying train.
So here we find this rare diesel, ripe for a few photos: I made this photo with my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm Z-series lens. But, I also exposed a frame or two of HP5 using an antique Nikon F3 with 50mm lens.
Soon we were on the verge of finding something rarer, cooler, and the reason for our visit . . . stay tuned!
A week ago (March 17, 2022), Kris and I visited the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg, where we saw a variety of finely preserved locomotives and rolling stock.
Among the most interesting and unusual pieces on display was Reading Company 800, a perfect example of an overhead electric multiple unit car that once operated on suburban lines in the Philadelphia area.
Of the thousands of locomotives and railcars preserved across the United States, there are relatively few electric multiple units in their as-built condition, which is what makes this display so unusual.
I got a kick out of seeing this car again because it is a Reading Company car and thus relates to our model railroad enterprise in Kris’s basement (although we don’t delve into electrified territory on the wee pike.)
During our tour of the East Broad Top Railroad last week (March 2022), I made a variety of atmospheric interpretive images inside the old shop buildings at Orbisonia, Pennsylvania.
The railroad has done an amazing job of shoring up these 19th century structures, while retaining their rustic character.
I last visited these shops in 1997! A quarter century ago.
These photos were exposed with my Nikon Z6 digital camera.
Last week on our visit to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Kris and I called into the gift shop where we discovered that my latest book, How Steam Locomotives Work, is now on sale!
It was a great thrill to see my new book in person.
My late friend Jim Shaughnessy exposed the cover photo.
Strasburg Rail Road’s former Canadian National Railway 2-6-0 made for a stunning silhouette against a late winter sky.
Gauging the exposure for these contrasty scenes requires a bit of interpretation.
Since the locomotive is black, I allow it to fall into the shadows, and instead concentrate on retaining detail in the highlight areas of the sky.
This is most effectively accomplished by making test images and studying the histogram that shows pixel distribution across the exposure range. With this tool I aim to avoid excessive over exposure in the highlight areas.
Then in post processing, I work with Lightroom to re-balanace the image by lightening shadow areas and controlling highlight detail.
Below are three examples providing variation on a theme.
Strasburg Rail Road’s evening Wine & Cheese train made for a stunning sunset subject as it climbed the hill toward Esbenshade Road last Saturday evening (March 12, 2022).
Drifting snow had filled the cuttings, which bitterly cold temperatures made for ice crystals in the evening sky that made for colorful lighting effects as the sun reached the horizon.
I braved a steady frosty wind to made these photos with my Nikon Z6 fitted with 70-200mm zoom. These images were edited from the camera NEF (RAW) files using Adobe Lightroom.
On the last weekend of Snow Train, I traveled on the headend of the first Saturday departure with engineer Wayne Duffett.
When we arrived at Attitash, New Hampshire, which is the western terminus of Snow Train, I hopped off Conway Scenic’s GP38 255.
Since Conway Scenic doesn’t normally run west of Attitash until much later in the season, the line was still covered with snow beyond the limits of the railroad’s excursion operation.
I used the opportunity to show the train with the Attitash ski area in the distance to the right.
Exposed Digitally using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm Nikkor lens.
On a visit to Prague, Czech Republic in October 2016, I bought several rolls of locally produced Fomapan black & white film.
At a suburban station to the east of the city center, I made this view of an old four-wheel freight wagon parked on a siding and consumed by the local vegetation.
This photo is a scaled Jpg from the original scanned negative. I made no adjustment to the scanned file in regards to contrast, exposure or sharpness.
Fomapan 100 black & white film exposed with a Nikon F3 camera.
In several recent Tracking the Light posts, I displayed photos of Dublin’s LUAS trams crossing the 1820’s era cast iron River Liffey span.
In this March 11, 2014 Lumix LX3 photo, the bridge, rather than the tram crossing it, was the emphasis my photography.
My old LX3 was a wonderful and convenient tool for making urban images. Although more difficult to use, looking back I think it produced better compositions than its LX7 successor. That said, I’m on my 3rd Lumix LX7!
This view is a scaled, but otherwise unaltered version of the LX3 Jpg file made 8 years ago today.
When in Dublin, I’d walk by Irish Rail’s Heuston Station almost daily.
In the evening on 10 March 2014, and again one year later, I captured views of the passing LUAS trams at Heuston.
Where the setting and scenes seem routine, I always try to make a new angle on the subject.
10 March , 2014, tram 3025 glides away from its Heuston Station stop, the 1840s headhouse and offices of the station loom to the left. LX3 photo.Tram 3021 hums over Sean Heuston Bridge on its way to Heuston Station. Exposed using a Fuji XT1 with zoom lens. 10 March 2015.
I visited Stucumni Bridge on the Dublin-Cork line on March 9, 2016 and March 8, 2017.
On both visits I worked with my FujiFilm XT1 to photograph Irish Rail trains on the quad track.
I only noticed the succession of dates when preparing this post. Kris said, ‘That’s really cool, you should include both photos.
I think it’s interesting that I selected a similar focal length and angle for both images.
The1020 down Heuston Station to Portlaoise train passes Stacumni Bridge on March 9, 2016.Irish Rail’s UP IWT Liner with Container Pocket Wagons on March 8, 2017.
I was visiting Delaware & Hudson’s Colonie (NY) Shops in June 1989 where I found this old Penn Central E8A.
It appeared to be long out of service and was stored with a variety of other locomotives behind the old backshop.
I made the photo using my Leica M2 on Kodachrome 25 film.
