Terminus of Rotterdam‘s number 7 tram near the very Dutch sounding Tulip Inn. Lumix LX7 photo
I visited Rotterdam for an afternoon and evening. This is considered The Netherland’s architechtural capital and certainly features a wide variety of unusual modern buildings.
Rotterdam had been left in ruins after the Second World War, and over the last seven decades has been rebuilt in a style unlike any place else I’ve even seen. For me, its next closest cousin is Toyko, and that’s a bit of a stretch.
Lego-land on steroids! Lumix LX7 photo.The famed Cube House, which allows you to wander into an Escher-like setting. Lumix LX7 photoRET train passing below the Cube House. Lumix LX7 photoA burst of sun illuminates at tram paused at a waterfront station. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.Trams with skyscrapers, Rotterdam. Lumix LX7 photoWhat better way to see a city? Rotterdams trams are clean and feature large windows. Lumix LX7 photo
The city has an excellent modern tram system, a stunning underground metro, and world-class railway connections.
The city revolves around the port, is one of the busiest in Europe, and a central focus of much of the water-front architecture.
I found it an intriguing place to make photographs. My regret was that my visit was so short. My three cameras were kept busy through my wanderings.
Lumix LX7 photoErasmusbrug, Rotterdam.Containers outbound at Erasmusbrug, Rotterdam. Lumix LX7 photo.Tram pan in central Rotterdam. Lumix LX7 photo.RET number 8 tram.Number 7 tram terminus.
Tomorrow! Rotterdam Centraal—one of Europe’s newest stations.
Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.
Transportation; Railroads; Railways; Railway Photography, that’s what I photograph. Right?
But what’s the actual subject? What should I focus on? More to the point; what is interesting? And, is today’s interesting subject going to be interesting tomorrow?
Looking back is one way to look forward.
Yet, there lies a paradox: When I look back over my older photos, I regret not having better skills to have consistently made more interesting and more varied images. And also, for not being more aware of what was interesting.
Conrail at signals 81.81 near Palmer, Massachusetts c1983. What was my subject? (If you know me, you’ll know the answer—hint it’s not the westward freight train!). Exposed with a Leica 3A with 50mm Summitar lens.
The lesson is then is about skill: learn to vary technique, adopt new approaches and continually refine the process of making photos while searching for interesting subjects. (The searching is the fun part!)
A truly successful image is one that transcends the subject and captures the attention of the audience.
So, is railway photography really about the subject?
Should all railway photos be serious? Seriously? Waukesha, Wisconsin, back in the day.Are railroads all about locomotives? Here’s a real stack train that looks like a model.I was standing next to Jim Shaughnessy for this one! Surely that makes it a better photo, right? October 2004, Cuttingsville, Vermont.Sometimes it helps to get up close and check for details.Can you get too close? Ektachrome 100VS with a Nikon F3T and Nikkor 24mm lens.Do old Alcos make better subjects? Slateford Junction at the Delaware Water Gap, September 17, 2007.Lonely tracks at Eagle, Wisconsin c1996. I waited, but the train didn’t show up.Fill the frame, don’t waste space, more train, that’s what its all about, always! Right??
Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.
When I was exploring Santa Fe’s Bay Area operations in the early 1990s, the railroad tended to operate a fleet of westward trains to its Richmond, California yards in the afternoon and early evening.
One afternoon, Brian Jennison and I had set up at the Alhambra Viaduct near Martinez. This was a relatively scenic portion of the line, but beginning to get hemmed in by suburban growth.
We knew that the 899 was on its way. This was a short high-priority piggy back train. The real prize of the day was the premier 199, which often had new ‘Super Fleet’ locomotives wearing the reintroduced Warbonnet paint scheme. But we wanted to make the most of the short train as we had time to make different photos of both trains.
To make the most of Santa Fe’s ‘shorty’ 899, I climbed atop the tunnel west of the bridge, and set up this view using my Nikon F3T fitted with a Nikkor f4.0 200mm lens. The light was classic California blue skies with soft autumnal haze that favored Kodachrome 25. My exposure was f5.6 1/250th of second.
This view minimized the suburban sprawl on both sides of the bridge, along with high tension lines in the valley, while putting the steel viaduct in a good perspective. Was it really 24 years ago?
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I spent this hot hazy afternoon east of the passenger station at Utica, New York watching and photographing trains on the old New York Central Water Level Route.
Utica was unusual because it retained a variety of its New York Central-era structures on a route largely denuded of traditional railroad buildings.
Exposed on Fujichrome using a Nikon F3 with f2.8 180mm lens.
I made a point of include old Tower 30, which had still had Conrail sticker on its door. Without the tower in the picture, CSX AC6000CW 611 could be just about anywhere.
This is just one frame in a sequence. I think a previous image, with 611 slightly further back in the frame might be a more effective photo.
Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.
A modern Alstom Citadis tram glides across cobblestone streets in Reims, France in August 2014. Lumix LX7 photo. Notice the ground-level power supply.
