Category Archives: photography

photography

Six Years Ago Today—Pan Am OCS.

The short days were making photography a challenge six years ago, when on December 22, 2014, Paul Goewey and I photographed the Pan Am Railways office car train at East Deerfield, Massachusetts.

The light was failing fast, and I upped the ISO on my Canon EOS 7D to 1600 in order to stop the action.

I made this sequence of images from the famous ‘Railfans Bridge’ as the OCS backed beneath us,

My RAW files were a little on the dark side and the contrast was very flat, so I made some adjustments in using Adobe Lightroom to improve the presentation.

The last photo shows the unadjusted file adapted from the camera RAW. Exposure was at f3.5 1/100th of a second, ISO 1600, with my Canon EF100mm prime lens.

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Santa’s Holiday Express at Dusk

Friday evening, December 18, 2020, I made this photos of Conway Scenic’s Santa’s Holiday Express at Conway, NH.

I helped arrange this event, as well as plan the schedule of the train and organize the advertising.

It was nice to get the train in the fading daylight on a frosty December evening.

FujiFIlm XT-1 with 16-55mm lens at 16mm, f3.2 1/2 second at ISO 800.

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Dresden-June 2001.

I visited Dresden, Germany for the first time in June 2001.

The Dresden Neustadt station impressed me with its arched train shed and vintage mechanical semaphores.

Working with my old Rolleiflex Model T, I made this pair of photos on 120-size Fuji Neopan 400 roll film.

I processed the film in Agfa Rodinal Special (not to be confused with Agfa Rodinal) mixed 1-32 for 3 min 45 seconds.

I like the technological contrast between the then modern train (a Siemens Desiro railcar) and the old signals. This contrast is mimicked in the visual contrast of my black & white technique that produces stark dark lines against fluffy afternoon clouds.

120 size negative reversed and adjusted for internet presentation.
Direct scan (without reversal) of the same negative.
Reversed scan with contrast adjustments.
Direct and unmodified scan of the above negative.

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North Conway Snow

Wednesday night and Thursday (December 16 and 17, 2020) snow fell in the White Mountains.

The morning of December 18 dawned clear and bright with a few lingering clouds to temper the light.

December 19, 2020
December 18, 2020
December 18, 2020
December 18, 2020
December 18, 2020

I made these photos at the North Conway yard where I work for Conway Scenic Railroad.

All were exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 and processed in Adobe Lightroom

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Saco River Bridge Monochrome.

In October (2020), I made this view of the former Maine Central twin-span truss over the Saco River near Glen, NH, while traveling eastbound on the headend train #162 Mountaineer.

This is favorite bridge of mine, but a difficult one to photograph satisfactorily from track side. As a result most of my best photos have been from the engine.

I exposed this using my Canon EOS 3 loaded with Ilford HP5 black & white film. I processed this in a customized split development process using a presoak of Kodak HC110 mixed 1-200 at 68F for 5 minutes 30 seconds, followed by primary development using Ilford ID-11 stock mixed 1-1 for 6 minute 30 seconds at 68f. This technique facilitates exceptional dynamic range and superior overall tonality.

After processing, I scanned the negatives using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner, and made final adjustments to the scan in Adobe Lightroom.

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Work Train Makes the Sun

Monday was dull and overcast.

Monday afternoon, Conway Scenic operated a work train out along the Redstone Branch in North Conway, NH.

After the train left the yard, I walked from my office in the North Conway station a few blocks east to the North-South Road that runs parallel to the Redstone line to make a few photos of the train on the branch.

The next day I sent them to the Conway Day Sun.

Yesterday, December 16, 2020, I was greeted by my photo on the front page of the paper! (Complete with credit and quote).

So I went back over to the newspaper’s offices to make a few photos of the newspaper boxes with the railroad in the distance, and then gave a copy to Dave Swirk, president & general manager of the railroad. I posed him in front of steam locomotive 7470, and then posted this to our facebook.

If all goes well, 7470 may be next up for its day in the Sun!

