This is not all about the train, nor the railroad.
I purposefully placed Jefferson Drive to de-emphasize Amtrak’s Keystone racing along to the right.
I’ve inserted a bit irony with the placement of the ‘speed limit 35’ sign. The train was gliding along at about 100 mph.
The green grass of summer contrasts nicely with the sky at dusk.
And don’t forget the two railroad boxes alongside the track. At least one of these house equipment for a lineside defect detector.
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My father made pans of Pennsylvania Railroad’s Baldwin shark’s on the New York & Long Branch in the 1960s using a Leica and Kodachrome.
I made these photos of Reading & Northern 2014 on the move at Jim Thorpe, PA using my Nikon Z7-II and 24-70mm lens.
The trick is using a reasonably slow shutter speed, fixing a point in the frame and panning with the subject in a complete and uninterrupted motion. In other words don’t stop panning when you release the shutter.
Panning on a dull day is a great way to give a photo a bit of zing!
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Over the last month of so, Kris and I have paid weekly visits to Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road to observe and photograph their trains.
During this time, former Canadian National Mogul-type 89 has been the star attraction. However, on Friday, we observed the 5 and 7pm trains that ran with former Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 number 475.
I really like the way this locomotive looks and sounds. It had a long tapered boiler and smoke box that gives it a classic appearance, while its whistle makes a low mournful cry that stirs a vision of the past.
We waited at Esbenshade road for the return of the 7pm train, listening to the engine work upgrade and sound for the crossings.
I made this sequence of photos with my Nikon Z digital cameras as the train approached.
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On our way home, we paused along Jefferson Drive in Greenfield, Lancaster, PA, to roll by Amtrak Keystone 620 on its run from Harrisburg to Philadelphia.
The sun had dropped under a textured evening sky, making for a stunning display of natural color.
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On February 27, 2021, I posted ‘Reading Company 2102 Location Unknown’, that featured a photograph my father made back in May 1963. Previously, I’d run this photo across the gutter as an opening spread in my book Locomotive (published by MBI in 2001).
At the time I was preparing the book, I quizzed my Dad about the location of the photo, and he was unable to recall the details, except that it was a Reading Iron Horse Ramble ‘somewhere in Pennsylvania’.
http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/reading-company-2102-location-unknown/
In the two and half two years since I first posted “Reading Company 2102 Location Unknown” on Tracking the Light, I’ve received considerable response regarding the location of the photo.
In the meantime, I built an HO-model railroad based on the Reading (my ‘Wee Reading Company which included a model of 2102), got married to my fiancée Kris, and then during May and June this year we moved New Hampshire to Pennsylvania . ( And I had to sacrifice the Wee Reading Company in the process).
Several readers acted as detectives and narrowed the location of my father’s photo and provided me great detail . As it turns out location is less than an hour from our new home in Lancaster.
The other day, Kris and I drove to the crossing in the photo and I made a sequence of ‘Now’ photos to pair with my father’s original slide.
I didn’t have a copy of the photo with me and had to work from memory. (I’d hoped to use the image as posted on Tracking the Light, but the signal in the Brandywine Valley was poor and I could pull up TTL on my phone).
Interestingly, the first photo I made matches up nearly perfectly with my Dads. I sent him a phone photo with my iPhone once we signal, and he wrote back, ‘Yep! That’s the place’.
Special thanks to everyone that helped find location Pop’s ‘Unknown Location’, including Robert Mastrippolito, George Legler (who also supplied the vintage 1/4 mile map), John Hartman, Scott Snell and Chris Bost. Thanks guys!
Back in May 1963, Pop stood at the crossing south of Coatesville near Embreeville in Newlin Township, PA., where Youngs/Harveys Bridge Road, crossed the Reading Company tracks. The view is looking south toward Harveys Bridge, which was located between milepost 26 3/4 and milepost 27 on the former Reading Company’s Wilmington and Northern line, a line now part of the East Penn shortline system.
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Two weeks ago, Reading & Northern’s Class T-1 4-8-4 2102 was the star attraction that captured most of the pixels that day.
I think back to the photos my dad made of a Reading Iron Horse Ramble led by a T-1 back in 1959. This was assisted by a pair of Reading Company Baldwin diesels. The T-1 is still with us. The Baldwins have been gone for a half century.
