I’ve been digging through slides from 2010 as part of my epic task to sort, label and file my photographs.
The other night I came across a roll exposed 13 years ago on a trip to the old New Haven Railroad Shore Line Route that I made with photographers Tim Doherty and Pat Yough.
We finished the day’s photography at Niantic Beach on the Connecticut coast where I made this view of a westward Amtrak regional train led by AEM-7 919. I like it because it is an unusual trailing photo rather than a more common head-on angle.
I’ve been searching my slides for a view of AEM-7 915, the representative electric now displayed at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. When I find a suitable image of this now famous preserved electric, I’ll post it on Tracking the Light.
Fujichrome Provia 100F exposed with a Canon EOS-3 at Niantic, Connecticut in February 2010.
Earlier this month, Kris and I drove by Strasburg Rail Road’s engine house where I noticed that the railroad’s SW8 8616 was nowhere to be seen.
“Let’s take a run up to Leaman Place,”—where the railroad meets Amtrak’s former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line to interchange with Norfolk Southern. (Featured recently on Tracking the Light)
When we arrived there, I started to check the Asm Transitdocs app on my phone to see if any Amtrak trains were close. Then we heard an EMD rumble. My hunch was right!
It was 8616 on its was back toward Strasburg.
I made a few photos with my Nikon Z6 and then drove to Cherry Hill to roll it by again.
Leaman Place, Pennsylvania.Leaman Place, Pennsylvania.Cherry Hill Road, Strasburg, Pennsylvania.Cherry Hill Road, Strasburg, Pennsylvania.Cherry Hill Road, Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
I find Amtrak’s old Metroliner cab cars a novelty.
These rolling antiques are vestiges of 1960s High Speed rail that have survived into the 2020s in regular revenue service.
On my exploration of the Lancaster area with Dan Cupper a few weeks ago, we stopped at Gap in the morning to photograph the westward Amtrak Keystone service No. 641, led by Metroliner cab car 9634 with ACS-64 634 at the back.
I wonder if I have a photo of this cab car in Metroliner service?
I made this telephoto sequence with my Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera fitted with a 70-200mm telephoto zoom. The yellow front works well with soft winter sun.
It was a retro 1970s moment at Christiana, Pennsylvania, when I made these coming and going views of Amtrak Keystone train 648.
The Conrail caboose to the right of the train is former Erie Lackawanna that was painted in an usual variation of COnrail blue at Erie’s Meadville, Pennsyvlania shops in 1976.
The cab car is one of the former PRR/Penn Central self-propelled Metroliner cars developed by Budd in the 1960s and characterized Amtrak’s high-speed services in the 1970s and early 1980s. Later these cars were modified and routinely operated to Harrisburg on this route.
Former Metroliner cab car leads Amtrak 648 eastbound at Christiana, PA.Amtrak ACS64 669 works at the back of Keystone train 648 at Christiana, PA.
Photos were exposed using my Nikon Z7-II and adjusted for contrast, exposure and color temperature using Adobe Lightroom.
Tuesday morning in Strasburg was cloudy and dull. I made my way over to Leaman Place where Strasburg Rail Road’s line connects with Amtrak’s former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line to Harrisburg.
I made these photos of westward and eastward Keystone trains zipping along under wire. The typical operation has an Siemens ACS64 electric at one end and a Budd-built former Metroliner cab control car at the other.
Both images were adjusted for color temperature, shadow and highlight detail and contrast in post processing.
Amtrak Keystone train No.646 eastbound at Leaman Place. Exposed using a Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens at 74mm. ISO 800, 1/4000th sec f2.8.Amtrak Keystone train No.641 westbound at Leaman Place. Exposed using a Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens set at 200mm. ISO 800 1/2000th sec at f2.8.
I made photographs of Amtrak at Meriden, Connecticut on two occasions.
The first was in February 1979. My father brought my brother and me out for the afternoon and we stopped at Meriden’s Amtrak station to watch the arrival of a New Haven-Springfield shuttle operating with a pair of Budd RDC’s. I exposed these coming and going Kodachrome photos with my old Leica 3A. (previously featured on Tracking the Light in 2015. See: http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/2015/05/14/amtrak-rdcs-at-meriden-connecticut-february-1979/)
My second visit was on January 2, 1988, when I stopped at a grade crossing just north of the station to catch a southward holiday extra that was running with F40PH 205 and borrowed MARC passenger cars.
