Last week, evening light at Canaan, Connecticut made for some colorful photos of the assorted EMD diesels at the Housatonic Railroad shops south of town.
Lurking among the GP35s, GP15-1s, and other myriad products of Electro-Motive Division’s LaGrange, Illinois plant was a lone RS-3M, a locomotive with the body of an old Alco and the heart of an EMD.
I exposed these images digitally using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens.
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In March 1997, I paid a visit to the Canaan, Connecticut Union Station and made a series of photos. In October 2001 a fire destroyed much of the historic structure. A commendable restoration effort repaired the damage and returned the classic building to its former glory.
Kris, Seamus and I paid a brief visit to Canaan in November 2024, and I made series of contempory photos using my Nikon Z7-II.
The Penn-Central era sign is a nice touch
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The old Beechers Falls Branch was a vestige of Maine Central’s foray into Quebec that survived on Maine Central’s system in later years as a truncated appendage accessed by trackage rights over Boston & Maine and Grand Trunk lines.
After Maine Central gave up, various short lines had operated the trackage. Today the line to Beechers Falls, Vermont is a trail.
Beechers Falls itself is a curiosity on a narrow strip of land wedged tightly between New Hampshire and Quebec.
On Saturday (May 23, 2020) Kris Sabbatino and I explored this abandoned line.
I made these photos where the Branch crossed the upper reaches of the Connecticut River at Canaan, Vermont.
Working with a Nikkormat FT with an f2.8 24mm Nikkor lens, I exposed Ilford HP5 400 ISO black & white film.
Although I intended to process this in Ilford ID11, yesterday, I realized that I was all out of that developer, so instead I worked with Kodak HC110, which I mixed as ‘dilution B’ (1-32 with water). Before my primary process, I mixed a very weak ‘presoak’ (1-300 with water and Kodak Photoflo) and soaked the film for five minutes, then introduced my primary developer for 4 minutes 30 seconds.
Last night Kris and I scanned the negatives using an Epson V500 flatbed scanner with Epson’s provided software.
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A little more than a month after the events of 911, the historic Canaan, Connecticut Union Station was destroyed by fire.
Thankfully the classic structure has since been reconstructed and today it stands along the Housatonic Railroad line where the old Central New England route once crossed.
I made these photos last week on a visit to Canaan. Sometimes it helps to be in position at a sunrise and watch how the light changes as the sun climbs into the sky.
I featured the old Canaan Union Station in my book Railroad Stations published by MetroBooks in 1998.
For more information on the station see: https://canaanunionstation.com/history/