So, in another 60 years, I’ll bet 2102 is still around, but how about the GP38-2s that were also in excursion service that day.
There was a time when a GP38-2 was just about as common as diesels get. I hardly paid them any notice at all. But these days, some of those GP38-2s are now a half century old.
I made a fair few photos of Reading & Northern’s GP38-2s in between bursts of pixels of T-1 2102. Here are a few for your consideration.
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Last weekend, Kris, Boomer-the-dog and I, timed our arrival at Blackhorse Road in Strasburg to catch the 1900 (7pm) evening train that only runs relatively infrequently.
I like the evening run because it is relatively quiet and the light tends to be better. Midday sun in July is a bit harsh and rarely results in optimal photographic conditions. Although it was partially cloudy, the softer light allowed good photos in both directions without harse contrast.
I made these views with my Nikon Z digital cameras of the evening train coming and going on its way to and from Leaman Place where it runs around to change directions. There’s no wye on the Strasburg Rail Road so the engines face westward.
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On our evening drive we nipped over to Leaman Place to roll-by a Philadelphia-bound Amtrak Keystone.
Last week I picked up two new pairs of glasses. One is a general pair of progressive tri-focals that I wear most of the time. The other pair are tinted, polarized sunglasses designed to correct my long range vision and intended as my driving glasses. They do little for my near vision, and are useless for anything close up.
As I waited a Leaman Place, having checked the ASM tracking app to check the progress of the train, I tried to make some adjustments to my Nikon Z6. However, I found to my frustration that between the polarized lenses and the lack of close-up lenses, I really couldn’t see what I was doing.
While I was mucking with the Nikon’s menus, the rails on the Harrisburg Line started to sing.
I’d hoped to take a burst of images with the camera in ‘H’ (Continuous High’ release mode. However with my driving glasses induced functional blindness, I’d set the camera to ‘S’ (single frame). An error I discovered as the train raced by at 100 mph with the locomotive at the rear
I made two frames; one chopped the trailing cab on the engine, the next frame is more distant than I would have liked. By the time I realized what went wrong the train was a half mile down the line.
You can’t win all the prizes. I’ll try again, using my normal glasses!
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Last week in the early hours the air was thick with moisture, yet the sky was clear above. As the sun rose, mist clung to the ground as billowing clouds formed before our eyes.
The lighting conditions were cosmic, compelling and rapidly changing.
As we drove through the fields around Strasburg, Pennsylvania, I made these images using my 70-200mm zoom lens.
I like the back lit effects of the rosy sun behind fog.
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On these long summer evenings, the sun sets to the north of Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line along Jefferson Drive at Greenfield near Lancaster, PA.
Kris and I pulled over to watchAmtrak Keystone 618 glide east as it caught the evening glint. Running cab car first, this trainhad a pleasant surprise for us at the back: Amtrak ACS-64 642 specially painted to honor American Veterans.
My Nikon Z6 has a rapid burst exposure setting that exposes a sequence of images in quick succession which allowed me to catch this ununally painted locomotive on the move.
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Kris and I paid another visit to the former Pennsylvania Railroad bridges along the Susquehanna River at Safe Harbor, PA.
We have stopped here a couple of times before, but on this visit I wanted to take a look at the upper level bridge which now hosts the Enola Low Grade Trail.
A connecting trail has been built here to reach the high level trestle.
My challenge will be returning here at an appropriate time to catch a Norfolk Southern freight. Owing to a curfew on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor with which the NS line connects, most of its freight moves through here during the hours of darkness.
The bridges are very impressive and offer a great view of the Susquehanna and the Safe Harbor Dam. See the link below the photos for information the Low Grade Trail
Photos exposed using my Nikon Z7-II.
To learn more about the trail, click on the link below.
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Last weekend’s Reading & Northern Iron Horse Ramble was more than just a trip. It was an event and a confluence of railway people, railway fans, railway photographers, train riders, and even members of the general public.
I sent my dad an SMS text with a of photo of 2102. He wrote back, ‘take photos of the fans.’
He has photos of Reading Company’s rambles with the railroad’s class T-1s surrounded by fans and photographers.
Below is a selection of my people photos from Saturday July 1, 2023.
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A few days ago, a storm had cleared away the hazy dust and for once there was some sweet evening light at Gap, Pennsylvania along the old Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line.