Last night, I was able to place the location 1988 photo by carefully scrutinizing the older slides. The distinctive profiles of the buildings to the left of F40PH 205 also appear in the distance of the trailing view of the RDCs, which is how I know that the 1988 photo shows the train approaching Amtrak’s Meriden station stop.
If you look carefully at the 1988 photo, you can see the conductor standing in a vestibule door. The platforms were at the east side of the tracks for trains in both directions, as evident in the first view of the RDC at the station.
Yesterday evening at CP83 in Palmer, Massachusetts in time-honored tradition, Kris and I rolled by Amtrak 448—the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited
I made these photos with my Lumix LX7. Working from the camera RAW, I made necessary adjustments in Lightroom to control highlight detail, color balance and contrast.
Six years ago, I made this trailing view of an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner bound for Los Angeles Union Station at Simi Valley, California.
The on-platform infomational signs were scrolling an ominous message about a Metrolink train that had been cancelled because of a mechanical issue. That’s a modern way of saying; ‘the train failed enroute and your going to be late’.
May 4, 1997: I exposed this Fujichrome slide of Amtrak’s westward Lake Shore Limited (Boston section), train 449 rolling down the Quaboag River Valley near the former Boston & Albany station at West Brimfield, Massachusetts.
This was at a time when the train was carrying a fair amount of freight and mail on the head and tail ends of the passenger consist, and shortly before Amtrak replaced the old EMD F40PHs with new Genesis P42 diesels.
It was just about two years before Conail’s class 1 operations were divided and the old Boston & Albany was conveyed to CSX.
Exposed using a Nikon N90S with 80-200mm Nikon zoom.
Back in 1990, Amtrak’s westward California Zephyr, train No.5, typically traversed Donner Pass midday.
On this July 1990 afternoon, the train was several hours behind the advertised. I pictured it near Gold Run, California on the west slope of Donner.
I’ve been going through my Southern Pacific and Union Pacific photos searching for material for my next book on Union Pacific and its component railroads.
Although this is an old favorite photo, I’ll likely defer to images that show SP or UP freight trains for the final book selections.
Exposed on Kodachrome 25 using a Nikon F3T with 35mm PC (perspective control) lens.
Scanned with a Nikon LS 5000 slide scanner. Multipass scan.
On July 7, 2012, I made this view of Amtrak’s southward Vermonter approaching the Bellows Falls, Vermont tunnel using my Canon EOS7D with a 200mm prime lens.
Telephoto compression accentuates the effects of the gradient into the tunnel.
Earlier this month I exposed this view of Amtrak train 57 on the move crossing a fill on the Connecticut River Backwater just south of Brattleboro, Vermont.
There was soft directional lighting with a textured sky. To better balance the exposure I worked with an external graduated neutral density filter positioned over the front element of the lens with the darkest portion of the filter ever the sky.
I’m not entirely satisfied with the results, but the filter helped.
Luckily, I also exposed a black & white photo that I hope to process with my next batch of film!
I was sifting through some old 120 black & white negatives yesterday and found these photographs from a morning’s photography along the old New Haven Railroad in Connecticut from June 1986.
I started the morning in South Norwalk, then moved down to Westport.
Most of the photos from the morning were exposed on Kodachrome slide film, but I made a few select images on Kodak Tri-X using my father’s Rolleiflex Model T using a 645-size ‘superslide’ insert to obtain a rectangular crop.
Amtrak 904 leads the eastward mail train at Westport at 9:18am on June 25, 1986. Kodak Tri-X with Rollei Model T exposed at f8/11 1/500 sec and processed in Kodak D76 at 68 degrees.
Most interesting to me now are the views of Amtrak’s eastward mail train behind AEM-7 904. This carried a group of baggage cars at the back including some from VIA Rail.
While I have detailed photographic notes from the day, what I don’t have recorded were my thoughts on the experience at the time. This was one of several similar trips I made to former New Haven electrified territory in the summer of 1986.
Amtrak mail train with a VIA Rail baggage car.Catenary masts at Westport draw.
I made this telephoto view of a northward Amtrak shuttle (running from New Haven, Connecticut to Springfield, Massachusetts) using a Nikon F3 with a 105mm lens and loaded with Fuji Acros 100 black & white film.