All photos were made using a FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55 Fujinon zoom lens.

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Cherryville Junction—March 29, 2002 Part 2.

As a follow up to yesterday’s post, here are a few more choice photos from Good Friday 2002, when I visited Cherryville Junction, Co. Kildare.

Effectively unseen for more than 18 years. The other day, I scanned this roll of Fuji Neopan 400 that I had neatly stored in an archival binder.

All the photos were exposed using my old Contax G2 rangefinder that I’d fitted with a 28mm Zeiss Biogon lens. I had four lenses for the camera, of which the 28mm was probably the most useful.

This lens offer a characteristic look and exceptional sharpness. I still have the camera and the lens, but the body stopped working back 2007, more than five years after these photos was made.

Down 1205 liner to Cork with locomotive 216 at Cherryville Jct.
1205 liner clatters through Cherryville Jct.
Irish Rail 133 and 159 lead the up bulk-bogie cement at Cherryville Jct.
Irish Rail 133 and 159 lead the up bulk-bogie cement at Cherryville Jct.
Down push-pull.
Sunset at Cherryville Jct with an up train headed toward Dublin.

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Good Friday at Cherryville Junction. Five Photos!

And it’s a was a very good Friday too. Years ago, Good Friday was a busy day on Irish Rail and there was lots to garner a photographer’s attention.

In addition to Railway Preservation Society of Ireland steam excursions, and ‘extra’ Friday-only passenger trains, Irish Rail tended to operate a lot of daylight freight.

So on the morning of March 29, 2002, Hassard Stacpoole and I joined Paul Quinlan at Kildare for a foray to Cherryville Junction (where the Waterford Line joins the Dublin-Cork mainline) and spent the day rolling by the parade of trains.

I made most of my photos on Fujichrome slide film, but also exposed a roll of Fuji Neopan 400 black & white film in my Contax G2 rangefinder with a yellow filter.  I processed this in Agfa Rodinal Special (mixed 1-32) for 3 minutes 45 seconds at 20c.

Then after 18 years in an archival box, yesterday I decided to scan a few of the photos for presentation here.

Irish Rail class 201 number 226 pushes a Mark3 push-pull working the up Waterford.
Irish Rail 087 with down Waterford.

Class 201 number 219 works the up ammonia.
Trailing view of the up ammonia.
Railcars running toward Waterford (or Carlow?) at sunset.

What may have passed as ordinary in 2002, now looks fascinating.

More to come from that day soon!

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photography

A RAW and Vivid Sunset at Conway

Friday evening, December 11, 2020, I traveled to Conway, NH on the headend of Conway Scenic’s Santa’s Holiday Express to make advertising photos.

A gorgeous wintery sunset graced the sky.

Working with my Nikon Z6 plus 24-70mm lens, I made a series of photographs, exposing in RAW and JPG simultaneously. I had the JPG profiled using the Vivid preset.

Below are three examples.

The camera RAW file (NEF format), the camera profiled JPG, and an adjusted file made from the RAW using Adobe Lightroom.

Nikon camera RAW (NEF) without modifications.
Camera JPG in ‘VI’ mode (vivid color)
Adjusted camera RAW.

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This Day 9 Years Ago.

On December 12, 2011, I photographed Irish Rail 083 leading the down IWT passing Islandbridge Junction in Dublin. This was an unusually heavy train.

The locomotive was wearing the relatively short-lived silver, black & yellow livery introduced in 2007, and since vanished into history.

It has been 13 months since I last visited my favorite vantage point.

Exposed using a Canon EOS 7D with 18-135mm lens set at 38mm Canon zoom.

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Filming Extra at Patch’s

Last Wednesday, I organized an extra train on Conway Scenic to film for an upcoming television segment.

On the way west we paused at ‘Patch’s’ (a convenience store near Glen, New Hampshire).

While the train was paused, I exposed these photos using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens. I then converted the camera RAW files to DNG format using Iridient X-Transformer and made contrast and color adjustments in Adobe Lightroom.

