In January 1991, I traveled with Southern Pacific Dispatcher JDS to the Tehachapis in Southern California.

Working with my Leica M2 loaded with Kodak 5063 (35mm Tri-X) black & white film, I made this photo of the helpers on the back of loaded unit coal train SNTA-C (Skyline Mine to Trona, California Coal) passing the signals at Bealville.

At the time, I was experimenting with Edwal FG7, a liquid developer that yielded high-contrast and fine grain while producing a deep black.

The other day, I scanned several rolls from this trip and others to Southern California and then processed the scans with Adobe Lightroom.

Below are two versions of the same image. The top is the unadjusted scan, the bottom reflects changes to contrast and exposure aimed a producing a more pleasing image.

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