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On the trail of the 999—February 19, 1988

At 10:53 am on February 19, 1988, I photographed this Conrail intermodal hotshot passing the 413 automatic signals near Corfu, New York on the former New York Central Water Level Route.

It was on this tangent section of track, that on May 10, 1893, New York Central & Hudson River Railroad staged its famous speed run with the specially proportioned 4-4-0 999.

Kodachrome 25 color slide exposue using a Leica M2 rangefinder with 50mm f2.0 Summicron lens.

In my illustrated book, North American Locomotives, published by Voyageur Press in 2012 (dedicated to the Memory of Robert A. Buck), I covered 999’s famous run with this description:

In 1893, New York Central & Hudson River Railroad staged a speed run under the direction of George H. Daniels, Central’s General Passenger Agent (and unofficial chief publicity stunt coordinator) with a specially designed 4-4-0 with exceptionally tall drivers, number 999. On May 10th, this engine with engineer Charles Hogan at the throttle sprinted west toward Buffalo with a special section of the Empire State Express. On a downgrade tangent near Corfu, New York, he opened the throttle wide; to passengers on board telegraph polls along the line blurred by ‘like a picket fence’, and those timing the train claimed to have hit 112.5 mph! 

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Classic Chrome—February 18, 1988

In 1988, while I was attending the Rochester Institute of Technology, I shared a rented apartment in Scottsville, New York.

Among the benefits of the apartment was that it was in earshot of the former Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh line to Rochester, operated by Genesee & Wyoming start-up Rochester & Southern.

On the afternoon of February 18, 1988, the horn of the southward RS-1 (mixed through freight from Brooks Avenue Yard in Rochester to East Salamanca, New York) was sounding for a crossing. Track speed wasn’t very fast, so I had time to catch the train and follow it in the afternoon light.

Between Garbutt and P&L Junction, I made this view on Kodachrome 25 slide film of the leading locomotive, a former New York Central GP40.

A Kodachrome in Kodachrome light of a southward Rochester & Southern freight from Rochester, New York, the home of Kodak. A few days after exposure I sent the film to Kodak’s Rochester processing plant, which was returned to me later in the day.

This was among a group of slides that I rejected and sorted into a box labled ‘seconds and thirds’. I scanned it last week for presentation here.

Full frame Kodachrome slide, exposed using a Leica M2 with 50mm Summicron lens-February 18, 1988.

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Amtrak 649 passes Christiana, Pa.

The other night wind was fierce, but I braved the conditions to make a photo at dusk of Amtrak’s westward 649-Keystone—passing Christiana, Pa., on the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line.

To capture the action, I’d set the ISO setting on my Nikon Z7-II to 4000, which allowed me 1/1000th of a seond at f2.8. I’d set the focal length of my 70-200 zoom to 150mm, which gave me a good view of the old PRR station to the right of the train.

This view was processed using Lightroom to boost color saturation, correct color balance, and improve both contrast and exposure. I may later import this Nikon RAW file into DxO Pure Raw to see how that software improves the image.

Amtrak ACS-64 652 leads westward Keystone train number 649 at Christiana, Pa., 150mm.

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Tight Shot on Kodachrome—SP in the Sacramento Canyon.

In early September 1991, I was documenting Southern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 4449 with fellow photographer, and noted Southern Pacific author Brian L. Jennison. In between sets of the steam locomotive, we took the time to photograph SP’s freights.

Summer midday sun in the canyons of northern California presented difficult lighting conditions to make photographs using Kodachrome.

Here we were in the Sacramento River Canyon near Conant, California to catch SP’s westward EUWC-M (Eugene to West Colton manifest). I’d set up my Nikon F3T on a Bogen 3021 tripod in vertical (portrait) format in order to capture the train with the famed Castle Crags rock formation in the distance.

My lens of choice was an old Nikkor f4.0 200mm telephoto lens that I’d purchased secondhand a year earlier. This lens was tricky to focus, but offered a wonderful soft color palette that helped compensate for the summer ‘high sun’.

As SP’s EUWC-M came into view I exposed a series of slides. I’d edited some of the other views and filed them away more than 30 years ago, but this one had remained in the yellow Kodak box until a few days ago.

