Only once did I catch Norfolk & Western’s A-Class 2-6-6-4 under steam.

My pal TSH and I were on our annual two-week summer photography adventure.

July 23, 1988, was a rainy, gray day, and we found ourselves in Erie, Pennsylvania. Our aim was to make photographs of Conrail on the Water Level Route, but the weather wasn’t ideal for that objective, so we took a break from modern mainline action for a steam interlude.

We set up on Erie’s 19th Street along the route of the former Nickel Plate Road—the trade name of the predecessor railroad (in case the context wasn’t clear). After a short wait, the big locomotive came walking down the street, much to the astonishment of some of Erie’s residents.

I made a couple of Kodachrome slides of the event, and my general feeling is that, despite the weather, the color photos are better than this pair of black-and-white images.

Part of the problem with the black-and-white images is that I’d underprocessed the negatives. I recall the disappointment of looking over the still-wet film when I realized what I’d done: I’d over-diluted my D-76.

Recently, however, I was partially able to correct for this chemical error using modern scanning and digital post-processing. Now, I find that the trailing view is pretty cool.

Tracking the Light Looks to Improve Old Photographs!