In August, I made a brief visit to Reims in northeastern France. This city is steeped in history and now boasts one of Europe’s newest tram networks, which opened in Spring 2011.
Reims cathedral. Lumix LX7 photo.Trams pass in Reims. Lumix LX7 photo.Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.
Operated by Veolia Trandev, this system covers just 11.2 kilometers (just under seven miles). Like Dublin’s LUAS it uses modern Alstom Citadis trams. These have a distinctive styling variation with front sections designed to mimic the shape of a champagne flute—which pays homage to Reims’ role as ‘capital of the champagne region’
The trams make the same ‘bong bong’ warning sounds as they navigate city streets.
Interestingly, the relatively small tram fleet are dressed in eight different colours.
One of the most innovative elements of the Reims system is its application of a modern ground level power supply that is used through the historic city center to avoid unsightly wires.
In my few hours wandering Reims, I made just a handful of digital photos plus a couple of colour slides.
Eight different colours decorate Reims trams. Lumix LX7 photo.Vestiges of Reims original narrow gauge tram system remain. The modern system is standard gauge. Lumix LX7 photo.A Roman arch tells of Reims history. Augustus was here. Lumix LX7 photo.Near the Roman arch the trams change power supply, going from ground level to overhead wires. Lumix LX7 photo.Lumix LX7 photo.Lumix LX7 photo.
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In August 2014, I visited the battle-sites and grave yards around Verdun in northeastern France. These were the sites of some of the most intense fighting during the Great War.
I exposed these photographs.
Argonne Battle siteArgonne Battle site near VerdunMort Homme monumentMort Homme monumentMort Homme monumentTrenches at Mort Homme monument
DouaumontDouaumontDouaumontDouaumontSite of Bezonvaux village—destroyed in the war.Site of Bezonvaux village—destroyed in the war.Site of Bezonvaux village—destroyed in the war.Narrow gauge tracks at the site of Bezonvaux village—destroyed in the war.Narrow gauge tracks at the site of Bezonvaux village—destroyed in the war.
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RPSI 461 at Islandbridge Junction, Dublin, Ireland at 11:53 am on September 4, 2014. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.
Just a few minutes ago, Railway Preservation Society Ireland’s 1923-built 2-6-0 461 passed Islandbridge Junction near Dublin’s Heuston Station.
The locomotive is on its way to Limerick.
Nice to see steam on the move in bright daylight!
RPSI 461 at Islandbridge Junction, Dublin, Ireland at 11:53 am on September 4, 2014. Lumix LX7 photo.Just a minute later, uniquely painted class 201 diesel 8208 rolled the other way.
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but Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.
It was June 22, 2004, when Marshall Beecher organized a visit for the two of us to photograph from a rooftop opposite A2 tower in Chicago.
This busy plant is where the former Chicago & North Western line from C&NW station crosses the old Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle/Milwaukee Road route from Union Station.
Our visit was timed to coincide with the passage of Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 261 with a passenger excursions. At the back of the train was one of Milwaukee’s unusual Skytop lounge observation cars.
Exposed on Fujichrome Velvia100 using a Nikon F3 fitted with 24mm lens. Exposure calculated with a Minolta MarkIV hand-held light meter. A variation of this image appeared in the book Milwaukee Road’s Hiawatha authored by John Gruber and me and published by Voyageur Press.
After the steam excursion was gone, we decided to make the best of the vantage point and spent several hours photographing Metra and Amtrak.
Thanks Marshall!
Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.
It was autumn 1986. As a photography student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, I’d receive an annual ‘care package’ of new, and sometimes experimental, Kodak products.
At the time I was a loyal Kodak film user, and dedicated to the careful exposure of Kodachrome 25. However, since I was on a shoe-string budget, I was happy to make use of the free roll of ‘Ektachrome du jour’—as we’d call whatever the latest flavor of Ektachrome was being peddled at the time.
Blessed with a rare bright day, and armed with my free roll of film, I wandered around Rochester documenting the railroads and the city. I had K25 in my Leica for the important photos, and loaded the free film into my roommate’s Canon A1 for experimental shots and comparison views.
I exposed this slide of Santa Fe freight cars on a westward Conrail freight using the Canon A1 fitted with a 50mm lens. I panned using a 1/30th of second to convey a sense of motion.
Belgium’s Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges (Belgian National Railways or SNCB) operates a top-notch passenger network with interval frequencies on most routes. This works on a hub and spoke system, where planned changes allow passengers a great variety of destinations.
New EMUs bask in the sun at Ottignies on an August 2014 evening. Lumix LX7 photo with the ‘Vivid’ colour profile.
On an August 2014 evening, I arrived at Ottignies from Charleroi on my way to La Hulpe in the Brussels suburbs. My journey itinerary gave me 13 minutes to change from one train to another.
Ottignies is an old school station with traditional platforms and canopies. While this can’t last forever, I’ll take its situation as a blessing. Refurbished stations are fine for passenger utility, but offer less in the way visual character.
Since I’d changed here previously, I had a sense for where the light would be.
