Massive double coal trains typically work Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Secondary with two units on the headend and a remote pair mid-train.

We had rolled NS 622 by Riverfront Park in Marietta, Pa., then followed it east to Columbia, where I made this sequence of the train looming out of the darkness and passing the signals at the east end of Cola interlocking.

For the headend, I had my N6-III mounted on a 3Pod tripod, which kept it steady, allowing for the setting to remain sharp despite the relatively inky gloom while the locomotive display a bit of motion blur. When the mid-train DPUs approached, I opted for a hand-held pan sequence which kept the locomotives sharp while the setting blurred. I like the panned photos better.

Tracking the Light explores darkness.