I like the way the Amtrak train glints in the morning sun.
To maximize tonality and detail, I used a split-development process, first soaking the film in a very dilute mixture of Kodak HC110, then using a more concentrated mix of Rodinal for primary development.
Viewers on Facebook might see this photo in an ‘auto crop’ version. That’s a function of the social media platform. Click on Tracking the Light to get the whole photo!
This nocturnal photo dates from my adventure to Los Angeles last year to document the movement of vintage dome Silver Splendor. (Now Conway Scenic Railroad’s Rhonda Lee).
Amtrak’s Southwest Chief was being readied to depart from the Los Angeles Union Passenger Station when I made this view from the dutch-door of the dome using my old Lumix LX7.
The Siemens Charger was the focus of this image; but the ambient artificial light is what makes the photo interesting. Sort of a Star Wars‘ evil empire glow’.
I was having dinner last night at Palmer’s Steaming Tender. I wanted to photograph Amtrak’s eastward Lake Shore Limited and hoped only to invest the minimum amount of time away from my meal.
I brought up Amtrak’s App on my iPhone and clicked the ‘status’ icon, then entered ‘Springfield’ in the slot for ‘station’ and under ‘train number’ I entered ‘448’ (the number for the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited.
The first time I did this, it estimated 448 departing about 4 minutes late. So I checked again in ten minutes. By that time 448 had departed Springfield about 7 minutes late.
I then switched to the asm.transitdocs.com site that offers a ‘live map’ of Amtrak and VIA Rail trains across the continent, and clicked the window for 448. Among the features of this app is that it will show you the actual speed of the train at the time of its last update. The program updates about every five minutes.
I learned that about four minutes after departing Springfield Station 448 was traveling just under 60 mph (it’s maximum allowed speed on the Boston & Albany to Palmer).
From experience, I know that it takes 448 about 18 minutes to reach Palmer from Springfield if nothing unusual occurs. So 15 minutes after its Springfield-departure, I excused myself from dinner and casually walked to my preferred location near the diamond at the westend of the station.
I waited about 30 seconds and the train passed.
This was the photo I exposed using my Lumix LX7.
Amtrak 448 at Palmer, Massachusetts on August 25, 2019.
Yesterday I met fellow photographer Mike Gardner at the Steaming Tender restaurant in the old Palmer Union Station for lunch.
I had iced tea and the Reuben.
Except for the New England Central switching all was quiet for the first couple of hours.
Just after 2 pm, I said “Let’s head outside, I have a feeling it’s all about to happen.”
Luck, intuition or experience, call it what you like.
At first the trains didn’t favor the light. A New England Central local crossed the diamond northbound. CSX B740 was working deep in the old Boston & Albany yard. The Mass-Central came down from Ware long-hood first. Then everything stalled.
“I’ll bet everything is waiting for the Lake Shore.”
At 3pm Amtrak 449, the westward Lake Shore Limited appeared at the east end of the long tangent on the old Boston & Albany. On queue Mike announced, ‘Headlight!’
I made a series of photos of enthusiasts on the old station platform rolling the train by.
After the Lake Shore, the illusion of a lull continued, and most everyone else got bored and left. CSX B740 had pulled up and was poised waiting for signal. Mike and I decided to hold on. And sure enough 15 minutes behind the Lake Shore was a westward CSX freight—Q427.
After this passed, B740 pulled ahead through CP83 and then reverse back into the yard, meanwhile the Mass-Central was getting ready to head back north again.
All in all in was a very successful day in Palmer. But the keys to our success were timing and patience. If you left after the Lake Shore rolled west, you missed most of the show.
Amtrak 449 westbound.CSX Q427. CSX B740.Massachusetts Central 1751 with interchange traffic.
On our rambles on Friday July 5, 2019, we paused at the trackside grave yard in West Northfield, Massachusetts (railroad south of the junction at East Northfield), to roll by Amtrak 54, the northward Vermonter.
I was giving my cousin Stella a tour of New England curiosities, sights, and infrastructure.
We’d hoped to catch New England Central’s northward 611, a train that we spotted a few minutes earlier, but we ran out of time before it crossed the Connecticut Bridge (located less than a mile from this spot on NECR’s line that runs between Palmer and East Northfield.)
I made these views using my FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm lens.