That’s right! I had precisely 13-minutes to make photographs, and I was prepared to make the most of it! (And yes, I exposed some colour slides too. You know, for the record.)
My Lumix has an HDR (high dynamic range) feature that takes a rapid fire sequence of three images and blends them in camera. This increases highlight and shadow definition and produces more even contrast. The subject(s) need to be static however or the feature doesn’t work so well.New sign with old canopies and platforms, a good compromise. An old General Motors powered diesel lurks in the yard beyond. Lumix LX7 photo.Well now this is a bonus. An old SNCB class 55 diesel with a Colas ballast cleaner. Lumix LX7 photo.Colas is a company with a hand in many businesses. They run trains in the UK too.This high contrast scene made for a perfect opportunity to test the capabilities of the HDR feature. I think it did a respectable job of holding detail while balancing contrast. Lumix LX7 in HDR ‘scene mode’.Ottignies is a busy station. As I was focused on the ballast cleaning train, a southward InterCity train arrived. I made a colour slide of it as it glided to a stop then repositioned for this view with my Lumix in HDR ‘scene mode’.I reverted to the Vivid colour profile without the benefit of HDR for this low angle view of this SNCB class 18. This is a Siemens Vectron — the same basic locomotive design that Amtrak is now using on the North East Corridor. Lumix LX7 photo.My train arrived and I took a seat on the upper deck. This was a contrast from the old single-level electric that I’d traveled on up from Charleroi. I was heading toward Brussels in the rush hour, so I was moving counter flow. Lumix LX7 photo at Ottignies, Belgium.
My time in Charleroi had come to a close. My next destination was La Hulpe in the suburbs south of Brussels. While I anticipated taking an Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges (Belgian National Railways or SNCB) train to Brussels and changing trains there, the ticket seller convinced me to try another option.
“It’s cheaper and faster to travel to Ottignies.” Ok, why not.
When I went up to platform 3A at Charleroi Sud, what appeared to be the oldest train in Belgium rattled in to collect me. I ended up riding a line I previously didn’t even have on my map (this turns out to be line 140).
While the train’s inside was nicely refurbished, it retained openable windows, a rare treat in today’s world of train travel.
No sooner than I boarded the train and the rain began, again. But after a while the sun came out and so I made a series of images using my Lumix LX7, which I was able to hold out the window at arms-length while keeping a sharp eye on the rear display screen.
Exposed with a Lumix LX7 with built in neutral density filter engaged, 1/3 second at f8, 80 ISO. Handheld with aid of built in image stabilizer. Looking away from the direction of travel.
Among the Lumix LX7s features are a built in neutral density filter and image stabilizer. This allowed me to make relatively long exposures in bright daylight while keeping the camera steady.
SNCB’s track is flawless, and the heavy aged train provided a solid, nearly vibration-free ride, allowing me to expose a series photos using long shutter speeds intended to blur the tracks and countryside while keeping the train sharp.
Hooray for old trains on good track!
Exposed for 1/8 second at f8, 80 ISO with neutral density filter. The ND filter cuts the exposure by two full stops, so without it my exposure time would have been about 1/30 of a second. Enough for a bit of blur, but not enough for the appropriate effect.
Sometimes I stumble into the past. Although I was keen to explore Charleroi by tram, I wasn’t expecting the vestige of roadside interurban operation on the long line to Anderlues.
Frequency on this line is only about every half hour, and I nearly gave up on this leg of my journey while waiting for a delayed outbound tram at the dark and dire brown-tile transfer station called Piges in western Charleroi.
Much of the route features modern construction on concrete elevated structures and subway, a creation of the Charleroi Metro. However, once beyond a turn-back station at the end of this infrastructure intensive right of way, trams operate on a vestige of the old Vicinal network (once the operator an extensive system of Belgium’s interurban tram lines).
In Anderlues, the tram uses single track gutter-side street running. Let me just say, is this really cool for a modern-day operation. Lumix LX-7 photo.
This includes side-of-road operation with long sections of single track, passing sidings and brick-lined streets. I was astounded. I checked my calendar, and it confirmed that it really was August 2014, not sometime in the mid-twentieth century.
However, as is too often the case, I was on short-time and only had a few hours to explore this fascinating railway.
A tram takes a corner in Anderlues. Moments later torrential rains dampened my photography. Lumix LX7 photo.Hard rain at Anderlues.A tram takes a siding on single track at Anderlues. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.Working single track outbound at Anderlues. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens.This reminds me a bit of my father’s photos of Johnstown Traction Company’s operations in the 1950s. Lumix LX7.Streetside pickup point; an inbound tram pauses for a stop to collect passengers in Anderlues. Lumix LX7.
Having explored Manchester’s modern Metrolink tram system, I traveled by heavy-rail directly to Manchester Airport (which will soon enjoy a Metrolink extension as well), and flew via Ryan Air to Charleroi in Belgium.
