Among my final photos from Saturday January 2, 2021, were these images of Conway Scenic’s ‘Water Extra’ paused along the Saco River near milepost 64 in Glen, NH.
I was traveling on the extra which stopped while the Winter Steam special performed runbys at Mountain Junction.
All photos were made with my Nikon Z6.
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On Saturday, January 2, 2021, I limited my photo arsenal to just three cameras.
For this view of the Conway Scenic Railroad’s Winter Steam crossing the Saco River at ‘Second Iron,’ I was used my Nikon Z6.
I made some nominal modifications to the camera raw file (NEF) using Adobe Lightroom. Specifically, I lightened the shadow areas, brought down the highlights, while whitening the whites to help separate the steam from the sky and keep the snow looking clean and fresh. I also slightly increased saturation since the RAW capture appeared a bit dull.
Locomotive 7470 was reversing over the bridge after making its first run-by for the photographers on the trip.
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As a follow up to yesterday’s post, I’ve included a second selection of photos exposed with my FujiFilm XT1 of last Saturday’s Winter Steam event at Conway Scenic Railroad. (See: http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/2021/01/04/winter-steam-round-1/)
Yesterday, I presented images scaled directly from the Camera produced JPG files.
To make the most of the images presented in today’s post, I imported my Fuji RAW files into Iridient X-Transformer for conversion into the DNG format, and then imported the DNG conversions into Adobe Lightroom for adjustment.
As previously described on Tracking the Light Iridient X-Transformer does a superior job of interpreting the data captured in RAW by the Fuji X-series camera than simply importing the RAWs directly into Lightroom.
Using the Lightroom sliders I made nominal adjustments to contrast, color temperature, and exposure in order improve the interpretation of the photographs.
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Saturday, January 2, 2021, Conway Scenic Railroad operated its Winter Steam special to Sawyer River hauled by locomotive 7470.
I helped plan, organize and advertise this event.
Instead of traveling on the train westbound, I’d opted to ride the Water Train that preceded it to Sawyers. This allowed me to help set up the location for the first photo stop, and make images of the train arriving.
I then traveled on Winter Steam eastward to Second Iron, where we staged the second photo run by.
These photos were exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 using the the built in Velvia color profile. Other than scale the camera JPG files in Adobe Lightroom, I made no changes to color, contrast or exposure.
More images to follow!
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Yesterday—January 2, 2021—I traveled on Conway Scenic’s Water Train, ‘Work Extra 573,’ that cleared the line of snow and carried the tank car filled with 5,000 gallons of water to refill the tender of steam locomotive 7470.
This was the support train for the main event. Winter Steam was Conway Scenic’s first steam excursion of the new year. Locomotive 7470, the railroad’s former Grand Trunk Railway 0-6-0, followed the Water Train by about an hour, running to from North Conway, New Hampshire to Sawyers and back.
Sawyers is the siding on the old Maine Central Mountain Division located immediately timetable west of 4th Iron, where the railroad crosses Sawyer River.
I made all of these photos using my FujiFilm XT1 with 27mm pancake lens.
Stay tuned for photos of Winter Steam!
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In 1986, my pal TSH and I had been comparing the differences between Kodachrome 25, Kodachrome 64, and Fujichrome 50 slide film.
It was early during this trial period that I made this photo of Central Vermont’s southward freight 562 with Grand Trunk Western 5808 in the lead ascending State Line Hill in Monson, Massachusetts passing the old Zero Manufacturing plant on Bliss Street.
I was very much impressed by the colors in this image when it was returned to me from Kodak, and the appearance of this slide and other K25 images contributed to my decision to adopt this emulsion as my standard slide film.
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In scanning my vintage Kodachrome slides, I found two color views at Rices near Charlemont, Massachusetts that I exposed nearly 15 years apart.
The top view was made looking east from a Mystic Valley Railroad Society excursion to the Hoosac Tunnel in May 1982. We had just over taken a short Boston & Maine local freight heading for North Adams. Interestingly this was my first photo at Rices.