Amtrak 448 approaching milepost 84 in Monson, Massachusetts. March 1986.
On March 16, 1986, I hiked west of milepost 84 on Conrail’s Boston & Albany route to photograph Amtrak train 448, the eastward Lake Shore Limited(Boston section).
This was just a few months before Conrail single tracked the line between Springfield and Palmer, Massachusetts.
I was keen to document the Boston & Albany’s line that passed through the northern reaches of my home town, Monson, Massachusetts, in the railroad’s traditional directional double track configuration.
This lone image is part of my much more extensive project to document the Boston & Albany route on film.
I exposed the photo on 120 roll film using my father’s Rollei Model T. In May 2019, I scanned the negatives using an Epson V750 flatbed scanner. For presentation here, I adjusted contrast and exposure using Lightroom.
I recently opened a Flicker account under the name: briansolomonauthor.
Among the various albums is one devoted to Amtrak. This features a very modest selection from the tens of thousands of images I’ve made of Amtrak trains during my travels since the 1970s.
Even if you do not have a Flicker account you should be able to enjoy my Amtrak photographs.
This is a work in progress I hope to post new selections on a regular basis.
Click the following link to go directly to my Amtrak Flicker page:
Exposed using my FujiFilm X-T1 with 27mm pancake lens.
Yesterday, Saturday May 24, 2019, I re-visited West Warren, Massachusetts to photograph Amtrak 449 (Boston section Lake Shore Limited) with the old mills and mill dam along the Quaboag River.
I was delighted to find that the scruffy trees and brush that had grown up on the north-side of the line had been cleared away, opening up a vista that I haven’t seen in more than 15 years.
Also, Amtrak was running about 40 minutes late, which combined with a thin layer of cloud to diffuse the afternoon sun, allow for a satisfying view on the north side of the tracks.
Locomotive 145 wearing 1980s-era ‘heritage paint’ was in the lead.
Reminder: Tracking the Light will be undergoing site maintenance and there may be delays to service. (Sorry no bus!).
In late April, Mike Gardner and I made visit to the old graveyard at West Northfield, Massachusetts (south of the junction at East Northfield on the old Boston & Maine), to photograph Amtrak 56 (the Vermonter) on its way to St Albans, Vermont.
Light cloud softened the afternoon sun, which was slightly back-lit at this location for a northward train. To make the most of the old stones and put the entire train in the picture, I opted for my 12mm Zeiss Touit lens.
I made minor adjustments to the RAW file in Lightroom to present better contrast in the JPG image presented here.
In late 2017, I got lucky and caught this heritage locomotive on several occasions, after years of it eluding me entirely.
This afternoon (April 24, 2019), thanks to a tip from my friend Paul Goewey, I caught old 156 again, albeit second unit out, on today’s westward Amtrak Lake Shore Limited (Boston section), train 449.
The view is from the bridge over the railroad and Quaboag River at West Warren, Massachusetts.
Photos exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 with 27mm pancake lens set to the Velvia color profile. Files exported from the camera as JPGs and scaled using Lightroom for internet presentation. No adjustments to contrast, color or exposure.
On March 24, 1997, Mike Gardner and I spent the afternoon photographing around New London, Connecticut. This was shortly before Amtrak began electrification.
I made this view of a pair of F40PHs leading train 175 west of the New London station.
Who would have thought the omnipresent Amtrak F40 would be the subject of a classic photo?
Exposed on Kodachrome using a Nikon N90S with 80-200mm AF zoom lens.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder blitzes Brookfield, Wisconsin on a snow Monday evening during my visit to Kalmbach.
Check out my most recent TRAINS Podcast—Conversations with Brian Solomon, where I engage in a lively spontaneous discussion with Trains Magazine editors Angela Pusztai-Pasternak. We talk about Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, CSX and other topics, often taking unexpected tangents.
While the New CT Rail trains tend to capture most of attention on the Springfield-New Haven route (now branded as the ‘Hartford Line’), Amtrak continues to run its shuttles and through trains on the same route.
I made this view last week of Amtrak 490 working northward to Springfield, Massachusetts as it crossed the Connecticut River between Windsor Locks and Warehouse Point.
I like the distant vantage point, using a telephoto lens to feature the small train on the big bridge.
Sunday, I featured a photo of Connecticut Southern’s southward road freight crossing the old New haven Railroad bridge over the Farmington River at Windsor.
