Over the last few months, I’ve paid several visits to the old station at Leola, Pennsylvania on the old PRR New Holland Branch. In 1914, there were two scheduled passenger trains in each direction on the branch that stopped at Leola.

Westward trains from Downingtown stopped at 950am and 358pm, while eastward trains from Lancaster stopped at 530 and 1110am. The line no longer goes east of New Holland, the passenger trains are long gone, and these days train movements are fewer and less predictable.

So while I’ve made few photos of freight on the branch, until last week, I hadn’t managed to catch a train at the old station .

I was delighted to find that Norfolk Southern’s New Holland Branch local had stopped just short of the Maple Ave grade crossing by the station, and I parked and made these photos using my Nikon Z7-II.

Although this location is nice and open, high-voltage electric lines run parallel to the railroad which make for a compositional challenge.

Is it better to try to exclude or minimize the lines, or accept them as part of the environment and include them in the photographs?

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!