The second photo was made of an empty coal train following a late-season heavy snow in April 1997.
Happy New Year from Tracking the Light!
On this day 32 years ago I exposed this frame of Kodachrome 25 slide film using my old Leica M2 rangefinder with an f2.0 50mm Summicron lens.
Low sun and dark clouds made for a moody dramatic setting.
An Amtrak shuttle working the Springfield, Massachusetts to New Haven, Connecticut run has just departed Springfield Union Station.
The towers on either side of the train historically housed the elevators that connected the platforms with a below-track concourse.
Back in the day, I hand-printed an 11×14 inch Cibachrome print from this slide.
Happy New Year’s Eve from Tracking the Light!
I made this wintery scene of the former Maine Central Mountain Division truss bridge at Fabyan using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens.
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The book High Green and the Bark Peelers describes this then-new bridge (built c1949) which had replaced a traditional wooden covered bridge.
The other day, I walked along the banks of the Saco River in Conway, NH to make this view of Conway Scenic Railroad’s 7470 on its northward run in freshly fallen snow.
The original image was exposed as NEF (Raw file) with my Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera. I imported the file into Adobe Lightroom to make nominal adjustments to color, exposure and contrast. This allowed me to make the most of the directional winter lighting.
Although a largely monochromatic scenic, this is actually a full color photograph. Perhaps I should return one of these days with a film camera?
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Note: To get the full picture, you will need to view this post on Brian Solomon’s Tracking the Light.
I like to find non-standard angles and unusual perspectives to make common subjects, uncommon.
In April 1989, an Amtrak F40PH leading Amfleet, was about as common as it got.
I’d set up along Conrail’s former New York Central Waterlevel Route at milepost 399, near the School Road grade crossing, east of Batavia, New York.
Working with a Leica M2 with 200mm Telyt prime telephoto attached using a Leica Visoflex and fixed to a Bogen 3021 tripod, I selected a rail-level view.
My angle deliberately forces the eye away from the primary subject. Why do this? The bright Amtrak train already dominates the scene, so by forcing the eye downward it makes for an unusual angle that better captures your attention.
An unwise photo editor, might try to crop the bottom 20 percent of the image in a misguided effort to center the train from top to bottom.
Sadly, photographer’s compositions are too often foiled by less insightful editors.
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Another photo from my classic Kodachrome file.
I made this photo of Santa Fe F45 5959, then working on Wisconsin Central, at Valley siding near Fond du Lac on May 20, 1995.
This was in the last light of evening when warm light bathed the landscape. Wisconsin Central had recently acquired a variety of 20-cylinder EMDs from Santa Fe. This is one of many slide I made of Santa Fe diesels working the WC.
I scanned the slide using a Nikon Coolscan5000 digital scanner.
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Yesterday (Saturday, December 26, 2020) Conway Scenic Railroad fired up and operated steam locomotive 7470 for the first time since January.
The 1921-built 0-6-0 made three public runs, two to Conway and its last run of the day to Bartlett over the former Maine Central Mountain Division.
Cool temperatures made for stunning displays of locomotive exhaust.
Wayne Duffett was at the throttle of 7470 working it west at Second River Run in Bartlett, NH in these photos made toward the end of the day.
All were exposed using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens. Working with the camera RAW (NEF format) files in Adobe Lightroom, I made a variety of adjustments to improve overall appearance.
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This is another view from Dresden, Germany exposed with my Rolleiflex Model T in June 2001. It was on the same roll of Fuji Neopan 400 that I described last week on Tracking the Light.
I’m at street level, with the Dresden Neustadt station behind me.
In the first interpretation, I made no alterations to the reversal scan of the original negative.
In the second (below), I’ve made significant adjustments to exposure and contrast.
Tech data:
Exposed using Rolleiflex Model T with Carl Zeiss 75mm lens. 120-size Fuji Neopan 400 roll film. Processed in Agfa Rodinal Special (not to be confused with Agfa Rodinal) mixed 1-32 for 3 min 45 seconds. Scanned with a Epson V600 flatbed scanner, digital processing with Adobe Lightroom.
