Tag Archives: #Cape Cod

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135mm at West Barnstable

On our first full day visiting Cape Cod, Kris and I paused at the old New Haven Railroad station in West Barnstable.

I’d set up my Nikon Z6 with an FTZ adaptor that allows me to use my older Nikon lenses with the modern mirrorless camera.

One of the more unusual lenses in my arsenal is a 1990s-era f2.0 135mm telephoto with Defocus Image Control. I rarely use the defocus feature, but have found that this lens offers a wonderful visual perspective, especially when used at its widest apertures, which is how I employeed it for this study.

I’m a proponent of selective focus, and this is a great tool for experimenting.

There were no trains on the horizon during our brief visit, so I selectively focused on the historic rolling stock that has been stored at West Barnstable for many years. I’ve previously feature these old railroad cars on Tracking the Light. On each visit the trials of time seem more evident.

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Hyannis Yard Revisited

Autumn afternoon light offers photographic potential at Mass Coastal’s Hyannis, Massachusetts yard.

Last week, we paid a brief visit to this repository of railroad antiques where I made a few photosgraphs with my Nikon Z cameras.

The yard is largely fenced, and rather than disguise this condition, I’ve included the fencing in some of my compositions.

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Imagining Orleans

Kris and I are on our annual visit to Cape Cod.

Every morning, we’ve stopped for breakfast and coffee at the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans, Massachusetts. This is located near the site of the former Old Colony Railroad Station (a component of the New Haven System).

The railroad has been gone for more than half a century. Today little remains of the Old Colony at Orleans except the right of way, a mural, and a few signs.

The Cape Cod Rail Trail represents an adaptive re-use of the track bed.

I try to imagine the sound of a 4-4-0 approaching the town with a short passenger train in tow.

It’s just not there for me. The ghosts of the Old Colony are ephemeral. I need some stronger coffee.

Rail trail looking west toward Buzzards Bay.
Rail trail looking railroad east toward Provincetown. This is more or less on the site of the old station.
This mural decorates a wall near the Hot Chocolate Sparrow. I’ve featured it previously on Tracking the Light.
An old USGS topographical map that dates from before the age of the automobile.

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Tracing Vestiges of the Old Colony Railroad on Cape Cod.

On our November visit to Cape Cod this year, Kris and I spent a day photographing beaches and tracing the route of the Old Colony Railroad line that once ran all the way to the pier at Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The railroad was abandoned decades ago and most of the infrastructure was scrapped or recycled. However, in places it’s possible to see evidence of the old right-of-way, or at least conceptualize where the tracks once were.

I made these photos using my Nikon Z-series mirrorless digital cameras.

A view looking across Pamet Harbor; the former Old Colony right-of-way is visable near the the center right of the photo. The railroad once crossed the water here on it its way to the station at Truro, Massachusetts.
Near Pilgrim Beach, looking compass north (railroad east) on Highway 6A toward Provincetown, the railroad once ran parallel to the road, possibly along the right-of-way now occupied by the electric lines to the right of the road.
Historically the railroad ran on to the pier at Provincetown. I don’t know if the pier pictured is the same pier that actually carried the railroad, or a later structure. Those are questions for a deeper investigation.

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Images of an Autumn Evening at West Barnstable, Mass.

Although there were no trains expected, Kris and I called into the old New Haven Railroad station at West Barnstable, Massachusetts. Late November foliage and fading sun made for some wonderful atmospheric conditions.

I like the signs from various eras that identify this place. The Conrail blue sign is especially cool.

In earlier posts (from 2018, 2021 and 2022) I’ve featured the decaying Delaware & Hudson cabooses that reside here and passing Mass-Coastal/Cape Cod Central trains.

[See: http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/ballast-train-at-west-barnstable-massachusetts/ and http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/dh-caboose-in-the-rain/ ]

All photos presented here were made with my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm Z-series lens; NEF RAW files were adjusted with Adobe Lightroom to make the most of the scene.

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Freight Pan Silo

Last Friday evening (April 23, 2021), Kris Sabbatino & I made sunset photos at the Cape Cod Canal lift bridge.

Mass-Coastal’s freight was assembling its train at Canal Junction in Bourne, Massachusetts, giving us several opportunities for silhouettes of the train moving across the bridge.

Clear skies made for ideal sunset silhouette conditions.

Working with my Nikon Z6 digital camera with 24-70mm f4.0 lens I panned the train as it pulled north across the bridge. For this image, I had the ISO set to 100, aperture set to f4.0 (it’s widest setting), and the shutter at 3/5ths of a second to capture the motion.

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GP28 Details

Model GP28 with just over two-dozen domestic examples built may be considered one of General Motors Electro-Motive Division more obscure diesel-electrics.

It was contemporary with the relatively popular GP35 with which it shares a similar external appearance.

Where EMD’s GP35 was a high-horsepower model using a turbocharged variation of the 16-567 diesel to deliver 2,500 hp, the GP28 used a 16-567D1 aspirated with a Roots blower and delivered just 1,800 hp.

The GP28 was only in production for a few months during 1964 and 1965, and may be viewed as a transitional model between the GP18 and GP38.

I don’t recall having ever photographed a GP28 in action until last Friday.

Kris Sabbatino and I were fortunate to capture Mass Coastal GP28 2009 during the course of its daily duties on Cape Cod.

Working with my Nikon Z6, I made these photos as it worked near the Cape Cod Canal lift bridge at Bourne, Massachusetts and nearby at Monument Beach on the Falmouth Branch.

Monument Beach, Massachusetts.

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Trash Train at Sandwich.

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Not to be confused for ‘trash talk’.

Mass Coastal’s loaded unit trash train crosses a salt marsh at Sandwich, Massachusetts.

This was a grab shot. Total set up time: about 7 heartbeats.

Zoom lens set at 55mm; exposure f5.6 1/500th second ISO 200. File scaled in Lightroom for internet presentation. Both RAW and JPG files were exposed together, but this image is scaled using the in-camera JPG with a ‘Velvia’ color profile.

The lessons:

  • Think fast.
  • Have your camera on your lap.
  • Keep it set and ‘ready to go’.
  • Avoid centering the train.

Exposed digitally using my FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm Fujinon zoom.

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