Charleroi, like Manchester, is a city that once dependant on heavy industry that suffered from industrial declines. Another similarity is Charleroi’s approach toward rail transit. Like Manchester, it had grand plans for a modern tram network.
However, where Manchester’s Metrolink is a shining example of a modern tram system; Charleroi’s ‘pre-metro ‘doesn’t get top marks for progress, but it has moved slowly forward with expansion plans, and was interesting to ride and photograph.
Planning for the Charleroi Metro began in the 1970s, and while construction has been very slow, in the last few years it has finally opened extensions and now operates nearly 22 miles of light rail/pre-metro.
I was unfortunate to arrive at Charleroi too late to properly avail of public transport (of the rubber tired variety) and resorted to a taxi to my hotel in Charleroi Sud. However, I was lucky to have a room in the Ibis Hotel that faced the railway station and looked out on a portion of the tram loop through the city center. This allowed me to get an early start to my photography, despite my late arrival.
Room with a view! I awoke on clear August 2014 morning at the Ibis Hotel in Charleroi with a splendid view of the Charleroi Sub station and tram lines. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.An inbound TEC tram glides along a shipping canal in Charleroi, Belgium as viewed from my hotel window. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.Tirou Station is one of the few above ground stations on the city center metro loop. No matter where you go, you come back here. LX7 photo.New terminal at Soleimont, Belgium. This line has just recently opened. Trams run every 10-15 minutes midday. Lumix LX7 photo.In central Charleroi, the trams serve a modern subway. A central loop operates in both directions, which can be a bit disorienting, since trams will use the loop as a balloon, and often you can go in either direction and find yourself back where you started and pointed in the opposite direction.Old trams on display at Beaux Arts metro station. Lumix LX7 photo.Old trams on display at Beaux Arts metro station. Lumix LX7 photo.
Compared with Manchester Metrolink’s slick very modern trams and stations. Charleroi’s pre-metro reminded me more of contemporary transit efforts I’ve found in the old Eastern Bloc; it is characterized by Spartan boxy-looking trams and cavernous underground stations with vast amounts of poured concrete. Above ground things are brighter.
While functional and enjoyable to ride, it lacks the glitz and polish of many modern tram systems, especially those in France, and on a whole the system seemed a bit rough around the edges (as is the city and its suburbs.) On the plus side many of the stations are decorated with commissioned modern art, which adds a bit of charm.
Yet, photographically, Charleroi offered fascinating contrasts, making it far more interesting to me than I’d though it would be. Definitely worth a return visit someday!
TEC tram interior. Photographed with a Lumix LX7.Artwork at the transit transfer station in Madelein. Lumix LX7 photo.Artwork at the transit transfer station in Madelein. Lumix LX7 photo.An extension to the Charleroi suburb of Gosselies features lots of street running. Lumix LX7 photo.Waterloo Station, Charleroi, Belgium in August 2014.
I’m saving the best for last: stay tuned tomorrow for street running and a photographic foray on old interurban trackage to Anderlues!
Metrolink is a popular name used by modern urban passenger rail systems.
As a follow-up from yesterday’s post, I’ve included more images from my Manchester visit earlier this month (August 2014).
MediaCity UK.
The present Metrolink colour scheme on the cars is a contrast from the 1990s-era trams that I experienced on my visit in 2000. Those were painted off-white with black and aqua-green stripes. While on this visit, I saw a few of the first generation trams stored at a depot, these no longer appeared to be in service. Too bad, it would be interesting to get photos of the old and new side by side.
I found Manchester Metrolink convenient to travel on and easy to photograph. Tram frequencies were very good and for the most part the trams were well patronized, but not overly crowded.
In my photography I tried to include the environment around Metrolink and not just focus on the railway. Among the more interesting places to make images was in the city centre where the trams run in the streets that were crowded with pedestrians.
Here the Lumix LX7 is an ideal tool. The camera is inconspicuous and allowed me to get some dramatic angles without difficulty. A mix of bright sun and sluicing rain made for dramatic changes in the quality of light.
Eccles. A burst of sun after a prolonged shower.A cafe in the Manchester City centre allowed me to get a bit of lunch and stay dry in between cloud bursts. While the sun is out in this image, minutes before it was gushing rain.The Lumix LX7 allowed me to get some low angle views to accentuate the damp streets and reflect the clouds in the windows of the tram.Urban scene, August 2014.Crowds wait at Market Street in the Manchester City Centre.A bit of glint graces the back of an outbound tram near Manchester Piccadilly Station.
I had the opportunity to travel and photograph two tram systems in two similar cities in two very different countries, with just a short plane ride and an overnight stay between my experiences. To compare and contrast; to ride, travel, and make photographs.
Manchester is a large city that was at the heart of its industrial revolution. It was an early railway centre and an inland port. Declining industry changed the place. But since the 1990s, Manchester has developed a modern tram network called Metrolink that appears to have greatly contributed to a revitalization of the city centre.
I first visited Manchester in the year 2000 when Metrolink was still relatively new and only in its infant stages of development. In the intervening years from then to now, the system has been improved and much expanded. The older trams appear to be out of service and a new fleet is now plying the rails. More lines are planned or under construction.