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Merry Christmas from Tracking the Light!
Last night (December 23, 2020), I made this handheld view of the 1874-built North Conway station for the Conway Scenic Railroad’s Facebook page.
There was nothing fancy about making this photo,
Working with my Fujifilm XT-1 and 16-55mm lens, I set the ISO to 3200, the white balance to ‘daylight’, and based on the in-camera light meter, I put the shutter speed to 1/8 of a second.
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On August 23, 2003, I made these studies of steam locomotive drivers at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s Whitehead shops in Northern Ireland.
I was working with a vintage Rolleiflex Model T with Zeiss 75mm lens and loaded with Kodak 120 size Tri-X.
I processed the film in my old Dublin apartment on Synge Street using the following recipe:
Ilfotec HC mixed to a dilute ratio, stop bath , two fixer baths, long rinse, perm awash, the toned in Selenium 1-9 for 9 minute, second rinse.
The Selenium provides better highlight definition and superior contrast.
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The short days were making photography a challenge six years ago, when on December 22, 2014, Paul Goewey and I photographed the Pan Am Railways office car train at East Deerfield, Massachusetts.
The light was failing fast, and I upped the ISO on my Canon EOS 7D to 1600 in order to stop the action.
I made this sequence of images from the famous ‘Railfans Bridge’ as the OCS backed beneath us,
My RAW files were a little on the dark side and the contrast was very flat, so I made some adjustments in using Adobe Lightroom to improve the presentation.
The last photo shows the unadjusted file adapted from the camera RAW. Exposure was at f3.5 1/100th of a second, ISO 1600, with my Canon EF100mm prime lens.
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Friday evening, December 18, 2020, I made this photos of Conway Scenic’s Santa’s Holiday Express at Conway, NH.
I helped arrange this event, as well as plan the schedule of the train and organize the advertising.
It was nice to get the train in the fading daylight on a frosty December evening.
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I visited Dresden, Germany for the first time in June 2001.
The Dresden Neustadt station impressed me with its arched train shed and vintage mechanical semaphores.
Working with my old Rolleiflex Model T, I made this pair of photos on 120-size Fuji Neopan 400 roll film.
I processed the film in Agfa Rodinal Special (not to be confused with Agfa Rodinal) mixed 1-32 for 3 min 45 seconds.
I like the technological contrast between the then modern train (a Siemens Desiro railcar) and the old signals. This contrast is mimicked in the visual contrast of my black & white technique that produces stark dark lines against fluffy afternoon clouds.
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Wednesday night and Thursday (December 16 and 17, 2020) snow fell in the White Mountains.
The morning of December 18 dawned clear and bright with a few lingering clouds to temper the light.
I made these photos at the North Conway yard where I work for Conway Scenic Railroad.
All were exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 and processed in Adobe Lightroom
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In October (2020), I made this view of the former Maine Central twin-span truss over the Saco River near Glen, NH, while traveling eastbound on the headend train #162 Mountaineer.
This is favorite bridge of mine, but a difficult one to photograph satisfactorily from track side. As a result most of my best photos have been from the engine.
I exposed this using my Canon EOS 3 loaded with Ilford HP5 black & white film. I processed this in a customized split development process using a presoak of Kodak HC110 mixed 1-200 at 68F for 5 minutes 30 seconds, followed by primary development using Ilford ID-11 stock mixed 1-1 for 6 minute 30 seconds at 68f. This technique facilitates exceptional dynamic range and superior overall tonality.
After processing, I scanned the negatives using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner, and made final adjustments to the scan in Adobe Lightroom.
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Monday was dull and overcast.
Monday afternoon, Conway Scenic operated a work train out along the Redstone Branch in North Conway, NH.
After the train left the yard, I walked from my office in the North Conway station a few blocks east to the North-South Road that runs parallel to the Redstone line to make a few photos of the train on the branch.
The next day I sent them to the Conway Day Sun.
Yesterday, December 16, 2020, I was greeted by my photo on the front page of the paper! (Complete with credit and quote).