I’ve been gradually sorting, scanning, labeling and filing thousands of my older slides. Although this is a very tight view, it makes me nostalgic for the days when Southern Pacific’s EMD diesels populated the rails of the West. I was especially fond of SP’s classic headlight arrangement that included both fixed and oscillating headlights and a red oscillating warning light, such as featured on SP SD45T-2 9260.

Kodachrome 25 slide exposed using a Nikon F3T with 200mm telephoto.

This was before the use of ditch lights predominated on American locomotives.

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Swedish Crown Illusion

On a visit to Stockholm in May 2010, I made this color slide of a Coradia Duplex X40 long-distance electric multiple unit.

My framing inadvertently visually aligned the curves on the front of the train with a steeple in the background. This created an illusion of the train carrying a tall pompous crown.

Exposed on Fujichrome with a Canon EOS-3 with 100mm lens.

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Unit Train Crossing the Susquehanna

Kris called this a ‘bonus train’. We weren’t anticipating this move. But, it was neat to catch this eastward Norfolk Southern unit train (consisting of covered hoppers) as it crossed the Susquehanna River via the former Pennsylvania Railroad Rockville Bridge.

The repetative patterns offered by the arches and off-white hoppers against the backdrop of distant hills makes for a visually compelling scene.

I made these views using my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens.

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4449 Rods Down—Ooops . . .

On September 2, 1991, at Dunsmuir, California, I made a series of pan photos of the famous Southern Pacific streamlined ‘Daylight’ 4-8-4, engine 4449.

In this image, I was attempting to catch a broadside view of the engine in motion with the driving rods down. While, I captured the rods down, I managed to clip the front of the locomotive and was a bit over enthusiastic pressing the shutter release, so the whole photo suffers from motion blur.

My exposure was f13 (recorded as ‘11.5’) at 1/30th of second. Kodachrome 25 slide film.

Not ever photo wins the prize. This is a qualified ‘fail’. Live and learn.

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Lowell, Massachusetts—August 20, 1987

Sun and clouds. I aimed my Leica M2 at MBTA 905, a former New Haven Railroad GP9 with a complicated lineage.

I like the contrast of the silver locomotive against an old factory shadowed by a cloud.

This is an image characteristic of Kodachrome. This film rendered excellent color in bright sunlight, but tended to result in dark images in cloudy conditions, which was function of its reduced sensativity to the blue spectrum.

Full frame photo. Note the curved corners which are a function of the cardboard slide mount.

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New Train; old Signals

In April 2007, standing on the road bridge east of Limerick Junction, I framed one of Irish Rail’s relatively new Mark4 trains with an antique rod-operated mechanical semaphore. The Mark4 driving trailer was leading the train with an Enterprise painted Class 201 diesel at the back of the set.

The Mark4 train set entered service in 2006, while the signal was retired in late 2010.

This was exposed on Fujichrome film using a Nikon F3.

I scanned the slide with a Nikon LS5000 slide scanner powered by VueScan 98.4.2 software. This enabled me to make a multiple pass scan to maximize data capture. I then conducted final processing of the TIF file using Adobe Lightroom to better balance color, exposure and contrast.

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Meet at Cove.

This is a follow up to Thursday’s post.

Not long after the eastward Norfolk Southern intermodal train came to a stop east of SIP 116 to change crews, the westward intermodal train that we’d been anticipating came into view.

This scene unfolded nicely, and I made a series of photos as the trains passed one another on the old Pennsylvania Railroad ‘Middle Division’ at Cove, Pa.

Bright sun and freight trains on the move brought me back to another time, when photographer Mike Gardner and I caught a series of Conrail freights at this same location.

Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.

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Trolley Stop Motel

Sometimes a wide-angle works better.

SEPTA’s Media trolley is seen working east on State Street.

Years ago I’d made photos at this location. I like it because it features the Trolley Stop Motel.

Often when an establishment makes an allustion to a trolley, the trolley and its tracks are but a distant memory.

Such is not the case in Media, Pennsylvania!