Manchester Metrolink’s Piccadilly Station is beneath the mainline railway terminal of the same name. Lumix LX7 photo.Metrolink is a growing system. Even at its present size, it offers a citywide transport system that is more extensive than possible to fully experience in one afternoon. Lumix LX7 photo.Ticket machines on the platforms make paying for your journey relatively easy. Lumix LX7 photo.
The system has re-used portions of old railway and integrated historic railway alignments with modern construction. During my most recent visit I found the trams clean, well patronized and well run.
This visit was in mid-August 2014 and the weather was changeable; pouring rain one minute and sunny the next; conditions that are challenging for photography while providing dramatic lighting effects. Although I made a few colour slides with my Canon EOS 3, most of the images I exposed were using my Lumix LX7.
One route now runs all the way to East Didsbury on the alignment of an old railway line. Lumix LX7 photo.Clean modern trams run every few minutes on most routes. Lumix LX7 photo.The old docks are being redeveloped and trams serve modern apartment complexes in areas once occupied by industry and warehouses. Lumix LX7 photo.At times during my visit it rained heavily. I retreated into a coffee shop for some lunch during one deluge. Lumix LX7 photo.
Stay tuned with more views of Manchester tomorrow!
On May 9, 2008, I took a trip on the California Western from Fort Bragg to North Spur as part of research for my book Railroads of California, published by Voyageur Press in 2009.
The attraction of California Western is the gargantuan trees along the line. The railway winds along the Noyo River passing trees reaching hundreds of feet into the sky.
I exposed this image with my Canon EOS 3 using a 20mm wide angle lens and Fujichrome film. The challenge was selecting the appropriate exposure: the shafts of bright noon-time sun making for extreme contrasts with the shadowy tree trunks. What is the primary subject of this photograph? Is it the GP9 situated at center? Or the ominous silhouettes of the massive trees at the right?
One of the spooky parts of this experience is the realization that these massive trees are second growth. The much larger original redwoods were cut down a century ago. All that remains of those leviathans is the occasional stump, some of which are more than a dozen feet in diameter.
My intent of this image was to show a simple juxtaposition between C&NW GP9 4153 and the steam-era coaling tower in the distance.
Exposed on Kodachrome 25 using a Nikon F3T with f4.0 200mm Nikkon telephoto lens.
By this late date, steam was four decades gone, and C&NW was already part of the Union Pacific system, having been absorbed just a few months earlier. Yet, despite UP being the operating company; in Adams, Wisconsin things still appeared to be business as usual on old C&NW.
To put the GP9 and coaling tower in relative perspective, I used my Nikon F3T fitted with a 200mm lens, and found a suitable angle at a distance from both subjects. My aim was to minimize extraneous elements and focus on the railroad interest.
Since the locomotive was static, I used the opportunity to make photos from a variety of other angles. Some of these photos appeared in my book on EMD F-units published by Specialty Press about 2005.
Virgin Pendolino from London at Manchester Piccadilly. Lumix LX7 photo.Cast iron decoration. Lumix LX7 photo.
One of two functioning railway terminals in Manchester, United Kingdom. The third, Manchester Central Station has a vast balloon shed but neither tracks nor trains, and is a lot like Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal now.
I spent a few minutes at Manchester Piccadilly wandering around making photos. There’s a constant unceasing flow of passengers and trains. Many trains serve stub-end tracks below the shed, which a few serve through tracks on the west side of the station.
The contrast between the shed and its cast iron columns and the humming multicolored self-propelled trains below makes for interesting images. But what to focus on?
Afternoon sun illuminates the old shed. Lumix LX7 photo.An electric train arrives. Now look where they put the crossover, smack in the middle of the platforms! Lumix LX7 photo.A bouncy railcar departs Manchester for the hinterlands. Lumix LX7 photo.Playing with the HDR feature on the Lumix LX7 to reduce contrast and improve detail in shadows; possibly the subject of a later post.Old and new; selective focus with my Lumix LX7.
On August 23, 1989, twenty five years ago today in Warsaw, Poland, Tadeusz Mazowiecki became the first non-communist prime minister of a Warsaw pact nation. This symbolic event is credited as a landmark moment in the crumbling of the post World War II totalitarian grip on Eastern Europe.
On several occasions, more than decade after the momentous events of 1989, I traveled to Poland to photograph railways.
If Poland had remained under the old regime, I think it would have been far less likely that I would made these trips. The freedom to cross borders and wander around unhindered remains an important consideration in my travels.
Warsaw Central Station. Exposed on Fujichrome slide film using a Nikon F3T with 24mm Nikkon lens.
I made this view of Warsaw Central Station on May 1, 2002, having arrived by overnight sleeper from Dresden, Germany.
One of the highlights of the S&C route is the often photographed curved 24 arch Batty Moss Viaduct at Ribblehead. Some stunning views of this bridge can be made right off the main road, while the more intrepid photographers may brave the winds and rain by hiking around the massive bridge.