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December 10, 2018—New England Central at Stafford Springs

On this day two years ago, I photographed New England Central GP38s in the classic blue & gold paint leading the southward 608 at Stafford Springs, Connecticut (Stafford on the railroad).

Working with the FujiFilm RAW file from my XT1, I first converted the photo to a DNG file using Iridient X-Transformer, then imported that file into Adobe Lightroom for adjustment.

To make for a more pleasing image, I reduced contrast, lightened shadows, and lowered the intensity of the highlights.

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Misty October View on Crawford Notch

Last October (2020), I traveled on a rainy day to Crawford Notch on the head-end of Conway Scenic’s Mountaineer.

To make the most of the moody autumn conditions, I exposed a roll of Ilford HP5 35mm black & white film.

Last weekend I processed this using my split development method in order to maximize detail in highlights and shadows, while providing for rich tonality.

The specifics are as follows: presoak in a dilute bath of HC110 (1-200) for 5 minutes 30 seconds at 69F with minimal agitation, then main development in Ilford ID-11 1-1 for 6 minutes and 30 seconds agitating using three gentle inversions every 60 seconds. Followed by stop (30 seconds); first fix (2 minutes 30 seconds) and second fix (2 minutes 30 seconds); first rinse (3 minutes); Permawash (3 minutes); second rinse (10 minutes in continuous running water), then final rinse of distilled water with a drop of Photo flo. Dry and scan.

Other than scaling for internet, I made no alterations to tonality or exposure in postprocessing.

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New England Central with ‘Drop Under’ light at Brattleboro, Vermont.

In October 2015, I made this photograph of New England Central train 611 arriving at Brattleboro having returned from Palmer, Mass.

The setting sun was illuminating clouds from below, making for that colorful event known as ‘drop under’.

I was working with a Lumix LX7, that allows the photographer to work in JPG and RAW simultaneously.

Below are two versions of the same photo. The top image is the camera-generated JPG, the second is heavily adjusted image that I created by working with the camera RAW file.

There is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ when it comes to adjusting color, however there are some basic guidelines and guiding theory.

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photography

470 Club Special in FIVE Black & White Photos.

On October 17, 2020, Conway Scenic Railroad operated the annual 470 Club Special. This ran from North Conway to Mountain Junction, then made a side trip down the Redstone Branch to Pudding Pond, before proceeding west over Crawford Notch to Fabyan, New Hampshire.

I helped organize the photo stops.

In addition to the digital color photographs previously displayed on Tracking the Light (and in the pages of Trains Magazine), I exposed a roll of Ilford HP5 black & white film using a vintage Nikkormat FTN.

Yesterday (Sunday, December 6, 2020), I processed the film using my custom-tailored split development technique that I’ve previously detailed on Tracking the Light). This is intended to give the film broad tonality when scanning for internet presentation.

After processing, I scanned the negatives using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner driven by Epson software. These scans were scaled using Adobe Lightroom without any adjustment to contrast, exposure, or sharpness.

GP7 573 carried white flags.
Redstone branch.
Sawyers looking west.
Fabyan, NH.
Fabyan, NH.
Fabyan, NH.

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Crossrail Along the Rhein

On the evening of September 13, 2013, I made this digital photograph of a southward Crossrail intermodal freight working the right bank of the Rhein near Kamp-Bornhofen. The train is powered by a Bombardier TRAXX electric locomotive, among the most common types of modern motive power working German rails. 

The sinuous Rhein Valley offers countless views of the electrified mainlines on both sides of the river. This view was made from the left bank of the river south of Boppard, where I aimed across the water to capture the fading window of sun that lit the tracks later than other nearby locations.

I was traveling with photographer Denis McCabe on a weeklong trip in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, on which I exposed hundreds of digital and film photos of trains on the move (among other subjects).

Canon EOS-7 fitted with 18-135mm Canon zoom set at 117mm, camera-JPG scaled in Adobe Lightroom.

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Irish Rail 2600 Railcars on the Cobh Branch at Rushbrooke, Co. Cork.