So I went back over to the newspaper’s offices to make a few photos of the newspaper boxes with the railroad in the distance, and then gave a copy to Dave Swirk, president & general manager of the railroad. I posed him in front of steam locomotive 7470, and then posted this to our facebook.
If all goes well, 7470 may be next up for its day in the Sun!
All photos were made using a FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55 Fujinon zoom lens.
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As a follow up to yesterday’s post, here are a few more choice photos from Good Friday 2002, when I visited Cherryville Junction, Co. Kildare.
Effectively unseen for more than 18 years. The other day, I scanned this roll of Fuji Neopan 400 that I had neatly stored in an archival binder.
All the photos were exposed using my old Contax G2 rangefinder that I’d fitted with a 28mm Zeiss Biogon lens. I had four lenses for the camera, of which the 28mm was probably the most useful.
This lens offer a characteristic look and exceptional sharpness. I still have the camera and the lens, but the body stopped working back 2007, more than five years after these photos was made.
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And it’s a was a very good Friday too. Years ago, Good Friday was a busy day on Irish Rail and there was lots to garner a photographer’s attention.
In addition to Railway Preservation Society of Ireland steam excursions, and ‘extra’ Friday-only passenger trains, Irish Rail tended to operate a lot of daylight freight.
So on the morning of March 29, 2002, Hassard Stacpoole and I joined Paul Quinlan at Kildare for a foray to Cherryville Junction (where the Waterford Line joins the Dublin-Cork mainline) and spent the day rolling by the parade of trains.
I made most of my photos on Fujichrome slide film, but also exposed a roll of Fuji Neopan 400 black & white film in my Contax G2 rangefinder with a yellow filter. I processed this in Agfa Rodinal Special (mixed 1-32) for 3 minutes 45 seconds at 20c.
Then after 18 years in an archival box, yesterday I decided to scan a few of the photos for presentation here.
What may have passed as ordinary in 2002, now looks fascinating.
More to come from that day soon!
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Friday evening, December 11, 2020, I traveled to Conway, NH on the headend of Conway Scenic’s Santa’s Holiday Express to make advertising photos.
A gorgeous wintery sunset graced the sky.
Working with my Nikon Z6 plus 24-70mm lens, I made a series of photographs, exposing in RAW and JPG simultaneously. I had the JPG profiled using the Vivid preset.
Below are three examples.
The camera RAW file (NEF format), the camera profiled JPG, and an adjusted file made from the RAW using Adobe Lightroom.
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In August 2003, I exposed this photo of an Irish Rail ballast train at Tipperary that was in the passing loop.
At the time I was working with a Rolleiflex Model T that used 120 size roll film.
I was using Kodak Tri-X (400 ISO) that I processed in Ilfotec HC and toned in Selenium to improve the highlights. I scanned the photo last night using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner.
There is an amazing amount of detail in this photo. I’ve enlarged one small section of it as an example.
At the time Irish Rail class 141 number 169 was one of the last locomotives operating with the old ‘IR’ logo, a herald remarkably similar to the Portuguese Railways logo.
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On December 12, 2011, I photographed Irish Rail 083 leading the down IWT passing Islandbridge Junction in Dublin. This was an unusually heavy train.
The locomotive was wearing the relatively short-lived silver, black & yellow livery introduced in 2007, and since vanished into history.
It has been 13 months since I last visited my favorite vantage point.
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Last Wednesday, I organized an extra train on Conway Scenic to film for an upcoming television segment.
On the way west we paused at ‘Patch’s’ (a convenience store near Glen, New Hampshire).
While the train was paused, I exposed these photos using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens. I then converted the camera RAW files to DNG format using Iridient X-Transformer and made contrast and color adjustments in Adobe Lightroom.
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On this day two years ago, I photographed New England Central GP38s in the classic blue & gold paint leading the southward 608 at Stafford Springs, Connecticut (Stafford on the railroad).
