On March 4, 2007, an eastward Pan Am Railways freight rolled through Greenfield, Massachusetts at sunset.
Maine Central 505 was one of the first Guilford Rail System locomotives to be rebranded in Pan Am paint. This was dressed in a livery similar to that once used on Pan Am Airways jet planes. Most of the later Pan Am painted locomotives were dressed in a darker navy-blue shade.
I exposed this photo on Fujichrome and scanned it with a Nikon LS5000 scanner powered by VueScan 9.8.22 software, then adjusted and scaled the hi-res TIF with Adobe Lightroom.
Early in the winter, we drove north into coal country.
I was curious to visit Lykens, a comparatively remote Pennsylvania town, that was once at the end of a Reading Company line which had included a switchback near Tower City.
Upon reaching Lykens, we found little evidence of the old Reading, now many decades gone. However, we located the old Pennsylvania Railroad station and yard.
The station is now a museum, although it was closed on the afternoon of our visit.
Market Street in Lykens, where a branch of the PRR once crossed.The tracks were lifted a long time ago, but the old PRR station at Lykens survives.
Twenty four years ago this month, I exposed this pair of Fujichrome Sensia II color slides of Irish Rail’s down Galway accellerating away from the station a Ballinasloe led by a class 201 diesel.
At the time the Galway Line was still largely protected with traditional mechanical signals locally controlled by signal cabins.
In 2003, Irish replaced the old signal system with a modern ‘Mini CTC’ system controlled remotely from Dublin.
Like it or not, local spelling (and pronunciation) is always correct.
I visited Mannheim, Germany in August 1998, where I made this Sensia color slide of a DB class 103 electric departing the main station.
Manheim, Pennsylvania is a town on the old Reading Company that is less than half an hour from our home in Lancaster.
Fujichrome Sensia (100 ISO), exposed using a Nikon F3T with f2.8 135mm Nikkor telephoto lens.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom. Camera mounted on a Bogen tripod.
On this day (January 15th) in 1953, Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 4876 electric was leading The Federal (Boston to Washington D.C.) when the train suffered an airbrake failure as it approached Washington Union Terminal at speed.
The train crashed spectacularly with the locomotive ending up in the concourse of the station, which then collapsed under the excessive weight of the engine. This event made front page news all across the nation.
The locomotive, or parts thereof, were reassembled (or remanufactured) by the railroad. The engine kept its famous number.
In 1982, old 4876 was owned by the New Jersey Department of Transportaion and routinely assigned to work New York & Long Branch trains (also known as the North Jersey Coast Line) between Penn Station in Manhattan and South Amboy, New Jersey.
Scan of a black & white print.
In 1982, My father and I caught up with the battle-weary famous electric at Rahway Junction, NJ., where I made this black & white photo using my vintage Leica 3A, a camera that was even older than the vintage electric locomotive.
It was a fine morning, making it one of rare few bright sunny days as of late.
I’d scoped the local railroad scene, and was in position at Jefferson Drive at Greenfield in Lancaster, Pa., to make a few photos of Norfolk Southern’s daily New Holland Branch freight.
I had an ulterior motive. My old Nikon F3 was loaded with Provia100F, and I’d been waiting for a fine day to finish off the roll that had been in the camera since Thanksgiving.
Film is expensive and I didn’t want to squander it. But with a clear sky and a train nearby, I felt this was a good opportunity to make a few nice color slides.
As I mentioned in the earlier post, while waiting for Norfolk Southern’s freight to come around the bend, much to my surprise on the nearby Harrisburg Line, a late-running Amtrak Keystone zipped by with a diesel in the lead.
The crew of the New Holland local takes it very slow approaching Jefferson Drive, which provides ample opportunity to work with multiple cameras. I made these photos digitally with my Nikon Z7-II, while also exposing slides with my antique F3.
As this being written the slide film is enroute to the lab! But, It will be at least another ten days before I can see my processed results from the F3. Fingers crossed that I got my exposures right!
Norfolk Southern SD40Es 6335 and 6312 lead the eastward New Holland Branch local at Jefferson Drive. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom.I like the juxtaposition of antique General Motors products. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom.