What was the story with this rather tired looking EMD diesel? I wonder why it was at the D&H shops, and what ultimately became of it. Today E8As are very rare. They weren’t exactly common in 1989 either!
By the time of this photograph, Penn Central was 13 years gone.
The other day, I exposed this sequence of digital photos while traveling on Conway Scenic’s Snow Train along New Hampshire’s Saco River on the former Maine Central Mountain Division near milepost 64.
Snow Train has only three more days of scheduled operations before it concludes its 2022 season, and I’ve been trying to make the most of the frozen landscapes before the train finishes.
Photos exposed on March 2, 2022 using a Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens.
On March 2, 2015, I walked across the Sean Heuston Bridge (formerly Kingsbridge) toward Heuston Station.
I’ve crossed this 19th century cast iron span over the Liffey perhaps a 1000 times (maybe more) during the many years I spent photographing Dublin.
LUAS tram 3019 decorated to advertise Sky Fibre (cable television) was working westbound toward its station stop at Heuston when I made a snapshot with my old Lumix LX7. The Guinness Brewery at St. James Gate looms to the left.
This is the camera JPG, scaled for internet presentation without modifcation to color balance, color temperature, contrast or sharpness.
Ten years ago today (February 28, 2012), I made this photo of CSX Q300 on the old Reading Company at West Trenton, New Jersey.
My old Lumix LX3 was a little tricky to use when making action photos of trains. If the camera was in full ‘auto’ mode and I pressed on the shutter release the camera would hesitate for a moment.
The trick was to use the manual setting and then ‘queue-up’ the camera by presssing the shutter release halfway in preparation for making a photo. In this way the camera shutter would release almost instantaneously when pressed the remainder of the way, thus allowing for a composition with full-frame view of a moving train, such as this one.
Sometimes the last photo of the day, is the best photo of the day.
Photographer Pat Yough and I were on our way back from the Philadelphia area on February 26, 2012. We stopped briefly at Raritan, New Jersey along NJ Transit’s former Central Railroad of New Jersey main line.
I made this reflection of an Alstom-built PL42AC with my old Lumix LX3.
This photo is scaled directly from the camera-RAW file using Lightroom.
On the evening of February 25, 2013, I was walking along the wall on the St. Johns Road in Dublin. There’s a low spot where a few stones have been dislodged, and it was here I peered over the wall.
A Cork train was heading down road behind 201-class 219. Working with my old Lumix LX3, I exposed this pan photo.
Irish Rail 219 departs Dublin Heuston Station on February 25, 2013.
The original file was a bit dark, so I lightened the camera-RAW file using Lightroom and scaled it for presentation here.
In May 2000, an Irish Rail train consisting of six 2700-series railcars approaches Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
The 2700s were only about a year old at the time.
Today, Irish Rail’s 2700s are long-stored out-of-service, ticking away the clock until they are sold, scrapped, or maybe, just maybe, returned to traffic. . . .
Exposed on Kodak 120-size Tri-X film.
Tonight, Thursday, February 24, 2022, I’ll be presenting a Zoom slide show on Conway Scenic Railroad to the members of the Irish Railway Record Society.
A few weeks ago I scanned a strip of 120-size Fuji Neopan 100 using my Epson V600 Scanner.
This featured some coming and going views of First Great Western HST in Newport, Wales, UK that I exposed using my Rolleiflex Model T.
One of the features of Epson Scan 2 software is the ability to apply an ‘unsharp mask’ at the time of scanning. Despite its confusing name, the unsharp mask is a digital sharpening tool. The software allows for three degrees of sharpening with the mask, ‘low,’ ‘medium’ and ‘high’.
Normally, I select ‘low,’ which I find makes for a better looking scan.
Another option is to scan without the unsharp mask, and apply sharpening in post processing.
The unsharp mask adds an edge effect that makes the photo appear sharper. It doesn’t actually add detail.
Below are three sequences of images showing the image without unsharp mask; with the ‘low’ unsharp mask, and an image created in post processing by applying sharpening after scanning. Each of the three sequences shows first the full frame scan followed by a greatly enlarged portion to allow for a detailed inspection and comparison. Each is captioned for clarity.
Full-size scan without mask or modification.Detail of the above scan without mask or modification.Full-size scan of scan with the ‘unsharp mask’ applied at the ‘low’ setting at the time of scanning. Detail of the above scan, made with the ‘unsharp mask’ applied at the ‘low’ setting at the time of scanning.Scan made without mask at the time of scanning; sharpening applied manually in post processing.Detail of the above scan; no mask at the time of scanning; sharpening applied manually in post processing.
It is rarely recognized, however on a clear winter day you can see Mount Washington from the platform of the North Conway Station.
Yesterday, I made these photos of the arriving Snow Train as I perched atop a snow mound adjacent to the platform.
I lined up the mountain, station and train using my Nikon Z6 with Z-series 70-200mm zoom.
To soften contrast, I lightened the shadows in post processing, while slighly boosting the color saturation.
I imagine that back in 1874, when the station opened, there was an unobstructed view of Mount Washington. Today, trees, buildings, and wires make for a cluttered scene.
This past Thursday the temperature at North Conway, New Hampshire was 51 F, the highest its been in many weeks. The mountains of snow began to melt. Then Thursday night the rain set in. It poured all night.
By Friday morning (February 18, 2022), puddles covered the yard.
I made these images with my Lumix LX7 of the yard and station facilities saturated with water.
By Friday evening the temperture had dropped in the mid teens. Snow is again on the horizon.