Working with the FujiFilm RAW file from my XT1, I first converted the photo to a DNG file using Iridient X-Transformer, then imported that file into Adobe Lightroom for adjustment.
To make for a more pleasing image, I reduced contrast, lightened shadows, and lowered the intensity of the highlights.
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Last October (2020), I traveled on a rainy day to Crawford Notch on the head-end of Conway Scenic’s Mountaineer.
To make the most of the moody autumn conditions, I exposed a roll of Ilford HP5 35mm black & white film.
Last weekend I processed this using my split development method in order to maximize detail in highlights and shadows, while providing for rich tonality.
The specifics are as follows: presoak in a dilute bath of HC110 (1-200) for 5 minutes 30 seconds at 69F with minimal agitation, then main development in Ilford ID-11 1-1 for 6 minutes and 30 seconds agitating using three gentle inversions every 60 seconds. Followed by stop (30 seconds); first fix (2 minutes 30 seconds) and second fix (2 minutes 30 seconds); first rinse (3 minutes); Permawash (3 minutes); second rinse (10 minutes in continuous running water), then final rinse of distilled water with a drop of Photo flo. Dry and scan.
Other than scaling for internet, I made no alterations to tonality or exposure in postprocessing.
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In October 2015, I made this photograph of New England Central train 611 arriving at Brattleboro having returned from Palmer, Mass.
The setting sun was illuminating clouds from below, making for that colorful event known as ‘drop under’.
I was working with a Lumix LX7, that allows the photographer to work in JPG and RAW simultaneously.
Below are two versions of the same photo. The top image is the camera-generated JPG, the second is heavily adjusted image that I created by working with the camera RAW file.
There is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ when it comes to adjusting color, however there are some basic guidelines and guiding theory.
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On October 17, 2020, Conway Scenic Railroad operated the annual 470 Club Special. This ran from North Conway to Mountain Junction, then made a side trip down the Redstone Branch to Pudding Pond, before proceeding west over Crawford Notch to Fabyan, New Hampshire.
I helped organize the photo stops.
In addition to the digital color photographs previously displayed on Tracking the Light (and in the pages of Trains Magazine), I exposed a roll of Ilford HP5 black & white film using a vintage Nikkormat FTN.
Yesterday (Sunday, December 6, 2020), I processed the film using my custom-tailored split development technique that I’ve previously detailed on Tracking the Light). This is intended to give the film broad tonality when scanning for internet presentation.
After processing, I scanned the negatives using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner driven by Epson software. These scans were scaled using Adobe Lightroom without any adjustment to contrast, exposure, or sharpness.
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On the evening of September 13, 2013, I made this digital photograph of a southward Crossrail intermodal freight working the right bank of the Rhein near Kamp-Bornhofen. The train is powered by a Bombardier TRAXX electric locomotive, among the most common types of modern motive power working German rails.
The sinuous Rhein Valley offers countless views of the electrified mainlines on both sides of the river. This view was made from the left bank of the river south of Boppard, where I aimed across the water to capture the fading window of sun that lit the tracks later than other nearby locations.
I was traveling with photographer Denis McCabe on a weeklong trip in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, on which I exposed hundreds of digital and film photos of trains on the move (among other subjects).
Canon EOS-7 fitted with 18-135mm Canon zoom set at 117mm, camera-JPG scaled in Adobe Lightroom.
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On the morning of October 14, 2014, Ken Fox led me on a tour of Irish Rail’s Cobh Branch.
At Rushbrooke station, I made this view of an outbound 2600 railcar heading toward Cobh from Kent Station, Cork.
Cork seems especially far away as I sit in the dark in rural New Hampshire (waiting for electricity to be restored following a weather related power ‘outrage’).
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On December 5, 2014, my brother and I, stood on the platform at Overbrook, Pennsylvania along the former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line.
Working with my Canon EOS 7D, I exposed this photo of an approach medium aspect on an old PRR position light signal. At left, Amtrak’s westward Pennsylvanian—train 43—glides toward the station behind P42 number 71.
I made a host of minor modifications in post processing aimed at improving the camera RAW file.
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