Amtrak Keystone 649 was minutes away.
We pulled over on Hoover Road near Gap, Pa., and I walked into position to catch the westward train in the golden light of late winter evening.
Gazing to the east, I spotted the blue-white headlights of ACS-64 632 as it took the curves at Gap (east of my location) where I’ve often exposed photos of Amtrak trains over the years.
As I exposed this sequence, the engineer gave a us a friendly ‘toot’ from the head end.
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In modern British railway practice positioned a locomotive at either end of a consist is described as ‘topped and tailed.’
Wednesday evening, Amtrak’s Keystone 649 was running slightly behind the adverstised and featured Siemen ACS-64 electrics at both ends. On the front of the train locomotive 640 led a venerable former Metroliner cab-car.
I’d been tracking 649’s westward progress. It was dusk when we opted to park off Hoover Road near Gap, Pa., to roll by the train. I made these panned photos of the passing train using my Nikon Z7-II with f2.8 70-200mm lens.
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My birthday has been a great opportunity to get great photos.
This year, I was up early and drove to Gap, Pa., where I hoped to find peak foliage. My enthusiasm was high, but the sun was still below the horizon.
Amtrak Keystone 605 was due, and I needed to get a bit creative. So I set my Nikon’s Z7-II’s ISO to 4000 in order to use a fast enough shutter speed to stop the train rolling by a bright red-orange tree in the early morning light.
Back in my Kodachrome days I would have settled for a blur of the train and tree.
On this October birthday morning, I used a shutter speed of 1/800th of a second, which stopped the action nicely. The tree and train made for some nice colors.
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Yesterday evening after work, Kris and I drove to the creamery in Strasburg, then over to Gap, Pa., to roll by Amtrak Keystone 651.
I was hoping to catch a former Metroliner Contral Coach leading in the late sun, but was happy when ACS-64 634 glided around the famous curve.
There’s a lot of dusk and smoke in the atmosphere which cut the light down a couple of stops while softening contrast and warmed the color.
I made this sequence of photos using my mirror-less Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm Nikkor zoom lens.
I made some very minor adjustements to the NEF raw files in postprocessing.
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Saturday afternoon, Kris and I were having lunch at the Speckled Hen in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, when my old friend Dan Howard forwarded me a text with a photo of Amtrak 42 (eastward Pennsylvanian) crossing the Rockville Bridge with a Norfolk Southern GE in the lead exposed about an hour earlier.
We didn’t know the details, but it appeared that Amtrak’s GENESIS P42 (that normal leads the train) had failed. I realized that it was unlikely that the NS locomotive would continue east because it probably didn’t have compatible signaling equipment, but that Amtrak was likely to assign an ACS-64 electric to haul the train to Philadelphia.
We were a little late learning this, and when I checked the tracker (asm.transitdocs.com) train 42 was already east of Harrisburg. Yet, we still had time to finish lunch and check a few locations. My favorite spots at Gap were back-lit.
When I checked the tracker a second time, I saw that 42 wasn’t making great eastward progress, so we backtracked west to Leaman Place in Paradise, Pa. Not only did we make it there in time to catch train 42 with an ACS-64 leading the failed diesel, but Amtrak Keystone train 670 was about three minutes behind it!
Photos exposed using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
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Today the moving truck comes to get our heavy stuff—furniture and what-not— to bring to our new house.
We’ve already moved the bulk of our smaller items including more than 135,000 color slides, 15,000 B&W negatives, and hundreds of books, notebooks and related materials.
In the spirit of this transition, I thought I’d post this view I made along Jefferson Drive, near our Greenfield apartment in Lancaster, Pa.
Amtrak ACS-615 leads train 642 on its eastward journey from Harrisburg toward Philadelphia.
This was among the locations just a very short drive from the aparment. Our new house is closer to the Strasburg Rail Road and the former PRR’s Port Road Branch, and just a 15 minute drive from Amtrak’s Harrisburg line, so I still plan to post regular photos from these locations.
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(even when ‘in-transition’)
For the next weeks the sun will be rising and setting on the north side of Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line where it runs parallel to Jefferson Drive in Lancaster.
I’ve been making a project of working the light at this familiar location.