Nikkor 24-70mm Z-series lens set to 36mm. Note the position of the streetcar in the frame relative to the motel.

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In Time—Just.

Back in January, Kris and I enjoyed lunch at the Fox Meadows Creamery in Leola before heading over to Greenfield in Lancaster, Pa.

When I saw the signal was lit green, I knew I was in luck.

I had just enough time to compose my photo before Amtrak’s inspection train raced by westbound. My goal was to catch cars 10002 and 10005 passing the classic signal.

Car 10002, the Corridor Clipper, is a track inspection car, while car 10005, is a former Pennsyvlania Railroad Metroliner multiple unit that has been equipped to perform catenary measurement.

Thanks Amtrak!

Exposed with a Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm telephoto zoom lens. File adjusted using Adobe Lightroom to lighten shadows, control contrast, and adjust saturation and color balance.

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Eastward Intermodal at Cove.

There’s a nice curve on the old Main Line near Cove, Pennsylvania, just east of Norfolk Southern’s timetable location SIP116 (near milepost 116).

We pulled in expecting to catch a westward freight, and saw that an eastward train was approaching slowly.

We had ample time to jump out of the car and get cameras ready. I didn’t want to over complicate things, so I restricted my photographic efforts to just four cameras: Two Nikon digital, plus my Fuji XT1, and a Nikon F3 loaded with Ektachrome. Kris thought this was excessive, but hey! the sun was out and the railroad was alive!

I made this view using my Nikon Z6 70-200mm lens.

Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm set at 200mm, f5.6 1/640 second, ISO 100.

More images coming soon!

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More Media

Photographing streetcars (trams) with a long telephoto presents a visual quandary.

The compression effect offered by the lens can be used to help separate the car from other traffic, while presenting an interesting background. However, the same effect will also compress the streetcar, making an already short vehicle appear even shorter.

Working with my f2.8 70-200mm Nikkor Z-series telephoto zoom, I made these photos of a SEPTA light rail car working east on State Street in Media. This car was on its return run toward 69th Street in Upper Darby. Less than 20 minutes earlier, I’d photographed this car on its outward run, and that image was featured on Tracking the Light a few days ago.

By using a wide aperture, I was afforded shallow depth of field which helps the viewer separate the car from its environment.

200mm f2.8 1/5000th of a second.
200mm f2.8 1/4000th of a second.

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Clear Morning at Rockville Bridge

Last Saturday was clear and bright, so Kris and I headed over to the famed Rockville Bridge over the Susquehanna River north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

When we arrived there was a set of Norfolk Southern locomotives sitting on the bridge and it appeared that scene was set for some action.

We made some photos of the bridge and a few pictures of each other with the iconic spans before heading up river to catch trains on the move. Nice sunlight was a good start, and on this day Norfolk Southern didn’t disappoint . . .

More photos coming soon!

Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens. Nikon NEF RAW adjusted with Lightroom.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens. Nikon NEF RAW adjusted with Lightroom.

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Irish Rail Transition

The mid-2000s saw a rapid transformation of Irish Rail.

Older equipment, some of which had served the railway for decades, was withdrawn as newer trains entered service. Stations were revamped, modified and improved with modern access and longer platforms. A series of new paint liveries were introduced and discontinued in rapid succession. In just a few years most of the trains were transformed from variations of Irish Rail’s orange liveries to schemes featuring two-tone greens and silver with dashes of safety yellow.

On 28 April 2007, I made this view of Irish Rail’s Class 201 diesel wearing the orange with safety yellow front scheme (introduced in 2005) leading Mark II carriages at Portarlington. A new handicapped access foot bridge has supplanted the traditional lattice bridge that connected the up and down platforms, while some work around the station and platforms had already begun. More changes to the station were soon to follow, which included easing the track curvature through the station-area to allow for higher running speed.

This photo is not a work of art, but rather a straight narrative image aimed at documenting the scene as it appeared on 28April2007.

There was a comparatively short window in time where it was possible to make transitory photos like this one. Soon all changed.

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Media 101-on the street.

This is not a class. It’s a streetcar!