We’d stopped at a nearby Rita’s Ice to get a treat for Kris and pulled up to a park-like setting in view of the famous clock tower. I was tracking Amtrak Keystone train 669 and knew it was close.
When Amtrak Siemen’s ACS-64 663 rounded the bend with train 669, I exposed a sequence of photos with my Nikon Z6 and 70-200mm lens then raised my Lumix LX-7 for coming and going wide angle views, followed by another sequence with the Nikon. Kris made a phone video of me taking photos.
I’d just sat back in the car, when Kris said, ‘Look! Another train,’ as an eastward Amtrak train squealed into view. My Lumix was still in my hand and ready to go, so I made a couple of grab shots. I assume this was a deadhead move, as it hadn’t appeared on the tracker. The engineer gave us a friendly toot! as the train passed.
I love bonus trains that I wasn’t expecting!
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Or call it: ‘2102 Up Close’.
I like to put the railroad in the context of its environment, but I also like to make macro views of the equipment.
Last weekend I had several opportunities to get up close to Reading & Northern’s T-1 class 4-8-4 #2102 to make a selection of detailed views of the machinery.
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Last week my sister-in-law Isablle phoned to say that she found the perfect place to meet for dinner. ‘It’s like a pub, it’s near an antique place, it has a train parked out front, and its only about a half an hour away from where you live!’
And she was right!
So Kris and I arranged to meet my brother Sean and Isabelle, and our friend Pat Yough (long time TTL reader).
Pat and I took turns to walk up an photograph the engines of the East Penn Railroad that were parked across the street by the old Reading Company Station.
The restaurant/pub was old school with a classic tin ceiling, big windows and pool tables.
I made these photos with my Lumix LX7. The staff were friendly and we all had a good time!
https://www.facebook.com/StationAtReinholdsInn/
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I routinely work with two or more cameras.
The other day, photographer Mike Gardner (and TTL reader) sent me a photo he made of me on a trip back in October 2004. “I think you had two Nikon F3s and a Contax G2 around your neck.” That sounds about right.
So, when photographing Reading & Northern’s 2102 with Dan Cupper on July 1st, I worked with my two Nikon Z-mirrorless cameras in tandem.
As previously described on TTL, I have my Z6 set up with a Nikkor Z-series 70-200mm zoom, and I made the following photos using this combination.
These are all relative long-telephoto views, and offer a contrast to the more traditional approach presented on my earlier TTL posts of R&N 4-8-4 2102 in action.
Among the challenges of the July 1st chase with 2102 was haze and smoke stemming from Canadian wildfires—conditions that had affected eastern Pennsyvlania for days. This produces some unusual color temperature and made for some unusal lighting conditions.
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To celebrate American Independance Day, I’m posting this view that I made of Conway Scenic Railroad’s North Conway, New Hampshire station during the July 4, 2021 fireworks display.
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Monday evening, July 3, 2023, I’d just collected my new glasses. We were driving east on highway 741 as a brilliant rainbow graced the eastern sky. We arrived at the Strasburg Rail Road just as the colors started to fade. All around us were dramatic clouds in a stormy sky. The contrast was fierce.
I made these photos using my Lumix LX7, exposing in RW2 (RAW). I made minor adjustments in Lightroom to better balance the ground and sky.
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I’ve been sifting through hundreds of photos that I made of the July 1, 2023 Reading & Northern Iron Horse Ramble to Jim Thorpe, PA.
The railroad put on an amazing show of steam and I was very impressed by the performance of the locomotive and its crew.
Below are a couple sequences made on the outward leg of the trip. These were exposed using my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom.
My goal was to capture Reading & Northern’s 4-8-4 steam locomotive at work. In these images, I’ve tried to picture the engine in the classic ‘rods down’ position that was favored by many traditional locomotive photographers.
More 2102 images soon!
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In the 1950s and 1960s, my father photographed and traveled on Reading Company’s famous ‘Iron Horse Rambles’ over its lines in the coal country of eastern Pennsylvania.
I grew up hearing stories of these trips and viewing his many black & white and color photographs that feature the railroad’s mighty class T-1 4-8-4 steam locomotives.
I’d visited several of these engines over the years; in Baltimore, Scranton, and last year at Port Clinton, PA. But until yesterday, July 1, 2023, I’d never witnessed one under steam.