Since there was nice light and a train on the move, I zipped down the road for another set of photos . . .
In January 1994, I made an epic cross-country journey from Massachusetts to Los Angeles.
On my way, I visited my brother in the Twin Cities, and spent some time exploring railroads in the area.
On the morning of January 12th, I made these photos at Daytons Bluff, near Hoffman Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, using my Nikon F3T loaded with Fujichrome Velvia 50. Filtered winter sun made for some interesting yellowish gauzy light over the Mississippi.
These photos were just a prelude to some better photography. That night the weather shifted as arctic air blew in and the temperatures dropped from the low 30s (F) to minus 30 (F).
The extremely cold air produced some fascinating lighting conditions, and over the next few days, I made a body of photographs that was the start of my great photographic mid-1990s quests ! Stay tuned . . .
High winds on Tuesday resulted in some unusual activity on Wednesday.
Norfolk Southern’s New Holland Branch is a line that runs near (and ultimately connects with) Amtrak’s electrified former Pennsylvania Railroad Harrisburg Line. At Jefferson Drive in Lancaster, the lines are in sight of one another. While I was waiting for NS’s branch local, I was surprised by late running Amtrak Keystone that passed under wire with a P42 diesel leading an ACS-64 electric with its pantographs down.
I was out of position to photograph the eastward Amtrak train, but I made my photos of the Norfolk Southern freight (for a later post). Afterward I made a few inquiries to learn about Amtrak’s situation.
From my understanding the high winds on Tuesday had damaged the overhead lines in the Philadelphia area. To keep its trains running, Amtrak assigned P42s in the lead. Give credit to Amtrak for doing what was needed to get trains over the road!
Later in the day, during the lunch hour, Kris and I went trackside at Bird-in-Hand, Pa., where we caught westward Amtrak 643 Keystone running ‘behind the advertised’ with a P42 at the Harrisburg-end and an ACS-64 with its pans down on the Philadelphia end.
I made these images using my Nikon Z7-II. The NEF RAW files were adjusted for contrast, exposure and saturation in post processing.
Amtrak 643 at Bird-in-Hand, Pa.Amtrak 643 at Bird-in-Hand, Pa.Amtrak 643 at Bird-in-Hand, Pa.
In the gloom of a cold winter night, we followed the old Reading Company tracks to the station at Manheim, Pa..
This preserved building is now maintained by the Manheim Historical Society. A few restored freight cars are displayed outside along with a Pennsylvania Railroad caboose, plus railroad artifacts such as historic baggage carts.
The tracks are operated by Norfolk Southern.
I exposed these photos with my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens mounted on a tripod. In post processing I adjusted the NEF RAW files to adjust color temperature, lighten shadows, control highlights and reduce contrast.
In February 2010, Pat Yough, Chris Guss and I made an epic trip to Ontario.
Our days in Toronto were memorably cold, but extremely productive photographically.
Clear frosty conditions are excellent for photography, but rough on fingers and camera batteries.
We caught the evening rushhour at Sunnyside, west of Toronto Union Station.
Using a Canon EOS-3, I exposed this Velvia 100 (RVP100) color slide of passing GO Transit trains minutes before sunset.
Velvia 100 was a relatively short-lived emulsion. It had a wonderful color palate, and a softer edge than Velvia 100F that was offered about the same time. Both Velvia 100 and Velvia 100F were a full stop faster than the original Velvia 50. This one stop difference really helped when photographing moving trains at the end of the day. Velvia 50, although expensive, is still available.
After days of gray cloudy skies the sun emerged. Kris and I paused at Gap, Pa., to roll by Amtrak’s westward Keystone, train 643. This was operating cab-car first with an ACS-64 electric at the back of the consist.
Working with my Nikon Z7-II and 24-70mm zoom set to 70mm, I exposed a series of images. I cropped these in post processing to emphasize the horizontal perspective.
70mm view, f4.5, 1/1250 second, ISO 200.70mm view, f4.5, 1/1250 second, ISO 200.70mm view, f4.5, 1/1250 second, ISO 200.