My first visit to Media, Pa., was more than 45 years ago. On that trip, my family rode from the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby on a December evening in a vintage Brilliner trolley car. At the time the car was more than 40 years old. I’d made an underexposed Kodachrome slide of the car in the inky darkness

Kris and I made a Media visit in January. On this adventure I caught one of SEPTA’s early 1980s-vintage Kawasaki Cars working the single track line on State Street in midday sun.

SEPTA has plans to retire these relics in another few years, and I was happy to make a few digital photo of this car.

More Media photos will follow over the coming days.

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MBTA 2008

The HSP-46 is a diesel-electric unique to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Last November, we paused briefly on the former New Haven Railroad Shoreline Route at Mansfield, Massachusetts, where I made this photograph of an outbound commuter train led by HSP-46 2008.

The railroad was built in the early 1830s as the Boston & Providence, which was among the first lines in North America to employ locomotives in main line service. This was several years before the development of practical commercial photography.

I wonder what it would have been like to watch one of the B&P’s early steam locomotives working the line and if I had a camera, what sort of photograph I might have made of that locomotive.

Exposed with a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom.

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Norfolk Connections

The morning of 15 September 2006 was clear and bright. It was the third attempt we made to catch Irish Rail’s Ballina-Dublin Norfolk liner from a vantage point in this field near Ballyvary, Co. Mayo.

On this day, many of the containers carried by the train were actually Norfolk Line boxes. While this may seem unremarkable, in practice it was relatively unusual, and on many days the train carried an assortment of 20 and 40 foot containers.

Norfolk Line was a component of the Maersk Group. Years later, this train became the IWT Liner, which years ago was a regular feature on Tracking the Light, as I often photograph it on my extended visits to Ireland.

I have a variety of connections with name Norfolk. My wife Kris grew up in the town of Norfolk, Massachusetts, and in recent years we have paid several visits to Norfolk, thus the photographs of MBTA near the Norfolk Station.

These days, American Class I carrier Norfolk Southern is among my regular subjects, including its local freights on the New Holland and Lititz Secondaries and on former Pennsylvania Railroad main lines.

A decade before I was born, my father paid visits to the Norfolk & Western to photograph their magnificent steam locomotives at work. I have often featured these images in my books, as well as N&W photos from other photographers, including the late John E. Pickett and Jim Shaughnessy.

Ten years ago, fellow photographer Pat Yough and I traveled to Norfolk, Virginia where we visited the Norfolk Southern Museum (that displayed one of my photos on the wall) and traveled on Norfolk’s The Tide lightrail system.

Exposed on Fujichrome using a Contax G2 rangefinder with 45mm Zeiss lens.

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Fifty Five

Today’s Tracking the Light is a ‘happy birthday’ to my brother Séan who was born on this day in 1970!

In this photo, Amtrak’s southward Vermonter, Train 55, crosses the Connecticut River near Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

Back in 2012, Séan encouraged me start a blog, having enjoyed success with his own internet postings on his Sanguine Root.

The Vermonter will turn 30 in April this year!

The photo was exposed in 2014 using my Canon 7D fitted with an f2.0 100mm Canon telephoto. The image was exposed in Canon CR2 RAW format, converted to DNG format using DxO PureRAW 4, then imported into Lightroom for final adjustment and then saved in JPG format for presentation here.

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Then and Now on the Wilmington & Northern branch.

Last weekend, Kris and I went to inspect a location near Coatesville on the former Reading Company’s Wilmington & Northern Branch where my father photographed a Reading Iron Horse Ramble back in July 1963.

I’d often wondered where the 1960s photo had been exposed and now we know.

The good news is that the tracks are still in service, and Reading Company 4-8-4 2100 is still around and presently under restoration.

However, the old Wilmington & Northern Branch has been fragmented and the tracks end a little ways compass north of this location. The other downside to this investigation, as is obvious from the photos, is that the trees and undergrowth have largely obscured the view of the line from the road bridge.

Here’s the very same location last weekend. The trees have encroached rather significantly, which was a little dispointing. Exposed digitally using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.

This is a different angle than my father used 62 years ago, but provides a better comparison by showing more of the scene.

