Tag Archives: #Amfleet

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

View Through a Moving Window—Bridgeport—1980.

In the summer of 1980, my brother and I were traveling by train from Rye, New York to Hartford, Connecticut.

We were riding behind E60 957 in a Budd-built Amtrak Amfleet-1.

I made this view with my Leica 3A on Kodak Plus-X, as we came into the restrictive curve on approach to the station at Bridgeport.

The E60s are long gone, as is Kodak Plus-X. But, I have the old Leica on my shelf as a display-piece, and the Amfleet-1 cars are still rolling—yet replacements are on the way.

Tracking the Light Gazes Back Through Time . . .

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Amfleet in New Dress

Over the last couple of months, I’ve seen several of Amtrak’s mid-1970s vintage Amfleet cars rolling by in a variation of the modern Phase VII livery.

Catching these cars on the move takes a sharp eye and quick reflexes.

Below are a few of my attempts at various locations.

Leaman Place.
Bird-in-Hand.
Christiana.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Nice Light on a Keystone Shorty

Yesterday evening, Kris, Seamus, and I paused at Leaman Place in Paradise to roll by Amtrak Keystone 649 that was racing toward its Lancaster, Pa., station stop.

The light was perfect. Clear sky with rich low sun.

Often at Leaman Place, I’ve used a telephoto lens. But yesterday, after experimenting with several moderate focal lengths, I settled on a wideangle view made with my 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom. I set the lens to 27mm. My shutter speed was 1/1600. This nicely stopped the train.

I was impressed by the freshly painted Amfleet cars in the consist. These wore Amtrak’s latest Phase VII scheme. Only after I downloaded and examined these photos did I notice that this was a short consist. Keystone trains are typcially five cars, this one was only four.

Cropped version of the NEF RAW file.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!