On the morning of October 14, 2014, Ken Fox led me on a tour of Irish Rail’s Cobh Branch.

At Rushbrooke station, I made this view of an outbound 2600 railcar heading toward Cobh from Kent Station, Cork.

Cork seems especially far away as I sit in the dark in rural New Hampshire (waiting for electricity to be restored following a weather related power ‘outrage’).

Exposed using a Canon EOS 7D with 100mm telephoto lens; 100 ISO, f8.0 at 1/500 second.

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On this Day 2014: Overcast at Overbrook.

On December 5, 2014, my brother and I, stood on the platform at Overbrook, Pennsylvania along the former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line.

Working with my Canon EOS 7D, I exposed this photo of an approach medium aspect on an old PRR position light signal. At left, Amtrak’s westward Pennsylvanian—train 43—glides toward the station behind P42 number 71.

I made a host of minor modifications in post processing aimed at improving the camera RAW file.

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Santa Rides the Conway Branch!

Last week while filming for a commercial for Conway Scenic Railroad’s Santa’s Holiday Express, I made this still photo as Santa’s Sleigh train as it descended from North Conway on its run down the Conway Branch.

This was just before sunset and low mist had formed along the Saco River.

I was working with my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens. The train was traveling about 5 mph and the light was fading fast.

I posted a version of the commercial to Conway Scenic Railroad’s Facebook Page this afternoon. The railroad is planning to operate seven Santa’s Holiday Express trains this weekend.

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Boston & Maine’s Slug Set on the West End.

Much to my disappointment, When I told my non-railroad friends that ‘I caught the B&M Slug Set on the road,’ they didn’t match my enthusiasm. (1)

But on June 29, 1986, my pal TSH and I made a morning project of chasing Guilford’s AYRP (Ayer, Massachusetts to Rouses Point, New York) from East Deerfield Yard to the east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel.

We caught this at Wisdom Way in Greenfield, then near Buckland west of Shelburne Falls, then at 10:30am, we caught up to AYRP when it was held for an eastbound at Rices interlocking near Charlemont. Here, I made several photos on Kodak 120 Professional Tri-X using my dad’s Rolleiflex Model T.

I scanned these negatives the other day. Most had never been printed.

Buckland, Massachusetts, June 29, 1986.
Rices, near Charlemont.
Rices, near Charlemont, Massachusetts.

Footnote 1. A slug set is a locomotive arrangement where by a powered diesel is coupled with a heavily weighted unpowered unit fitted with traction motors for additional tractive power. Boston & Maine built one such combination where a pair of GP40-2s powered a homemade ‘slug.’

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Old View of Old East Deerfield Railfan’s Bridge.

On the morning of June 29, 1985, I exposed this black & white photo of the McClelland Farm Road bridge over Boston & Maine’s East Deerfield Yard.

This is the famed ‘Railfan’s Bridge’, which was then a very popular place to make photos and watch trains.

Over the years on Tracking the Light I’ve featured many views of this bridge and its replacement being built.

Exposed using a Rolleiflex Model T with 75mm f3.5 Zeiss Tessar on Kodak Professional 120 Tri-X (rated at ISO 320) using a 645-sized ‘super slide insert’.

I processed the film in Kodak D76, and yesterday I scanned the now 34 year old negative using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner.

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Classic Chrome Color COrrection—Coal Train at Galena, Illinois.

On August 13, 1994, I traveled with Mike Danneman to the Mississippi River. At East Dubuque, Illinois we caught up with a Chicago Central & Pacific coal train working eastbound on the old Illinois Central.

Mike was familiar with the territory and after making a few photos on the joint Burlington Northern-CC&P line, we drove to Galena to catch the train working up grade out of the Mississippi Valley.

The weather was less than ideal; a ‘heavy’ summer’ afternoon—hot humid and overcast.

Working with my Nikon F3T and f4 200mm lens, I made this view of the train crawling by the old Illinois Central station.

As previously described on Tracking the Light, Kodachrome 25 slide film had a cyan to red color bias (cyan when fresh, red when aged).