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Fifteen Degrees Fahrenheit

What is 15 degrees Fahrenheit equal in Celsius? My short answer is that 15F is too cold to leave the pub, so Google it on your phone and then we’ll both know!

Sometimes Seamus-the-Dog and I take short adventures together. Last week we nipped over to Strasburg just after sunset. Cold weather often contributes to great evening light and I was looking for an excuse to work with my 3Pod Everest tripod.

Something called an ‘Everest’ just doesn’t convey the sense of a warm weather device, and I bought this tripod for my winter night photography.

While Seamus sat in the comparative warmth of the car, I made a series of photos of the Strasburg Rail Road in the fading glow of a cold evening.

Among the benefits of my 3Pod tripod is that its easy to set up. This is an important consideration when the stinging winter air limits the amount of time I’m willing to invest in night photos before I run out of patience.

Gloves would be a good thing to consider next time around, and perhaps a scarf!

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Railroad Photography 101—My Beginner’s Class

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will be hosting me on Saturday, February 25, 2025 from 10 to noon. Advanced booking is required. The Museum’s promotion reads:

“Here’s your chance to learn some great tips and techniques for photographing your favorite locomotives and railroad cars, in a class led by noted railroad photographer and author Brian Solomon. 

Bring your smart phone, digital camera or film camera and get ready to take some memorable photos of the Museum’s historic equipment, like the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Tahoe, the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 No. 4935 and the Conrail GP30 No. 2233

The Railroad Photography 101 class will be held on Tuesday, February 25, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The cost is only $25.00 per person. The class size is limited to 15 individuals and is designed for beginning photographers ages 18 and over. The inclement weather is date Tuesday, March 4.

Brian Solomon earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photographic Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He produces a daily blog about railroad photography and his articles and photography have appeared in many railway magazines including Trains Magazine, Railway Age, Railroad Explorer, Railfan & Railroad, National Railroad Historical Society Bulletin, Germany’s Modelleisenbahner, the Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society and the UK’s Rail Magazine. Brian was presented with the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s prestigious Fred A.& Jane R. Stindt Photography Award in 2022 for his lifetime achievements in railroad photography. “

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/railroad-photography-101-tickets-1207620317879?aff=oddtdtcreator

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Lost in a Dream

Sometimes I dream that I’m lost in some foreign city. I’m waiting for a tram, trying to get somewhere. I get distracted trying to make a photo. I follow someone and I end up somwhere else. I never see the sky. I never reach my desintation.

I awake and my photos vanish with the dream.

January 2012-exposed with a Canon 7D fitted with an f2.0 100mm lens. If I’ve been here once, I’ve been there 1,000 times.

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121s at the Junction—Lens, Light and Location

Why make photographs in the same places of the same trains over the course of days, months, years?

This pair of images shows one reason. So often, even the same train at the same place looks different every time you photograph it.

Both of the photos below were made of Irish Rail’s V250 (laden sugarbeet train that ran from Wellingtonbridge Co. Wexford to Mallow, Co. Cork.) The photos were made within a few feet of one another in late 2005; these were exposed a few weeks apart, in the final weeks of Irish Rail’s final sugarbeet campaign.

Although both were made at approximately the same time of day, the lighting was completely different. In one the lighting was dull, in the other, the light dramatic because the sun was emerging from layers of cloud. In both photos, a mixed pair of Class 121/141 diesels were running around their train—a move necessary because of the lack a direct curve that would have allowed a direct move from Waterford to Cork.

The dull-light photo offers greater historical perspective. Beyond locomotive 134 is one of Irish Rail’s new InterCity ‘Mark IV’ passenger trains. While the sugarbeet concluded in January 2006, the MarkIV trains wouldn’t enter revenue service until May of that year.

I traveled on the first revenue Mark IV from Dublin to Cork. A few years later, I was a member of the group that worked with Irish Rail to preserve 134. This locomotive is representative of the General Motors end cab diesels bought by CIE in 1961, which were the first EMD’s in Ireland, and among the earliest EMD’s exported to Europe directly from LaGrange, Illinois. (Early, but not the first).