In 1991, Amtrak acquired twenty General Electric DASH 8-32BWH (Amtrak calls this model P32BH), a model were based on Santa Fe’s contemporary 500-series GE’s (built a year earlier).
As-built, Amtrak’s DASH 8-32BWH locomotives featured a novel modern paint scheme, which some observers compared to the coloration used by Pepsi on its 12-ounce aluminum cola cans, and so these were unofficially known as “Pepsi Cans.” In the early 1990s, they were often assigned in pairs to Amtrak’s West Coast services.
On February 7, 1994, I caught a pair of ‘Pepsi Cans’ leading the LA-bound Coast Starlight on Southern Pacific’s street trackage at Jack London Square in Oakland, California.
I exposed this Kodachrome 25 slide using my Nikon F3T with 28mm Nikkor wideangle lens. This image has been published several times, including as an illustration in Passenger Train Journal issue 197 that came out in the mid-1990s.
During our visit to Lititz, Pa., I made these photos along the old Reading Company tracks that bisect the town.
The caboose on display was once operated by Central Railroad of New Jersey and has been convincingly dressed to resemble similar cars that had been operated by the Reading.
Nearby is the replica passenger station, a structure that during daylight hours serves as a welcome center.
Although the end of track is about a block away, Norfolk Southern still serves this route. We caught a glimpse of a railroad HyRail truck and a rail-defect detection vehicle on the night of our most recent trip. However, we were unable to make a photo of these vehicles at work.
On our evening drive, we called into the former Pennsylvania Railroad station at Christiana, Pa.
With my Nikon Z7-II firmly mounted on my old Bogen tripod, and working with available light I made these photos using time exposures. Details below:
Nikkor 24-70mm lens at 70mm, 1 second exposure at f4.0, ISO 200.Nikkor 24-70mm lens at 28mm, 3 second exposure at f4.0, ISO 200.Nikkor 24-70mm lens at 29mm, 6 second exposure at f4.0, ISO 200.
If I wrote: ‘6717 WB w TV9 mp123 11-13-92’ would it mean anything to anyone but me?
It was a clear morning in November 1992. I’d set up west of Huntington, Massachusetts on Conrail’s Boston Line—the former Boston & Albany mainline grade over Washington Hill.
At that time, intermodal freight TV9 (Beacon Park, Boston to Chicago) routinely made its westward passage through the Berkshires in the morning.
On this particular day, the train was led by SD50 6717. While not unheard of, this was uncommon power for TV9, as in the early 1990s Conrail typically assigned sets of three and four GE C30-7A, C32-8 and C36-7 diesels to most of its Boston Line road freights.
Kodachrome 25 was my standard film. This traditional emulsion made it possible to expose dramatic backlit photos such this one. The nature of the grain structure and Kodachrome process, allowed the film to retain a degree of highlight detail while maintaining a clean edge between light and dark, even in high contrast situations such as this one.
Working with the locomotive exhaust and headlight, I made this dramatic silhouette of the train ascending the grade against a stark autumnal background.
I was working with my Nikon F3T with Nikkor 200mm lens set to f5.6 at 1/125th of second. To minimize flare, I shaded the front element of the lens with my notebook.
Today, the lack of ditchlights really dates the image. By the mid-1990s, ditch lights were standard on most locomotives.
The time was 8:10am. Conrail’s westbound TV9 met the eastbound SEFR near CP123 (just around the bend from my location). The eastbound passed me nine minutes later.
I made comparatively few color photos prior to 1980 and I have precious few ‘square mount’ Kodachrome slides.
On January 1, 1980, I traveled with my family from The Bronx, New York back to our home in Monson, Massachusetts. On the way, we stopped at New Haven, Connecticut to take a look at Amtrak GG1 4935 that had been repainted into the Raymond Loewy designed PRR scheme.
Using my old Leica 3A rangefinder I made this Kodachrome color slide of a Chevy pickup truck parked next to the antique electric locomotive.
I don’t know what became of the pickup but today the old GG1 is preserved and displayed at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pa. I’ve featured this locomotive in several recent Tracking the Light posts.
