Tag Archives: #Bangor & Aroostook

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Butt End of a BL2—Northern Maine Junction

In July 1983, I was on an early solo adventure by automobile, and was driving my family’s gray 1978 Ford Grenada. On the advice of my friend Bob Buck, I called into Bangor & Aroostook’s yard and shop at Northern Maine Junction, where the railroad was happy to give me permission to wander around and make photos.

I had several cameras with me, including my venerable Leica IIIa with 50mm, that I’d loaded with Kodak 5063—Tri-X (ASA 400).

I made a variety of studies of the locomotives and equipment, including this unusual angle of an EMD BL2, F3A and GP38. Rarely have I seen images that clearly focus on the back-end of a BL2 and I’m glad I used the light that day to make this view.

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photography

Back End of an Odd Locomotive

Electro-Motive Division’s BL2 was one of the strangest looking diesels of the mid-20th century.

On my visit to Bangor & Aroostook’s Northern Maine Junction yard (near Bangor, Maine) in July 1983, I made a variety of photos of stored diesels.

At the time, most of Bangor & Aroostook’s BL2 and F3 fleet was out of service. I was fascinated by these antiques.

Working with my Leica 3A, I made this study of the rear-end of BL2 number 55 surrounded by other stored diesels.

Although bizarre in appearance, EMD’s BL2 was mechanically and electrically very similar to the model F3,

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photography, Tips and Technique

Best of the Worst!

The other day plowing through my old yellow Kodak boxes, I found one marked in pencil ‘RR-BAD, 2nds & 3rds’.

Translated from my teenaged sorting classification system this was code for ‘real garbage, but not so bad that it should be thrown away’.

Without opening this box, hidden away in the dark for more than three decades, I joked to Kris Sabbatino, “these slides are marked as ‘Bad’, so they must be the best of the lot!”

I explained further, “In my younger days I’d dismiss a photo for the slightest perceived imperfection and classify it as ‘junk’. I know better now! Any box that’s coded as ‘garbage’ is filled with lost treasure!”

Sure enough when I opened this yellow box last night and examined it closely, I found host of fascinating photos. Many only a quick correction away from public presentation.

So what was wrong with this view of a Bangor & Aroostook GP7 at Northern Maine Junction? I’d exposed it on Kodak Ektachrome back in July 1983, and missed my ideal exposure. The original is a bit hot (too light). But that’s a quick fix using Adobe Lightroom.

What you see here is my corrected scan of the original overexposed slide. Not all that bad after all!

Northern Maine Junction near Bangor, Maine on July 3, 1983.

So what else was in my garbage file?

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