When I began my Reading Company model railroad project in 2020, among the models Kris and I purchased was an HO scale interpretation of Reading Company 2102. And this engine was a regular feature on the Wee Reading Company’s coal trains, until I dismantled the railroad back in May in preparation for our move to Pennsylvania.
Yesterday, I traveled with Dan Cupper to Reading & Northern’s Reading Outer Station (not to be confused with Reading Company’s original Outer Station) to photograph 2102.
We spent the day photographing the engine at work. These Nikon Z7-II photos at R&N’s Outer Station are merely prelude to our chase to Jim Thorpe and back photographing Reading & Northern 2012 in action. It was an exhilarating day of photography! Stay tuned . . . .
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We arrived at Gap, PA about ten minutes ahead of Amtrak Keystone service 618 on its way east from Harrisburg.
I made my first photos in this curve at Gap on a visit 16 years ago—June 2007.
Thick smoky-haze filled the air and filtered the evening sun.
I made this telephoto series of images as Amtrak 618 (led by ACS-64 606) glided through the curve at Gap.
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Yesterday evening the air and sky were thick with particulates. The landscape took on a surreal unworldly appearance.
As Kris and I drove around Strasburg, Pennsylvania, I made a few photos with my Nikon Z6 and 70-200mm lens.
The lighting was about as strange as anything I’ve worked with naturally.
The sun looked like a floating glob in a lava lamp. The sky was a pasty gray-lavender while wafting clouds of thick green-gray haze filled the air near the ground.
The sun didn’t so much set as it melted into the haze.
I exposed these images of Strasburg Rail Road’s preserved J-Tower and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s former Reading Crusader tail-end observation car, and the nearby farm.
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Yesterday evening (June 28, 2023), poor air quality made for a rosy sunset in Lancaster, PA.
Kris and I took a short drive over to Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line to catch Amtrak’s Keystone service train 653 that was down about 18 minutes from the advertised.
I especially liked the trailing view because the stainless steel train caught the rich evening light.
I made some minor adjustments in Lightroom to make the most of the reddish glow.
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Amtrak’s former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg runs a short distance from our new home. While this is primarily the route of the Keystone and Pennsylvanian trains, it also hosts Norfolk Southern locals that use the line to reach secondary lines and serve local industry.
Since we moved in, I’ve heard a few NS trains but not had the opportunity to investigate their movements in daylight. However, last night we saw this local near Greenfield Road in Lancaster, PA.
As a trainman was setting up the telemetry device on the locomotive that would become the rear of his train, I made a few photos with my Lumix LX7.
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Esbenshade! What a great name for a crossing suited to silhouette?
The other day I presented an example of a telephoto view of Strasburg Rail Road Number 89 leading the Saturday 6pm excursion at Esbenshade Road in Strasburg, PA.
Today, I’m offering two examples of wideangle views at the same crossing. These were exposed as NEF RAW files with my Nikon Z7-II, which has incredible dynamic range.
In this situation to make a silhouette, I set the camera in ‘M’-mode (manual) and used the in-camera meter to expose for the sky. I have my display showing an exposure histogram, the helps me best balance the detail captured in the extreme highlights and shadows. Although this detail isn’t evident in the thumbnail camera display, it has been captured in the NEF RAW file.
After downloading the camera, I import the NEF files into Adobe Lightroom, and use the ‘Light’ slider controls (including ‘highlights,’ and ‘shadows’) to adjust the images to better reveal details across the range of exposure. Again, by keeping an eye on an exposure histogram, I can avoid pushing the limits of adjustment and minimize data loss.
To allow for individual control of the sky, I made some adjustments using the ‘select sky’ mask.
Below are two examples of unadjusted NEF RAW files and the corresponding adjusted images.
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The old Pennsylvania Railroad station at Christiana is a neat place to catch Amtrak’s Keystone trains. Over the last few months I’ve visited this location several times.
Saturday evening Kris and I stopped by Christiana to make a few photos an approaching eastward Keystone.
I track Amtrak’s trains on my phone using the ASM.transitdoc.com app, which updates about every 5-6 minutes and shows the train’s last reported location, operating speed, and indicates if it is on-time or runnng behind, while providing a full schedule of station stops.
This is often more useful than either Amtrak’s own website, which can be difficult to navigate quickly, and more up to date than 3rd party printed schedules.