On a foggy evening last week, Kris and I visited the waterfront park at Highland Landing, New York along the west shore of the Hudson River.
With my Z7-II firmly mounted on my now antique Bogen tripod, I made a series of time exposures of the famous former New Haven Railroad Poughkeepsie Bridge.
The year 2024 will mark a half century since a fire on this mightly span ended railroad service over the bridge.
We arrived at New Freedom, Pennsylvania to find this former Maryland & Pennsylvania EMD SW9 switcher stored on a siding. It’s reporting marks indicate it is part of the Stewartstown Railroad roster.
I made a series of photos using my Nikon Z7-II and Kris’s Fujifilm XT4.
These are both excellent cameras but handle color differently.
I’ve identified the camera-lens combination on each photo.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.FujiFilm XT-4 with Fujinon Xf 50-140mm lens.FujiFilm XT-4 with Fujinon Xf 50-140mm lens.FujiFilm XT-4 with Fujinon Xf 50-140mm lens.FujiFilm XT-4 with Fujinon Xf 50-140mm lens.
A thick fog blanketed the landscape in Lancaster on St Stephens Day, or Boxing Day, or if you like, ‘the day after Christmas.’
Fog transmits sound with great clarity.
I’d stopped at the local Post Office, when I heard Norfolk Southern’s New Holland Branch local whistling for a nearby crossing. I postponed my errand, and drove to the Willow Road grade crossing.
The point of the comparison is to show how to use different lighting conditions to the greatest advantage, and make the best photo depending on prevaling conditions.
I made the December 26th photos from the side of the road using my Nikon Z7-II. I cropped the files to improve the composition, while making adjustments to highlight and shadow detail and color temperature.
It’s aptly named; the old Pennsylvania Railroad Northern Central route goes right through it.
Kris and I had wandered here after leaving Stewartstown. I made a few photos in the village of Railroad, before we headed north along the Northern Central line, now operated by a tourist railroad called the ‘Northern Central Railway.’
Five minutes out of town we spotted a southward NC Ry excursion train on the move with an old Pennsylvania Railroad GP9 leading an eclectic mix of cars.
We zipped back to Railroad and I made a few photos of the train using my Nikon Z7-II and Kris’s Fuji XT-4.
Looking compass south at Railroad, PA. Fuji XT4 with Fujinon XF 50-140mm lens. Northern Central Railway Christmas excursion at Railroad; exposed with a Fuji XT4 with Fujinon XF 50-140mm lens.Northern Central Railway Christmas excursion at Railroad, Pa. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm zoom.Northern Central Railway Christmas excursion crosses Main Street East in Railroad, Pa. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
I mounted my Nikon Z7-II firmly on my old Bogen tripod to allow for slow ISO and long exposures to make these night photos of the holiday lights at the Strasburg Rail Road.
I played with the color temperature presets to find the best combination for capturing the hues of the colored lights. The setting shown in each caption is that calculated by Adobe Lightroom using the Kelvin scale.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm set to 41mm, color temperature setting = 3,450 degrees Kelvin; exposure f4, 10 seconds, ISO 200.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm set to 41mm, color temperature setting = 5,300 degrees Kelvin; exposure f4, 8 seconds, ISO 200.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm set to 41mm, color temperature setting = 6,000 degrees Kelvin; exposure f4, 10 seconds, ISO 200.
I like it when I can tie several themes together. This post is special because it ties together many loose threads in one neat knot.
Catching CNJ 0-6-0 passing through the former Reading yard at West Cressona a few weeks ago is a perfect example.
Back in 2015, on a trip to photograph 113 in Christmas train service with photographer Pat Yough, I met photographer Oren Helbok.
This seasonally-themed train was working the prototype rails that had inspired my HO-Scale Wee Reading Company.
Researching the Reading in November 2021 led Kris and me to Pennsylvania, and it was a significant factor in considering our move to the state earlier this year.
In March 2022 on visit to Pennsylvania to explore the Strasburg and Harrisburg areas, Kurt Bell introduced us to author/photographer and fellow Trains correspondent Dan Cupper.
