Tag Archives: #Acela

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

NextGen Acela at 1/4000th of a Second

I realize I’m a bit late off the mark.

Last Friday, I finally captured my first action photos of Amtrak’s NextGen Acela on the move.

I wanted to photograph this high-speed train at full speed as it passed a landmark structure, so I set up an elevated vantage point across from the old Pennsylvania Railroad station in Newark, Delaware.

When the blue-white headlights of Acela service 2108 came into view, I was ready with my Z6. I set the motor drive to “H*” for a rapid sequence of images and dialed the shutter speed to 1/4000 of a second to freeze the action.

I fired off a burst as the sleek new high-speed train blitzed past.

Wow!

Check out the articulated passenger cars!

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Acela and The Eagle

We traveled on the Orient Point—New London ferry. From the top deck, I watched the progress of Amtrak Acela Express 2166 enroute to Boston on my iPhone using the asm.transit.docs app. As well approached New London harbor, I said to Kris, “We ought to be seeing the Acela pass any minute now.”

The Coast Guard’s Eagle sailing ship was docked near the tracks, not far from the Shaws Cove draw bridge. It was dusk, with a rosy glow in the sky.

As we glided along the water, I framed up a view, anticipating the train, watching the scene evolve in my viewfinder.

“There!” Amtrak came into the frame, rolling silently along, and I exposed a series of photos.

The train is small in the scene and the file required a bit of post processing adjustment, but the overall image is satisfying. In more than 40 years of making photos around New London, this was the first time I’d ever viewed the city from this angle. I cropped the final image for presentation here.

I made two variations by altering contrast, exposure and color saturation.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography.

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On this Day 2014—Acela at West Haven

Eight Years ago—February 7, 2014—I made this trailing view of Amtrak’s Acela Express racing eastward at West Haven, Connecticut.

My father and I spent the morning along the former New Haven Railroad electrified mainline photographing Amtrak and Metro-North trains in action.

f7.1 at 1/1000 of a second, ISO 200.

Exposed digitally using my Canon EOS-7D with a prime 200mm lens.

Yesterday, I made some snowy photos with this same old Canon, which after a dozen years still makes excellent images.

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Tips and Technique

Amtrak at 150 mph!

At Mansfield, Massachusetts, Amtrak’s Acela Express trains are allowed up to 150 mph.

The other day, Kris Sabbatino and I stopped by the former New Haven Railroad Shoreline Route to witness these high-speed trains in motion.

We caught Amtrak train number 2167 (Boston -Wash D.C.) approaching maximum speed.

This gave a short blast before passing the MBTA station platforms, which provided a few seconds advance warning.

Working with my FujiFilm XT1 set for ‘Turbo-flutter’—what I call the fast motor drive ‘continuous high’ setting—I exposed a burst of three digital images as the train raced by.

My shutter was set to 1/2000th of a second.

I converted the RAW files using Iridient X-Transformer image conversion software that makes these into DNG files for adjustment by Adobe Lightroom.

Below are the three closest images in sequence.

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