We wanted to photograph Keystone Train 674. As it turned out this was operating on a special schedule owing to track work. I only discovered the train’s schedule alteration after the fact when researching the timetable for this Tracking the Light post.
However, since we used transitdoc App, the on-line interactive map provided all the information we needed and was up to date and literally at our finger tips!
So, despite the schedule alteration, we only had a short wait at Christiana and made some neat photos of the train coming and going at speed.
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After Plymouth, we drove south along the old Boston, Concord & Montreal route to Ashland, New Hampshire, where I photographed the restored Boston & Maine station there.
We had visited this location a couple years earlier. So far as I could tell, very little had changed since our previous visit.
I made these photos with Nikon Z7, and few supplemental images with my Lumix LX7. All were processed using Adobe Lightroom.
Next stop was the White Mountain College for Pets in Holderness to collect Boomer-the-Dog.
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While visiting the Seashore Trolley Museum at Kennebunkport, Maine, Kris and I went for a spin on car 1160, a 117-year old New England Classic. When this car was new, electricity was still a novelty and many homes across the region were without it.
Old 1160 is wooden-bodied car that served the Connecticut Company in the New Haven-area until the 1940s. Today, it is a reminder of another era in rail-transport.
On our trip, there were 29 passengers on board.
I made these photos using my Lumix LX7 and a Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm Z-series zoom lens. All images were exposed digitally and adjusted in Lightroom for color, contrast and exposure.
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Yesterday we paid a visit to Maine’s Seashore Trolley Museum, where I photographed former Wheeling Traction Company car 639 under wire.
Painted in the classic ‘Traction Orange’ this featured an old advertisement for a movie filmed in ‘Technicolor’.
A while back, one of my Irish friends asked if I’d gotten used to digital photography, I replied, “I still haven’t gotten used to Color!”
These photos were exposed digitally and in color, using my Nikon Z6 and Lumix LX7 digital cameras.
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May 31st, 2014, I stood in the grass south of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina to photograph a German-dessigned Siemens Mobility-built model S70 tram working as the Lynx.
I like photographing modern lightrail systems in urban environments.
The sun was softened by a cloud moments before exposure. I rescued the image in post processing with some shadow-lightening and contrast adjustment, and by warming the color temperature.
Since my 2014 visit to Charlotte with photographer Pat Yough, the city has expanded its light rail system and purchased many more Siemens trams.
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On this day seven years ago (25 April 2016), I made a day trip from Brussels to Antwerp, where I spent several hours riding and photographing trams in that city’s narrow cobblestone streets.
My camera of choice was Lumix LX7, which is compact, flexible, and produces extremely sharp RAW files. Perfect for an urban
This image was processed using Adobe Lightroom to make the most of the data captured in the RAW format.
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On 22 April 2016, I spent the day traveling around Valenciennes, France on the city’s modern Alstom trams.
I made these views using my FujiFilm XT1 with an XF18-135mm lens.
Both photos were exposed from the same vantage point of the same tram; in the first photo the zoom was set to 135mm (telephoto), in the second I set it to 20mm (super wideangle).
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Karlsruhe, Germany—19 April 2016.
How do you describe the paint livery on this Tram-Train?
Fujifilm XT1 photos.
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I made the most of my brief visit to Milan six years ago.
In this Lumix LX7 view, I pictured one of the city’s famous Peter Witt trams with the rising sun.
I spent several hours exploring Milan by streetcar before taking the train to Genoa.
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In Autumn on 2016 on a vist to Prague, I made this view with a Nikon F3 using the Czech B&W film Fomapan 100.
I’d read about this film, and bought several rolls in Prague which I put to good use during the duration of my trip.
Upon my return to Dublin, I processed the film in Ilford ID11 diluted 1:1 with water, then scanned the negatives with an Epson V500 scanner.
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Last night I made two scans of an ET 160 (Tungsten balance) Ektachrome slide. This film was designed for use with incandescent lighting.
I exposed this slide as part of sequnece of night images at the Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Windsor, CT in December 1993.
The first scan was using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner powered with Epson Scan 2 software. The second was using a Nikon LS5000 Slide scanner powered with the latest VueScan software (version 9.7.96).
Other than scale the scans for presentation here, I made no changes to color, exposure, sharpness etc.
I’ve included a greatly magnified portion of each scan for comparison.
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