In October, Dan Cupper and I had visited West Cressona to photograph a Reading & Northern local with a pair of EMD SW8 diesels
Earlier this month, both Dan and Oren encouraged Kris and me to photograph this season’s trips with 113.
After catching 113 passing Becks, Kris and I made our way to the yard, which had been a feature of my model railroad, and caught 113 working its way through the historic trackage and passing 2003.
Back in 1986, I had photographed 2003 in an earlier incarnation as Grand Trunk Western 6253, which had arrived in my old haunt of Palmer, Massachusetts on a fiber-optic cable laying train. This stuck in my mind because it was the first time I’d ever seen a six-motor diesel on the Central Vermont.
My now-defunct Wee Reading Company HO railway. This was my interpretation of West Cressona Yard.This angle was the inspiration for the model. I first stood here in 2014. This photo was made a couple of weeks ago.Central Railroad of New Jersey 113 works past Reading & Northern 2003 at West Cressona, PAReading & Northern 2014 was at the back of the Santa excursion. In 2014, I made first visits to West Cressona and Minersville to photograph 113.And there is the elusive 2003!Central Vermont cable laying train at Palmer, Massachusetts in August 1986. I made my first photos of Palmer from this location in September 1977.
Yesterday, Kris and I were wandering around southern Pennsylvania on an afternoon drive. We crossed the Susquehanna and followed back roads across farm field and through villages.
I saw a highway sign that read, “Stewartstown 7 [miles]”, and so we drove there.
Meandering into the village, I told Kris about how there used to be a tourist railway at Stewartstown. I was wondered if the tracks were still in place . . . and then . . . Lo and Behold, there was a 44-ton diesel with its headlight lit and passengers boarding an Reading Company coach at the old station.
I dare say I was flummoxed!
We went out along the line, and I set up in a forest. After a short while, I heard the bark of an airhorn, and the 44-ton diesel leading the short excursion came around the bend. It was like a dream from another time!
I was running errands. On my way back to the apartment, I found that Greenfield Road under Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line was closed—likely as result of flooding from the recent rains—so I detoured around via Willow Road. On my way, I heard Norfolk Southern’s New Holland local sounding for a crossing.
I approached Willow Road (in greater Lancaster) with haste. With my Lumix LX7 in hand, I pulled over in time to see theNS local freight approaching. I didn’t have much time to set the camera. So, I zoomed in, framed up my photo and exposed a series of digital images.
The first two were the best.
When I got home I discovered that the camera was set to record in JPG rather than RAW. That’s not the end of the world, but not having a RAW file greatly limits the ability to make adjustments.
In this case, it doesn’t matter much, December morning sun produces excellent lighting conditions with very good contrast and color.
I’ve scaled the best of the sequence for presentation here, but the photo is otherwise unaltered, and appears basically as it looked right out of the camera.
I was home about 5 minutes after I made this photo.
Perhaps the greatest concentration Reading Company artifacts is at the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
Thanks to our friend Dan Cupper who arranged a special visit to this citadel of railroad preservation, Dan, Rich Roberts, Kris and I were treated to personal tour.
We were met by the museum’s Rich Brodecki and introduced to a variety of the museum’s volunteers, including archivist Richard Bates. We spent nearly two hours surrounded by vestiges of the late, great Reading.
Highlights of our tour included the museum’s model railroads, especially the HO-scale interpretation of the Reading, which reminded me of what I’d hoped my own Wee Reading Company could have become. This features a coal mine and several villages.
Outside, we viewed a variety of former Reading locomotives and cars. We were given a tour of Reading business car No. 15, which is a remarkable relic of the railroad’s past, and I had the opportunity to see the cabs of a Reading Alco C-630 and General Motors NW-2.
I made these photos using my Nikon Z-series mirrorless cameras. I’m looking forward to another visit in the future.
Central Railroad of New Jersey 0-6-0 113 is one of those ‘Brigadoon’ steam locomotives.
In case you haven’t seen it, ‘Brigadoon’ was a 1940s musical, later a popular film, about a mythical Scottish village that only appears once every hundred years. When I was in high-school, the local summer theatre group performed this production; I played trombone in the pitband.