To correct for the cyan tint and adjust contrast, I imported the scan into Adobe Lightroom for a few nominal corrections. Below are scaled Jpgs from both the uncorrected and corrected files.

Unadjusted scan, scaled for internet.
Scan after modification with Adobe Lightroom and scaled for internet.
Lightroom work window showing adjustment sliders at right.

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November Sun—Boston & Maine 4268.

Low, clear November sun presents great light for color railroad photographs.

Working with my FujiFilm XT1, I made these photos yesterday (November 29, 2020) of Boston & Maine F7A 4268 that is under restoration at North Conway by members of the 470 Club.

I exposed a few using my 12mm Zeiss Touit, and others with my Fujinon f2.0 90mm (prime telephoto.) All are in-camera JPGs with the Velvia color profile (scaled and watermarked for internet).

12mm Zeiss Touit.
12mm Zeiss Touit.
12mm Zeiss Touit.
12mm Zeiss Touit.
90mm telephoto
90mm telephoto

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Maine Central 470–Waterville.

In August 1986, my brother Sean and I made a circle trip through south central Maine.

At Waterville, we stopped to photograph a Maine Central local freight led by a Boston & Maine GP9.

While at Waterville, I also exposed a couple of photos of preserved Maine Central 4-6-2 Pacific number 470 that was then displayed at the south end of the railroad yard.

Kodak 120 size Tri-X exposed using a Rolleiflex Model T (with 75mm f3.5 Zeiss Tessar lens). Processed with Kodak D-76 1-1 with water. Negative scanned with an Epson V600 scanner and digitally processed with Adobe Lightroom.

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Classic Chrome: Clearing Yard—July 1995.

In July 1995, Sean Graham-White organized for him us to research a story about the Belt Railway of Chicago’s expansive Clearing Yard. We spent two days with the aid of an assistant train master photographing and taking detailed notes.

At the time I was an Associate Editor of Pacific RailNews, and the story appeared in the magazine later that year.

Among the dozens of color slides I exposed was this view showing a collection of antique Electro-Motive diesels.

It was a hot, humid summer’s afternoon, and the light was something less than ideal for Kodachrome.

I’ve scanned and digitally processed this slide to make the most of the image.

This included considerable color correction and contrast adjustment.

Below is the scaled, but unadjusted scan; the Adobe Lightroom work window showing the degree of some adjustments to the original scan, and my final adjusted output.

Unadjusted Kodachrome slide scan. Note heavy cyan-color cast.

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Amtrak’s California Zephyr along the Truckee River

In June 1994, I exposed this Kodachrome 25 slide using a Nikkormat FTN fitted with a Nikon AF28mm lens (focused manually) of Amtrak number 5, the westward California Zephyr as it worked upgrade along the Truckee River on Southern Pacific’s famous Donner Pass crossing.

The other day, I scanned this slide and then imported the unmodified scan into Adobe Lightroom to make corrections.

Kodachrome 25 was an amazing film with very fine grain and a tremendous exposure latitude. Among the difficulties with the Kodachrome emulsions was its cyan/red color bias. When the film was fresh it tended toward a cyan (blue-green) bias, and as it aged it shifted red.

The roll I used was relatively fresh and required significant color adjustment to produce a near neutral bias.

I’ve included scaled versions of: the unmodified scan, the color and contrast adjusted scan, and the Lightroom work window. 

Uncorrected scan.
Adjusted scan.
Lightroom work window showing contrast and exposure adjustment sliders and the corrected histogram. Notice that I manually moved the black point to the left, while lightening shadows and reducing overall contrast. This helps correct for the effect of midday sun in the California Sierra.

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Honk! Honk! —A flock of Wild Geese.

Yesterday, November 25, 2020, we brought a light engine to Conway, NH to help decorate Conway Scenic Railroad for the holiday season.

At Conway, as we were finishing our decorating, I set up to capture the scene with my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens, I heard the characteristic honk!-honk!-honk! of migrating geese . . .