Although TSH and I waited with great patience for many hours, the mythical freight we had hope to see never materialized during our visit. As I wrote yesterday, bad luck. You can’t win all the battles, after all.
Ribblehead. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.Ribblehead station with bovine all around.Ribblehead Viaduct with clouds streaming across the sun.
Britain’s famed Settle & Carlisle is among the great railway lines. Its superb engineering and stunning natural settings, combined with a history of dramatic lighting effects as a result of the surrounding topography have long made this a popular setting for railway photographers.
Many years ago I rode over the line on a trip from Haworth to Arnside via Carlisle, but until a couple of weeks ago, I’d never properly photographed the railway.
My old buddy and fellow railroad photographer, TSH and I used a hired car to explore this fascinating section of railway line. We started near Garsdale and worked our way back toward Settle.
A Leeds-bound class 158 DMU hums along the Settle & Carlisle towards Garsdale in August 2014. Canon EOS 7D photo, August 2014.Old station buildings at Dent on the Settle & Carlisle in August 2014. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.As predicted, an EWS coal train led by a General Motors-built Class 66 diesel near Dent. Dappled sun illuminates the valley beyond. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens, August 2014.
I’ve often heard that this line carried a bit of freight, and my investigations prior to arriving there indicated we should have seen about 6-7 freights during the course of the day. We saw one EWS coal train. That was all. Thankfully, the regular passenger service operated about every two hours, so at least there was some movement over the line. Bad luck, as they say.
The scenery and engineering was sufficiently impressive to compensate for the comparative dearth of traffic and I made dozens of photographs using film and digital photography.
A northward railcar works toward Dent. Canon EOS 7D.In the evening, a class 158 emu approaches its station stop at Ribblesdale. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.
Bright morning in Leeds. Lumix LX7 photo.Bouncy railcars in a bay platform at Leeds. Lumix LX7 photo.
Back in July 2000, I changed trains here. That brief visit left me with a vague impression of a bouncy rail car in a bay platform. Back then, I was on my way to Brontë Country for a weekend on the Keighley & Worth Valley.
Fourteen Years seems like a long time. On this more recent visit, I had time to more thoroughly experience Leeds and its railway terminal. While not a Victorian throwback like London’s great terminals at Paddington or Liverpool Street, Leeds is a busy place with constant parade of trains.
There’s good variety too. In addition to a multitude of diesel and electric multiple units, there’s a fair few HSTs and Class 90 electrics on long distance trains. In the evenings, a the occasional freight rolls through.
In addition from platform views, I found some stunning vistas from the nearby Double Tree Hotel that overlooks the Manchester-end of the station.
Curiously, the bouncy railcars are still aplenty in Leeds, albeit painted differently than I remember from last time around.
The old BR logo still abounds in places. Lumix LX7 photo.Murals cover some trains with regional themes. Lumix LX7 photo.You have to love the old HSTs. The train that saved long distance passenger services in Britain. Study this story, there’s lessons to be learned! Lumix LX7 photo.HST, another view at Leeds. Lumix LX7 photo.Leeds is busy place. No shortage of trains. I think it’s safe to say there’s more action here than at South Station, Boston. Keep in mind these are the noon-time departures, not rush hour. Lumix LX7 photo.Lumix LX7 photo.Leeds station entrance. Soon the rain was cascading down. Lumix LX7 photo.An electric multiple unit glides out of the station. Lumix LX7 photo.Trains pass near Leeds station as viewed from the 13th floor of the Double Tree Hotel. Canon EOS 7D photo.Dusk settles over Leeds. Lumix LX7 photo.In the evening there’s a bit of freight; an EWS Class 66 rolls through with tonnage in tow. Lumix LX7 photo.
Britain enjoyed an extensive canal network before its railways were built. In many places the canals survive, although today they are primarily corridors for pleasure craft.
South of the Leeds railway station, the historic Granary Wharf canal boat harbour has been incorporated into a revitalized area of tourism and commerce, where shops, hotels, restaurants and pubs occupy buildings and space one used for warehousing and industry.
Exposed with a Lumix LX7 at Leeds, UK.
On a cool damp August 2014 evening, I made these photos of a canal boat being lowered through a lock on the old Leeds-Liverpool Canal.
Lock from above. Lumix LX7 photo.Dusk on the old canal at Granary Wharf, Leeds. Lumix LX7 photo.
A few days ago, I flew from Dublin to Manchester, then hopped on the First TransPennine Express at Manchester Airport for Leeds.
It had been a while since I last made this journey, and in that time the trains and the train operators have changed.
The service is frequent, but not so cheap.
Give First credit for a wild paint scheme.Manchester Airport is blessed with a railway terminal within its transport complex. Service to and from the airport run every few minutes to points all over the Midlands region.The interior of the Class 185 DMU has decor that reminds me 1990s German InterCity trains. Lumix LX7 photo.
