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GP40s in the Lead!

July 30, 1987 was a good day.

I’ve previously posted to Tracking the Light some of my favorite photos exposed on this day on the former Pennsylvania Railroad at Bennington Curve.

In this view, exposed in the early morning light, a set of GP40s lead an uphill train. The roar of the 16-645E3 diesels was intense and it made for memorable drama.

Conrail was really busy railroad in those days. In addition to parades of eastbound and westbound freights, there were light helper moves and a few Amtrak trains.

In 1987 my choice film was Kodak T-Max 400, then a relative new emulsion. After more a year of work with T-max, I returned to using older emulsions such as Kodak Tri-X, which I felt produced better results. However, modern scanning techniques have allowed for pleasing interpretations of this almost 40 year-old negative.

Tracking the Light looks back on Conrail!