I quickly repositioned and readjusted my zoom to incorporated the V-formation of the birds.

After I arrived back in North Conway, I downloaded the files to my MacBook Pro and adjusted this one to post it on Conway Scenic Railroad’s Facebook page and for transmission to the Conway Daily Sun for an up-coming article.

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photography, Tips and Technique

Photo Freight Crossing the Swift River—Slide Scan

Among the hundreds of 35mm slides returned to me from the processing lab the other day was this Kodak Ektachrome E100 slide of Conway Scenic Railroad 573 and 4266 leading the 2020 Railfan’s Day photo freight that I helped organize.

September 5, 2020 was a perfect clear day with rich blue sky and warm late-summer sun. 

In addition to a great number of digital photographs, I also exposed color slides for slide shows and to keep for posterity.

With slides I get the best of both worlds; analog archival material and a scannable transparency that is easily digitized for internet presentation.

I scanned the slide using a Nikon Super Coolscan5000 scanner, set to 4000 dpi and a ‘White Balance’ color profile.

Below I’ve attached the VueScan control window that shows my various manual settings; the RAW uninterpreted scan of the slide, and the adjusted scan after I altered shadow and highlight contrast and other parameters in Adobe Lightroom.

Hamrick Software’s VueScan work window.

E100 slide, ISO 100 exposed with a Canon EOS3 with 40mm pancake lens. This the un-adjusted scan file. Except for scaling, I made no changes to the slide image.

Adjusted scan; shadow areas were lightened, highlights were lowered, edges of the image were cropped. Plus fine adjustments to color temperature and color balance.

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Amtrak Engines Run Light-Two Scenes on the Northeast Corridor

Here are two photographs exposed on the former New Haven Railroad portion of the Northeast Corridor more than 23 years apart, both portraying diesels running ‘light’ (without a train).

The top view was made about two weeks ago (November 2020) at Mansfield, Massachusetts, exposed with my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens, and shows a pair of GE P42 Genesis diesels racing eastbound. Kris Sabbatino and I had set up anticipating the passage of the Acela Express, and catching these diesels running light was a pleasant surprise.

The bottom view was made at the grade crossing immediately west of the New London, Connecticut station (pictured to the left of the train). I exposed this on Fujichrome Provia using a Nikon F3T on a trip with Mike Gardner in July 1997. This was prior to Amtrak’s electrification of the New Haven to Boston section of the corridor.

New London, CT, July 18, 1997.

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Mansfield—Then and Now—Two Photos, 34 years.

My recent visit to Mansfield, Massachusetts led me to recall visits there back in the mid-1980s.

Thursday evening, I started digging through my negative6s from 1985-1988, of which there are thousands.

I ritually worked with a Rollei Model T, exposing 120 size B&W roll film with a ‘Super Slide’ adapter that gave me 16 645-size negatives per individual roll.

On August 19, 1986, photographer Bob Karambelas and I visited Mansfield on a whirlwind rainy day tour of south eastern Massachusetts.

This was more than a decade before the North East Corridor was electrified, and a dozen years prior to the demise of Conrail.

I’ve included a digital photo from my earlier post ‘Purple Trains’ and a single frame from a roll of Kodak Tri-X exposed on that day. I processed the Tri-X in Kodak D76.

Mansfield, Massachusetts on August 19, 1986.
Almost the exact same location in November 2020.

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photography, Tips and Technique

Shinkansen on Frame 39.

Working with slide film had its perils. Normally, I used 36 exposure roles.

However, I’d carefully load my manual cameras and try to squeeze as many photos out of each rolls as possible.

This was risky, because often the last frame would get ruined in processing. So, I typically save that final frame for something less important, but still interesting.

On April 23, 1997, my father and I waited on a Shinkansen platform at Nishi Akashi west of Osaka. I made a few photos of this passing Series 300 Series highspeed train as it blasted by at approximately 186mph.

Working with my old Nikon F3T, I exposed this final frame on a roll of Fuji Provia 100 as the train passed me at speed. In processing, Fuji cut the last little bit of the slide (to the left of the train). 