So which is the more memorable photo? Interestingly, both are from my ‘seconds’, since neither image was deemed ‘first cut’ at the time of processing. There’s at least one lesson in that fact.

For both photos, the stories I can’t tell will make for interesting history in the future.

Irish Rail class 121 number 134 is part of a mixed pair at Limerick Junction. To the left is one of Irish Rail’s new Mark IV trains. 45mm lens.
Irish Rail 124 glistens in stormlight at Limerick Junction during a run-around of V250 on its way to Mallow. Exposed with a 28mm lens.

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CT Rail at 12,800-ISO (working with image processing)

Action photos at night are among my most challenging photographic endeavors.

The ability to increase the camera’s ISO to extremes makes capturing moving trains in the inky gloom easier than in my film days. Further aiding these efforts is AI technology used to minimize noise and other camera induced visual defects.

Previously on Tracking the Light, I’ve explored night photos enhanced using DxO Pure Raw software, which I’ve found remarkable.

For this image exposed at Windsor Locks, Connecticut of a southward CT Rail Hartford Line commuter train, I used Lightroom’s ‘denoise’ feature instead of DxO’s Pure Raw.

At some point, I made preform a more detail comparison.

I found that the ‘denoised’ image was in many ways superior to the straight RAW image.

You should see three images below. In addition to a scaled version of the full-frame RAW image, I’ve included two enlargements, one before and one after applying Lightroom’s ‘denoise’ feature.

Full frame RAW file following Adobe Lightroom’s ‘denoising’. This uses an AI interpretation to minimize the high noise in the original file as a result of working with 12,800 ISO. Original image exposed using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set at 24mm, 1/80th of second at f4.0.
Enlarged portion of the RAW file prior to ‘denoising’.
Enlarged portion of the RAW file following AI ‘denoising’ using Lightroom. Notice the lack of ‘pixelization’ (or granularity).

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Big Engine on the Lititz Local

Last week I swung by Lititz, Pa.

Working a vestige of the old Reading & Columbia Line was Norfolk Southern’s H23 local freight.

The power for this short train was SD60E 6987, a distinctive variaty of six-motor diesel that feature’s NS’s blunt-nose ‘Crescent Cab’.

I made this view using my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm Z-series zoom.

Someday the ordinary will be seen as remarkable.

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Canaan, Connecticut-restored relic

In March 1997, I paid a visit to the Canaan, Connecticut Union Station and made a series of photos. In October 2001 a fire destroyed much of the historic structure. A commendable restoration effort repaired the damage and returned the classic building to its former glory.

Kris, Seamus and I paid a brief visit to Canaan in November 2024, and I made series of contempory photos using my Nikon Z7-II.

The Penn-Central era sign is a nice touch

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Saving a Toasted Chrome

In April 2005, I made a bunch of photos on Dublin’s recently opened LUAS tram network.

I loaded Fuji Sensia II (ISO 100) into my Contax G2 rangefinder. Although I exposed the photos using my normal formula, the roll was returned to me uniformly over processed. This resulted in substantially lighter slides than I’d expected.

Despite this problem, there was relatively little data lost. I scanned some of the slides the other day. I was easily able to restore this image by making some basic corrections to overall exposure, highlight and shadow detail, plus minor color corrections. Both the original over-processed chrome (too light) and the corrected version should appear below.

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Rescued Photo from the Archive

On October 4, 1993, I paid a visit to Groveton, NH to photograph this NHV GP9 working trackage around the old paper mill.

It was a dark morning, so I was working with Kodak E100 LPP Ektachrome that was rated at ISO 100, two stops faster than my staple color film: Kodachrome 25.

Despite the faster film, I badly miscalculated exposure and the resulting color slide was too dark for presentation. For more than 30 years, it sat in a Kodak box labeled ‘Seconds’ along with a host of other rare photos, including an Alco RS-11 passing the ball signal at Whitefield exposed earlier the same day.

To rescue the Groveton photo, I made a multiple-pass scan using a Nikon LS-5000 scanner driven by VueScan software. I significantly increased the sample rate to minimize the loss of data. Then I imported the RAW file into Lightroom, where I made a variety of heavy-handed adjustments to lighten shadows and hold detail in the sky in order to make for a more pleasing photograph.

