Classic Kodachrome: Burlington Northern SD70MACs near Edgemont, South Dakota

This is one of my favorite Burlington Northern images. Tom Danneman, TSH and I were photographing Powder River coal operations in May 1995.

We caught this empty train working west of Edgemont with nearly new SD70MACs. Burlington Northern had only a few months left before consummation of merger with Santa Fe.

Three Burlington Northern SD70MACs lead coal empties west of Edgemont, South Dakota on May 26, 1995. Three SD70MACs were standard Powder River coal train power. This photo was run large as an opening spread in my book Modern Locomotives: High-Power Diesels, 1966-2000, a title published by Motorbooks in 2002.
Three Burlington Northern SD70MACs lead coal empties west of Edgemont, South Dakota on May 26, 1995. Three SD70MACs were standard Powder River coal train power. This photo was run large as an opening spread in my book Modern Locomotives: High-Power Diesels, 1966-2000, a title published by Motorbooks in 2002.

Shortly before the train arrived into view some thin clouds softened the sun. While this effect tends to spoil a photo, especially those made on Kodachrome, in this rare case, I think it actually made for a better image.

I feel that the slightly subdued contrast works well with the foreground grasses, the framed tree, and the dark paint on the locomotives.

I exposed this on Kodachrome 25 using my Nikon F3T with 35mm perspective control lens mounted on my Bogen 3021 tripod.

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