Amtrak Keystone train 618 is a good choice because this is scheduled to depart Lancaster at 1945 (745pm) which can result in some dramatic backlit photos.
On this occasion, Amtrak ACS-64 number 615 was leading. This elusive electric was on my list of Amtrak locomotives to photograph on the move. I guess I can tick that box!
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I like Amtrak’s Siemens Cities Sprinters—the ACS-64s.
These are powerful, sharp looking and fast!
We had a moment, and I knew an Amtrak Keystone train 651 was less than five minutes away and closing quickly. So we paused along the old Main Line at Bird-in-Hand, Pa.
I don’t where ‘Bush,’ Pennsylvania is, but I wasn’t willing to risk trying to get there to find two ACS-64s on the move when I knew one was so close. (Sorry, it’s ‘bad-pun Thursday’!)
Using my Nikon Z7-II, I exposed a burst of photos as the train raced by trying to make up time as it approached its Lancaster station stop. ACS-64 number 668 was working in ‘push’-mode at the back of the consist.
Below are two of my favorites from this effort. These are scaled from the NEF-RAW capture without alterations to exposure, contrast or color.
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The reverse curves on the old Main Line at Gap, Pennsylvania offer endless photo opportunities.
Amtrak Keystone train 649 is a regular subject for me in the afternoon.
A couple of weeks back, I suspected that train 649 would be worked by ACS-64 no. 642, which specially painted for American Veterans.
I surmised this correctly, however, the locomotive was working the back of the train rather than in the lead (as I would have preferred for photography).
That said, Amtrak doesn’t operate its trains for my amusement, so I made due with the configuration as I found it.
Images exposed using my Nikon Z7-II with 70-200mm zoom.
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By the time you read this, the pink blossoming trees along Jefferson Drive in Lancaster will have leafed out in their Spring greenery.
Toward the the end of the blossoming season, Kris & I took a morning drive with our new puppy, Seamus. We paused briefly along Jefferson east of the westward signal.
Soft lighting made for a good time to catch an eastward Amtrak Keystone as it raced toward Philadelphia along the former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line.
I exposed a sequence of images to frame the train in the blossoms of one of the trees along the road. This was my fourth attempt in this sequence of pink tree photos.
I’ve included both a full frame and tightly cropped version of my favorite from the rapid-fire sequence of digital photos.
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In the summer, the sun sets to the north of the old Pennsylvania Main Line at Greenfield. And during the long days, Kris and I made a number of photos of Amtrak trains on their way to and from Harrisburg under wire.
Now into autumn, the sun is in the southern sky, which lends for a new dimension on this Greenfield location,
I made this photo of westward Keystone train 667 zipping along the old Pennsy with a nicely illuminated autumn evening sky.
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On these long summer evenings, the sun sets to the north of Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line along Jefferson Drive at Greenfield near Lancaster, PA.
Kris and I pulled over to watchAmtrak Keystone 618 glide east as it caught the evening glint. Running cab car first, this trainhad a pleasant surprise for us at the back: Amtrak ACS-64 642 specially painted to honor American Veterans.
My Nikon Z6 has a rapid burst exposure setting that exposes a sequence of images in quick succession which allowed me to catch this ununally painted locomotive on the move.
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I often wonder if titles make a difference in viewership. If I called this ‘Energised ACS-64s ‘ would you have read it?
A couple of days ago, I set up at Leaman Place where the Strasburg Rail Road meets the old Main Line and waited for a pair of Amtrak Keystone services to pass by at speed.
Amtrak 605 was westbound, Amtrak 600 was eastbound. Confusingly, Amtrak’s 600-series Keystone trains are typically let by its ACS-64 electric locomotives that are also numbered in the 600-series.
Inevitably someone will ask me what the difference is between a train and locomotive. The Keystone services are train and carry train numbers. Amtrak’s ACS-64 are locomotives and carry locomotive numbers. One identifies a service (software) the other identies a specific piece of railroad rolling stock (hardware).
Amtrak 605 passed first; while Amtrak 600 passed only two minutes later. Had 605 been running just a little late, I may have scored a running meet.
All four photos were exposed using my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm Z-series Nikkor zoom lens.
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