For years this slide sat in a box, unworthy of slide shows. I scanned it yesterday. Below are two versions. One is full frame, the other is cropped.

Full-rame JPG scan of frame 39 showing the effect of the cut. Nishi Akashi, Japan.
Cropped scan of the same slide.

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MBTA at Walpole.

In conjunction with line works on the west end of MBTA’s Franklin Branch, weekend trains were terminating at Walpole, Massachusetts with bus connections to Norfolk, Franklin and Forge Park.

The old passenger station is still in use at this location.

Here, the Franklin Branch crosses the former New Haven Railroad Old Colony line that runs between Mansfield and Framingham, Massachusetts on a traditional diamond.

More than 30 years ago I visited Walpole on several occasions to photograph trains passing the steam era semaphores that still protected the diamond.

These photos were made in November 2020 using my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera.

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Eight Photos! Special Mountaineer—November 9, 2020.

On November 9, 2020, Conway Scenic Railroad operated a special Mountaineer for the benefit of its employees and their guests. This used a foreshortened consist and departed earlier than normal, It proceeded west under clear sunny skies where it made a stop at Bartlett, NH to pause for passengers and to collect catered meals.

Upon arrival at Crawford Station, GP35 216 ran around, while we had the opportunity to make photos. After this short stop, the special then proceeded eastbound and made a second stop at the site of the Mount Willard Section House­-onetime home to the famous Evans Family.

Here I made a number of unusual photos while the train was tied down on the Willey Brook Bridge.

Bartlett, NH.
Westbound near mp83.
Running around at Crawford.

Crawford.

Willey Brook Bridge near the old site of the Mount Willard Section House (seen to the right of the train)
Panoramic composite at Willey Brook Bridge.
Willey Brook Bridge.

All photos were exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 digital camera.

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Evening Light on an FL9 and an RDC

Last week was warm with sunny skies. Unseasonably warm.

One evening while exploring Cape Cod, Kris Sabbatino and I paid a visit to the Cape Cod Central at Hyannis where I made these views of a former New Haven Railroad FL9 (painted to resemble its as-delivered appearance) and an old RDC built for Boston & Maine.

In an earlier Tracking the Light post, I speculated if Conway Scenic Railroad’s former New Haven Railroad RDC 23 Millie ever visited the NHRR line that once extended to Provincetown.

So far my investigations have determined that while NHRR 23 almost certainly visited the New Haven stations at Hyannis and Woods Hole, which were regular destinations for NHRR’s RDC runs, it is far less likely that it strayed as far as Provincetown, because NHRR RDCs rarely went that far.

In a similar line of inquiry: did the former B&M car pictured here ever work Boston & Maine’s North Conway Branch? Many of B&M’s cars had visited North Conway over the years, and some even worked over Crawford Notch!

I’m curious to know more.

Exposed digitally using a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera and processed with Adobe Lightroom.

Exposed digitally using a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera and processed with Adobe Lightroom.

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photography, Tips and Technique

Contrasty Kodachrome

Often I consider my Kodachrome slides among my finest photographs.

By not always.

In the mid-1990s, Kodachrome went through an unsettled phase and the film didn’t perform as well as it had in the late 1980s early 1990s. The reasons for these changes may be a discussion for another day.

On April 11, 1997, I joined photographers Mike Gardner and George Pitarys on a productive chase of New England Central’s southward freight, number 608.

At Willimantic, Connecticut, I made this photo along the river by some old thread mills (some since demolished).

April light can be challenging. Harsh contrast combined with a yellowish tint from air pollution makes for a raw ‘brassy’ quality that Kodachrome didn’t reproduce well.

Scaled scan, otherwise unadjusted for color, contrast, sharpness etc.

I scanned this slide a little while ago and then imported the TIFF file into Adobe Lightroom, which I used to soften the contrast, lighten the shadows and correct the harsh color rendition. See adjusted version below

It isn’t perfect, but then again the lighting on the day wasn’t ideal.

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