Is this what Robert Plant had in mind when he shrieked ‘Valhalla, I am coming!’ in Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song?
Yesterday evening, several of us met at Valhalla Crossing, the restaurant and bar in the old New York Central station adjacent to Metro-North’s Valhalla, New York commuter rail platforms.
It was my first time photographing here.
Late autumn foliage and a twilight glow gave the station a mystical feel.
No midnight sun here! (But the ‘ice and snow’ is on the way.)
These photos exposed digitally using my FujiFilm XT1. High ISO settings were required to make the most of low-light.
I exposed this view of Amtrak 449, the Lake Shore Limited, from a favorite field off Route 67 near Palmer, Massachusetts.
Since 1980, I’ve made hundreds of views from this field. If I put up one new image every day, we’d still be looking at them come summer!
Yet, I still like to make photos from this field, and a few weeks ago it offered a classic vantage point to catch the Lake Shore Limited with autumn color. Sometimes its best to go with what you know!
Exposed using a FujiFilm X-T1 mirrorless digital camera set for ‘Velvia’ color profile.
Tracking the Light posts something different everyday!
Over the last few posts, I’ve alluded to this location at milepost 67. On the morning of October 26, 2013, I was up early. Before 8 am, I photographed at New England Central local at Palmer, and I suspected a CSX eastward intermodal train was getting close.
My feeling was confirmed when I heard that CSX Q012 was at CP 109 (near Westfield, Massachusetts). This was at least 40 minutes away, and I didn’t want to photograph this train at Palmer so I began driving east.
I looked a few old standby locations on my way toward Brookfield, but I was really intend on my location at milepost 67. Why?
Looking west at milepost 67 on CSX’s former Boston & Albany mainline in Brookfield, Massachusetts. EOS 7D with 200mm lens.
On October 25, 2007, I’d caught CSX’s eastward autorack train (symbol Q264) at the Route 148 Bridge at milepost 67. This was a good angle and foliage was just how I like it, but the light was dull.
Move forward six years and the day was clear and bright and the rusty reddish leaves were clinging to selected trees making for a perfect autumn morning.
Looking east on CSX’s former Boston & Albany mainline at Brookfield, Massachusetts. My first visit to this spot was back on Labor Day weekend 1978, when my father brough my brother Sean and I out to watch Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited roll west. Back then EMD E8As were the rule of the day. Somewhere I have B&W negs from that afternoon. This image was exposed with a EOS 7D fitted with a 200mm lens.
After a half and hour in the cold, which I used to make some test photos and vignettes of the old Boston & Albany line, I could hear the sound of General Electric diesels working eastbound. In short order the hot Q012 intermodal train came into view with relatively new Evolution-Series diesels.
CSX’s hot intermodal train symbol Q012 chugs eastward at milepost 67. Cross-lighting the train adds a sense of drama and provides visual balance to the trees at the right of the locomotives. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.
I’ll tick that off in the ‘success’ category. Since the next eastward train hadn’t reached Pittsfield, I decided to get some writing done and called it a day.
Trailing view of CSX Q012 at Brookfield. This would make a great view of a westward train here at sunrise. A week later, I caught a nice afternoon image from this angle on the bridge and that will be the subject of another post. Stayed tuned!
On October 9, 2004, Vermont Rail System freight 263 is near the summit of the old Rutland Railroad near Mt Holly, Vermont.
Nine years ago today, I exposed this photograph of Vermont Rail System train 263 at Mt. Holly, Vermont while traveling with Pat Yough and a guest visiting from England.
Compare this view with that as presented in an early Tracking the Light post titled Red Locomotives in the Snow; Mt Holly, Vermont.
Finding peak autumn color is always a challenge, and finding it with a train moving can be even more difficult. It always seems that the best color isn’t anywhere near the tracks. On this day in 2004, the view at Mt. Holly was an exception to the rule.