Today’s photo is of the same structure, but in the morning from the east side.
Amtrak train 147 at Windsor, Connecticut. Exposed with a FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm lens.
This classic bridge is easily accessible with good parking, which makes it a nice place to catch trains on the Springfield-Hartford-New Haven Line (now marketed by CT Rail as the ‘Hartford Line’).
Brian Solomon is Traveling: Tracking the Light Normally Posts Daily
The other evening at the modern Amtrak station in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, Trains Magazine’s Brian Schmidt and I set up to photograph Hiawatha Corridor trains during their station stops.
The southward train arrived first, and featured one of the former F40PH diesels, now a cab-control/baggage car in the lead. These are colloquially known as ‘cabbages’, and this one was painted to honor American veterans.
Working with my FujiFilm XT1 and 27mm lens, I set the camera to ISO 6400 and panned the train as it arrived to allow for the effect of motion.
Friday afternoon January 18, 2019, Trains Magazine’s Brian Schmidt and I visited Duplainville, Wisconsin to catch Amtrak’s westward Empire builder, train number 7, as it split the signals in a snow squall.
Amtrak P42 50 leads train number 7 west at Duplainville, Wisconsin.
I was delighted to see that the Milwaukee Road-vintage searchlight signals that I remember from my days in Wisconsin (now more than two decades ago) are still active.
The third locomotive in the Builder’s consist was the elusive Amtrak 156, ‘the bloody nose’—so named for its wearing of the 1970s-era Amtrak paint scheme.
I exposed these views using my FujiFilm X-T1 with 90mm f2.0 telephoto. White balance set to ‘daylight’.
Local photographers had gathered for Amtrak’s daily passing.
Amtrak 156 is one of several ‘heritage’ locomotives wearing paint schemes from years gone by..
I had almost an hour at 30thStreet Station, Philadelphia while waiting for Amtrak 94 from Washington.
This magnificent former Pennsylvania Railroad Station offers a mix of classical and modern railroading.
Wandering with my ‘new’ Lumix LX7, I made this selection of hand-held digital photographs.
Of special interest was the old Solari board used to display arrival and departure information. This was under repair/adjustment. I’ve heard that it may be soon retired.
Many years ago, my old pal T.S. Hoover and I would make a project of photographing the old New Haven Railroad during the holiday season.
This past New Years Eve (December 31 2018), I maintained this tradition, although that wasn’t my intent!
I was transferring from Amtrak 405 from Springfield to Amtrak 195 from Boston. Let’s just say the Boston train wasn’t holding to the advertised and I had ample time to wander around and make photographs of the passing action.
New Haven isn’t pretty, high level platforms combined with a plethora of poles, catenary masts, catenary, signs, garbage, stray wires and other visual clutter hasn’t improved this classic setting, but there’s a great variety of equipment on the move.
Shoreline East lurking on left, CT Rail Hartford Line on right; FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm lens.CT Rail Hartford Line train. Lumix LX7 photo.Shoreline East train with a former Amtrak P40 at the back departs eastward for Old Saybrook. FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm lens.Metro North M8s on left, old M2s on the right. FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm lens..
No GG1s, RDCs, FL9s, E8s or other relics that made this a fascinating place when I was a teenager. For that matter there weren’t any E60s, AEM-7s, F40s or SPV-2000s either.
Boston-bound Acela Express. Lumix LX7 photo.
Boston-bound Acela Express. FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm lens.FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm lens.
Back in October 2018, I reported how my old Lumix LX7 suffered a failure owning to being drowned two days in a row.
Later I reported how I resuscitated the camera by leaving it in a zip lock bag with rice for four days in an effort to dry it out.
For two months the camera struggled on.
In the mean time my old friend Ken Buck offered to sell me his rarely used LX7.
Last week I took him up on the offer, as my original LX7 had finally reached the end of its usefulness.
The other day, I put the ‘new’ Lumix LX7 to the test and made these photos of Amtrak 57, the Saturday southward Vermonter making its station stop at Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
Low sun is a key to dramatic railway photos, and shortly before the train arrived, the clouds parted.
This is now my third Lumix LX-series camera. My first was a LX3, that I used from October 2009 to April 2014; my second was the ‘Zombie Lumix’ previously described. Long live my third Lumix!