I use the term ‘Brigadoon’ as an allusion to a tourist railroad (or locomotive) that makes infrequent or rare appearances. In the case of 113, this a locomotive that only makes a few trips a year, which makes it a special treat to see in action.
A couple weeks back, Kris and I made the effort to visit Minersville, Pa., to see the engine, then set up on the old Mine Hill & Schuylkill Railroad route to photograph it in action.
The Mine Hill route was part of my vision for the Wee Reading Company HO-scale railroad that I’d built when we lived in New Hampshire, which made it a special place to see this steam locomotive in action.
In 2014 and 2015, I’d traveled with photographer Pat Yough to catch 113 on this route, and the photos I’d made on those trips were part of the inspiration to make this line the heart of my model railroad.
In this respect, I’d come full circle.
The location we selected was at Becks, west of West Cressona Yard. This offered a relatively open place with good sunlight.
While trying to pick the best place to photograph, I started a conversation with an elderly woman with a house over-looking the line. She told me that she’d grown up to the sounds of idling locomotives at the St Clair roundhouse near Pottsville. “My great grand father had worked for the Reading. He had two train wrecks on a very steep part of the line and told me about many years later.”
I asked if it was ok to stand in her yard to make my photos, and she thought it would be fine. This gave me a better trailing view to picture the steam locomotive at the back of the Santa Special.
I made these views of the passing train using my Nikon Z7-II digital camera. While I was waiting for the train to pass, Pat Yough called to say that Reading & Northern 2003 (the elusive SD38 discussed in previous episodes of Tracking the Light) was in the yard at West Cressona! Stay tuned for more!
Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts on the day after Thanksgiving was a bit light on birds. Kris and I had come to see the Polar Express (published previously on Tracking the Light). However, Mass-Coastal’s empty energy train was also on its way.
I made these photos of the short freight as it rolled toward the famous Cape Cod Canal bridge.
We thought it was neat that we caught several moves through this scenic area in just under an hour. What better place to catch Mass Coastal then in this coastal Massachusetts location?
During the Christmas peak, Strasburg Rail Road operates half-hourly departures on its very popular run to Leaman Place.
This schedule results in steam-hauled trains meeting every half hour on the siding at Groffs near Cherry Hill Road in Strasburg, PA.
Soft winter sun on Saturday and pleasantly warm temperatures made for an ideal time to photograph the Groffs meet, so Kris and I set up just before lunchtime in anticipation of the show.
I made this photographic sequence using my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
I’ve found that successfully photographing holiday light displays requires a bit of patience and some counter-intuitive techniques.
When I used film, a tripod was a necessary requirement. That is not true with modern digital cameras.
I’ve found that my most successful images are exposed when there’s still a hint of light in the sky. These generally look better than when colored lights are photographed against an inky black sky.
For these photos at Greenfield in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I was working with my Nikon Z7-II and 24-70mm lens.
After a little experimentation, I settled on the following settings: ISO 2500, f4, White Balance preset ‘shadow’. I allowed the camera to select the exposure in ‘A’ (auto) mode, but dialed in -0.7 exposure compensation. This was key to avoid over-exposing the lights or allowing the background to appear too bright (my goal was have a dark background, but not so dark as to lose all detail.)
I made some minor adjustments in post processing, including increased saturation, nominal brightening of shadows, and overall adjustment to exposure to better balance the contrast and color.
March 19, 2005: CP Rail freight 412 roars through Delanson, New York on the Delaware & Hudson’s Albany & Susquehanna route.
I was traveling with fellow photographers Tim Doherty and Pat Yough.
We’d strayed off course, having started the morning on the west end of CSX’s old Boston & Albany, and kept pushing west.
I made this image on Fujichrome using a Nikon F3 with Nikkor 180mm telephoto lens.
To make the most of the puddle in the foreground, I took the prism of the camera and held the body close to the water level, while looking down through the fresnel focusing glass. The challenge of this unusual technique is composing the photo in reverse, since without the prism the fresnel projects a mirror image.