Ensconced on the class 185 DMU, I gazed out the window as the train arrived at under the shed at Manchester Piccadilly. Here the 185 reversed direction for Leeds and we crossed the services namesake hills. We ran parallel to an old canal for a while, and everywhere the landscape shows scars of industrialization.
Here’s my train as it departed Leeds for York. Exposed with a Lumix LX7, August 2014.
The train didn’t hang around and ran a steady clip, only pausing at Huddersfield before arriving at Leeds. On my arrival the skies opened up and rain cascaded down. So be it.
Hard to believe, but Pennsylvania Railroad’s GG1 electric 80 years old in 2014!
Exposed with a Nikon F3T with 105mm lens on Fujichrome Provia 100 film.
I made this detailed view of PRR’s pioneer GG1, number 4800 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in November 1996.
This machine was different than all the others because it didn’t have Raymond Loewy’s full styling refinement and featured a riveted skin. ‘Old Rivets’ is a favorite machine.
Canadian National had acquired WCL a few years earlier, and while many through freights were operating with CN locomotives a few trains out of Fond du Lac were still assigned WCL SD45s.
I’d made a project out of recording the sounds of these 20 cylinder dinosaurs, while using choice moments to make photos.
This freight had struggled up from Valley siding, where its lead unit had warranted attention from the mechanical department before ascending the five-mile grade to Byron.
The freight was paused short of the grade crossing at Byron, and I exposed this view in the last throes of daylight using my Nikon F3 with Fujichrome slide film mounted on a Bogen tripod.
I’ve exposed this view as a silhouette. Using my Minolta Mark IV handheld light meter in reflective mode, I sampled the mid section of the sky to calculate my camera settings then made a bracket of several exposures. While it’s easier to gauge exposure with a digital camera because you can see a result on-site, many digital cameras are limited when capturing a high contrast scene such as this one without making multiple exposures.
As regular viewers of Tracking the Light might recognize, I’ve made a variety of photos at Byron, Wisconsin over the years. Key to this composition is my positioning of the codeline, which conveniently switches from one side of the tracks to the other just shy of the grade crossing.
In yesterday’s Tracking the Light post, I extolled the virtues of Kodachrome film as a medium for capturing trains on the move in the fading light tinted by atmospheric pollution.
I’ve made many fine glinty photos on Fujichrome films as well. And speaking of Fujichrome and air-pollution, what better way to combine these topics than to illustrate them with this image I made of a Yamanote Loop train in Tokyo.
I exposed this view on Fujichrome Provia 100F with my Nikon N90S with 80-200mm Nikkor zoom lens.
The sun was out, but a thick layer of smog was choking the Japanese capital, and what a wonderful filter it was too!
Look, it’s not my job to defend the planet against particulates, CO2, and etc, I have good friends that take care of that! (You know who you are). I just use the tools at hand, and a nice thick layer of air pollution can really add color to a photograph!
On the evening of November 23, 1992, I was poised to photograph the action on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor at Grace interlocking at Havre de Grace, Maryland.
I was interested in this angle specifically to use the glint light shortly before sunset. Kodachrome film had an exceptional ability to capture detail in the extreme contrast of sunset situations.
Although it had been a clear day, there was plenty of particulates in the air from tens of thousands of automobiles driving I-95 and adjacent roads. Almost invisible to the eye, this pollution acts as a reddish orange filter and changing the quality of sunlight toward the long end of the spectrum. Kodachrome with its red-bias amplified this effect while its great dynamic range maintained excellent detail in highlight areas.
Sunset on the Northeast Corridor on November 23, 1992. Exposed on Kodachrome 25.
Working with my Nikon F3T and f1.8 105mm Nikkor lens, I had only a few minutes before the sun disappeared behind the trees at the right.
Moments before the light changed, a late-running Florida train bound to Penn Station, New York glided into the scene with a 1970s-era E60CH electric in the lead. Perfect!
I’d followed this GP7 down from East Deerfield Yard. At South Deerfield, the local stopped to switch and I made several Kodachrome slides with my Leica M2 and a few 120 size black & white negatives with my dad’s Rollei Model T.
Exposed in June 1987; processed with special recipe in July 2012.
While these images aren’t too bad, I can’t recommend waiting a full 25 years to process the film.
On Christmas morning 1979, I’d flown on a Eastern Airlines Lockeed L1011 from Kennedy Airport to Mexico City. There my uncle Mark met me for a week of travels.
Several days later we were staying in Cuernavaca. We walked from our hotel to the railway station in Cuernavaca, where for the price of about two pesos each, we bought tickets to ride the train to Iguala through the Rio Balsas valley.
At that time the passenger service only ran about once a week.
Exposed on black & white film with a Leica 3A with 50mm Summitar lens.
I made this view of a Frisco 50 foot gondola in the National Railways of Mexico yards near the station. At the time the old Frisco was about to be merged with Burlington Northern. I wonder if this car ever made it back to the United States?
The train ride was one of the most memorable events of my trip. Most of my photos from the train were exposed on Kodachrome film. I only made a few photos of the train itself, as it carried a intimidating armed guard in every car.