Here, I’ve posted bothe unadjusted ‘dark’ photo, and my post processed version aimed to restore the scene so that it looked more like I recall the light on that morning many years ago.

My original scan of my slide as it appears without adjustment. This is more than a full stop underexposed.
My rescued version of the same scan. I lightened the photograph, adjusted shadow and highlight areas, while making localized improvements to various areas of the scene, and adding saturation and contrast controls.

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One Massive Arch

On our January 2007 Austrian epic, photographer Denis McCabe and I drove a hired car up a hill at Penk in the Alps to score this view of a massive arched bridge on the Tauern Pass.

Traffic over the route is light compared with either the Brenner or Semmering alpine routes. Yet, we caught several trains in a relatively short span of time.

Here, an ÖBB Siemens Taurus electric leads an Intercity passenger bound for Villach in southern Austria.

The scale of the bridge seems out of proportion with the railway; its like an O-scale structure carrying an N-scale train.

Exposed on Fujichrome with a Canon EOS-3.

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Glint Talent

In mid January 2007, I was visiting Austria with photographer Denis McCabe.

On one cool sunny evening, we had set up at Brixlegg, where ÖBB crosses the River Inn. The view west presented the shadowy wall of an Alpine ridge, accentuated by patches of snow.

As the final golden solar rays of this January day graced the rails, I made a series of Fujichrome slides of an ÖBB Bombardier-built Talent railcar on its eastward journey across the Inn.

I’d borrowed a Canon EF75-300mm lens from Denis, and used this with my Canon EOS-3 camera.

The other night, I scanned some of these slides using a Nikon LS-5000 scanner.

Canon EOS-3 loaded with Fujichrome Velvia100, fitted with EF75-300mm zoom.

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Moon, the Stars & Mars . . .

And an SW8.

Working with my Fuji XT1, I made a series of 1/2 to 3 second exposures of Strasburg Rail Road SW8 8618 by the light of the full moon.

While, I had the benefit of a 3Pod Tripod, I didn’t have the use of the specially made clip that holds the camera to the ball head. Unfortunately, that was attached to my Nikon Z7-II, which I’d left at home.

I made due by firmly holding the camera to the tripod during exposure.

After importing the RAF Raw files, I converted these to PNG format using DxO Pure Raw software, and then imported the converted file into Adobe Lightroom for adjustment.

Exposed in RAF RAW using a Fuji XT-1 with 16-55mm Fujinon Lens.

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Shadow and Lights

I’ve been making shadowy photos of trains at Palmer, Massachusetts in the gloom of night since the early 1980s. In my early days, I made black & white night photos of Central Vermont RS-11s and GP9s at Palmer. Back then, I often augmented existing light with a hand held Metz electronic strobe.

On our most recent trip, I made a long exposures of New England Central GP38-2 2168 working purely with existing light.

For this exercise, I braved 10F degrees in a light coat with my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens mounted firmly on a 3Pod Everest tripod. I made a series of 15 second exposures using the Nikon NEF RAW format and then adjusted the files in Adobe Lightroom.

The NEF format offers exceptional dynamic range which allowed me to significanly lighten the shadow areas to reveal impressive amounts of detail.

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

GP40-2s and the Billboard

Palmer, Massachusetts; then and now.

Since Spring 1999, CSX GP40-2s have worked the Palmer local.

I’ve paired two views of CSX GP40-2s on the local at CP83 (control point 83, as measured in miles west of Boston, Ma). In both photos, the lead locomotive is positioned in almost exactly the same place.

The first photo was exposed on Fujichrome using my Contax G2 rangefinder in June 2005, this is from the north side of the tracks; the second was made a few days after Christmas 2024 with my Nikon Z7-II, from the south side of the tracks. Both views feature the trackside billboard, which has been there in one form or another since at least the mid-1940s.

My friend Bob Buck had photographed steam locomotives at this same location with the billboard (or one of its early predecessors).

CSX local Palmer, June 2005.
June 2005.
Dec 28, 2024.

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Railway photography by Brian Solomon