It was probably the first week of August. It was hot, humid, and stinky in New York City. The bus carried an aroma of garbage, sweat and diesel exhaust.
My grandmother, my brother Sean and I took a cross town bus from Coop City to Forham Road to go shopping.
My grandmother paid our fare, and we went to the back. As we stopped to collect passengers, I made a series of photos with my Leica, as you do. Right?
This was one of several photos I exposed with my Leica 3A with 50mm Summitar on black & white film.
The bus was ok, but I preferred our excursions on the subway.
Memory is an indefinite media: I remember making these photos, I just don’t remember exactly when. I think it was the summer of 1978 . . .
My father had a meeting with someone in an office in or near the old mills occupied by the Lyman Outlet in Chicopee. To get away from the monotony of a kid’s life in Monson, I traveled with him.
He spent about an hour in the meeting. I wandered around the old mills making photos with my Leica 3A, mostly using a 21mm Super Angulon, but also with a 50mm collapsible Summitar that was my stable lens of the period.
To calculate exposure I used an old Weston Master III, which by modern standards wasn’t especially accurate, especially in the hands of an eleven year old.
The sidings along the side of the old mills interested me, although there was no sign of activity that day. I was equally intrigued by the brick smokestack and made a number of photographs of this, many of them using a skyward vertigo-inducing perspective.
While 1978, it seemed like completely normal activity for an 11 year old to wander around alone photographing century-old mill buildings with a Leica, now I’m not so sure.
These photos, like many from my early years, remained latent for more than three decades. It wasn’t until 2012 that I finally got around to processing this film. By then, I’d developed a complicated multiple step chemical process to get decent negatives from old film.
Ironically, I probably ended up with better negatives than if I’d tried to process these at the time. My processing abilities from the 1970s were handicapped by inadequate understanding of the chemical processes and a tendency to keep using chemistry even after it was exhausted. My resulting negatives were often too thin to print.
I scanned these using my Epson V600 scanner. Until now, no one except me has ever seen them.
I was waiting with Ciarán Cooney for the up-IWT liner when I made this photo of the Cork-Dublin Mark4 push-pull in the Gullet on approach to Heuston Station. Lumix LX7 photo.The Mark4 set was blocked at the signals in the Gullet, while an outbound Inter City Rail departed Heuston Station.Irish Rail class 201 diesel numbe 224 worked the back of the Mark4. Locomotives typically face Cork on the Mark4. Lumix LX7 photo.Not long after the Mark4 had passed, the IWT Liner with locomotive 206 came into view. While not unheard of, it’s a bit unusual to find an Enterprise painted class 201 working freight in 2014. Stranger things have happened, but I was happy enough to catch this in the sun. Lumix LX7 photo.
Most weekdays, Irish Rail’s IWT Liner works between Dublin’s North Wall and Ballina carrying intermodal freight. Class 201 General Motors diesels are most common, although Class 071 diesels work it occasionally.
In the last week of July, locomotive 206 dressed in the Enterprise livery for work on the Dublin-Belfast express passenger service, made several trips on the IWT Liner.
This offered a refreshing visual change, from the relatively monotonous parade of trains out of Dublin on the Cork line. On several occasions, I intercepted 206 in its freight duties. Making exposures with my Canon EOS 7D and Lumix LX7.
Another day, another liner. Locomotive 206 works around from the North Wall with the IWT liner heading for Ballina, County Mayo. Lumix LX7 photo.
Since arriving back in Dublin, I’ve had good luck catching one of the two advertsting trams wandering the Red Line. Without much effort on my part, the ‘Join Me’ painted tram, has appeared at all the right moments, and I’d made several representative views of it—as featured in earlier Tracking the Light posts.
By contrast, I’ve found more colourful ‘HB ice cream’ tram, has been elusive and difficult to photograph. This seems to zip by whenever my back is turned, or when I’m walking with a mission in the opposite direction.
My fortunes changed on July 31, 2014, when the HB tram glided down Benburb Street and stopped in front of me for about four minutes while waiting to reach its Heuston stop (which, lucky for me, was occupied by the car in front of it).
LUAS 3014 has paused on Benburb Street in Dublin.
This was just enough time to make a variety of images from different angles. Which is exactly what I’d been hoping to do, since every section of the tram is painted differently. It’s arguably the most colorful LUAS vehicle to prowl the system to date.
Each of the sections of this Alstom Citadis tram have been colored differently with LUAS themed advertising relating to HB Ice Cream. Thus simply making a head on view cannot capture the whole effect.Lucky of me to have a moment to wander along the side of the tram and make detailed views of each of the sections.This end features a refreshing shade of blue that reminds me of another colourful tram that wandered the Red Line about two years ago.This trailing view made from a low angle is my favorite of the group of images because it best shows the various colour sections with minimal distractions. About this time my phone rang while the tram got the light to proceeed.
All these views were made with my Lumix LX7, a camera I tend to carry with me everywhere I go.
