Tag Archives: #Christiana

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Christiana Comparisons

The former Pennsylvania Railroad station and adjacent underpass at Christiana, Pa., have been a recurring theme on Tracking the Light. Recently, I posted a sequence from this location, noting that I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the results. On Tuesday evening, I set up at a different angle on this familiar scene, this time photographing from street level as Amtrak Keystone 656 raced by.

This image was exposed using a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera fitted with a 24–70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom lens.

I wondered what the photograph might look like with different historical film profiles applied, so I imported the RAW file into DxO FilmPack 7 and experimented with several presets. Each profile is identified in the caption below its respective image.

Adjust Nikon NEF RAW file with slight changes to color and contrast.
NEF RAW file converted with DxO Film Pack 7 using the Kodak Tri-X film profile. (This is intended to make the image appear as if it were exposed on Tri-X film.
NEF RAW file converted with DxO Film Pack 7 using the Ilford HP5 film profile.
NEF RAW file converted with DxO Film Pack 7 using the Kodak Elite 200 (Ektachrome) film profile.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography!

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Compositional Considerations

It was a clear evening. We paused briefly at Christiana, Pa., to roll by Amtrak Keystone 658.

The scene was unclutered and I wanted to feature the station and underpass that is the centerpiece of former Pennsylvania Railroad infrastructure in the town.

I framed up the station with a broad window of sunlight beyond the railroad bridge over the road.

When train 658 came into view, I exposed a rapid-fire burst of images with my Nikon Z6 fitted with a 24-70mm zoom set to 24mm.

In the first frame of this sequence, ACS-64 643 leading the train hadn’t made it far enough into the photo and an objectionable shadow fell on the side of the locomotive intersecting Amtrak’s logo.

In the second frame, the locomotive appears to be in visual conflict with the trees/hedges in the background.

The third is nearly satisfactory, except the front of the locomotive is alarmingly close to the righthand edge of the photo.

I think this might need another attempt. I just hope that next time I score another freshly cleaned ACS-64.

Tracking the Light Examines Railroad Photography Daily!

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When the Real Thing looks like a Model

It was frosty and cold at Christiana, Pa. when I set up my 3Pod tripod and composed this image. Amtrak Keystone 656 was just a couple of minutes away.

I had the Z6-III with the ‘Fast Fifty’ set at f1.4, which offers shallow depth of field. I focused on the ‘Christiana’ sign, which put the foreground in perfect focus and set off the background. The lead locomotive blurred a little as it entered my frame.

The resulting effect looks like a model railroad diorama.

I wonder if I’d exposed the photo just a little later if that might have improved the composition, or blocked the background buildings in such a way as to spoil the model railroad appearance.

Tracking the Light explores railroad compositions with an open eye!

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Metroliner and the Subaru

Here’s a compositional challenge.

I wanted to feature three subjects: the old Pennsylvania Railroad station structure, the passing Keystone with Metroliner cab car leading), and the shiny new Subaru.

I faced some difficulties. There was a narrow shaft of light illuminating an area immediately beyond the station that was needed to light up the cab car. I was positioned on a old sidewalk which offered some elevation, but I’d reached its end, and so I couldn’t effectively back up any further without losing the elevation necessary to make the photo work.

Also, I only had my ‘Fast Fifty’ (50mm) lens, which restricted my ability to adjust the field of view, and I hoped to feature both the station and the automobile in their entirety, which limited space to the left of the building.

While I managed to capture all the essential focus points all in one image, my compostion is unbalanced and the front of the train is very close to the left side of the frame. Further complicating matters, the brighter illumination on the right-hand side of the station has the effect of drawing the eye to the right, away from the other central elements of the image.

Tracking the Light considers composition.

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Fast Fifty with Full Moon at Christiana

Working with little more than the light of full moon and street lights, I made these nocturnal late autumn images at Christiana, Pa.,

Years ago, I never could have imagine making action photos by moonlight! These images were test of the Nikon Z6-III with a ‘fast fifty’ (f1.4 50mm).

All were exposed with the camera on a 3Pod tripod.

In fact, the action photos could have been made without the aid of a tripod. I guess its just a habit to use a tripod after dark.

Below are several pairs of photos to compare before and after processing using DxO PureRaw to de-noise and correct for lens aberrations.

Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO; NEF RAW file.
Same file as above following PureRaw conversion to de-noise and correct lens aberrations; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO.
Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO; NEF RAW file.
Same file as above following PureRaw conversion to de-noise and correct lens aberrations; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO.
Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO; NEF RAW file.
Same file as above following PureRaw conversion to de-noise and correct lens aberrations; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO.
Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO; NEF RAW file.
Same file as above following PureRaw conversion to de-noise and correct lens aberrations; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO.

Tracking the Light explores the night!

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Blitz at Christiana on a Cloudy Evening

Amtrak Keystone 656 was due eastbound on its way from Harrisburg.

I set up at the old Pennsylvania Railroad freight house, now maintained by Lancaster Chapter NRHS that includes a trackside deck well-suited for watching trains.

I aimed to include this historic building in my composition.

As the train came into view, I exposed a burst of images, then turned to make a going away view and was pleasantly surprised to see the Phase VII painted former Metroliner cab control car at the back of the train.

The 1960s-era Metroliner cars are some of the last vestiges of the Pennsylvania Railroad still on the role in Pennsylvania.

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Closing the Gap near Christiana

We were on our evening drive after work.

I was watching the ASM.Transitdocs.com app to monitor the progress of east and westward Amtrak Keystone trains.

My aim was to catch both 656 eastbound and 651 westbound within a few minutes of each other.

As we drove east on Highway 30 passing Bird-in-Hand and Paradise, I noticed that both trains had fallen behind their advertised schedules, so I kept pushing east.

Initially, I was aiming for Gap, Pa., but at the last minute continued to Christiana.

I arrived in time to set up at the old PRR freight house that the Lancaster Chapter NRHS has set up as a viewing platform.

Moments after I arrived, train 656 came into view. Westward 651 was delayed about about ten minutes, but with a total elapsed time of only 12 minutes, I’d caught both trains.

Train 651 had a bonus; this was led by Amtrak ACS-64 670, the highest in the series. This engine has been a bit elusive for me. Although I photographed it on film a couple of days earlier, this sequence at Christiana represents my first satisfying digital photos of the locomotive. A small victory in the bigger picture, but these days I’ll take it.

Amtrak Keystone 656 passes Christiana, Pa., led by a former Metroliner cab control car.
Trailing view of Amtrak Keystone 656 at Christiana, Pa.
Amtrak ACS-64 670 leads Keystone 651 westbound at Christiana. I’d been watching this train’s westward progress on the ASM.Trainsit.docs ap.

These photos were exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm lens.

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653 Leading Train 653

I admit this is a bit gooby.

Yesterday evening at Christiana, I photographed westward Amtrak Keystone train 653 running on the Main Line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg.

Amtrak’s Keystone Service trains are assigned operating numbers in the 600-block; even East/odd West.

Amtrak’s Siemens-built ACS-64 electrics were numbered in the 600-block, a series previously occuped by the E60CH electrics and some secondhand GP40-2s

I’ve been watching the Keystones glide along over the former PRR Main Line for many years. But yesterday, I was the first time I’d witnessed a Keystone Service train number coincide with the leading locomotive number! It might seem silly, but this a rare event, and pretty neat for the astute observer.

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Two for One at Christiana

Fortune was with us on Saturday.

After lunch, we drove the back way over to Christiana, Pa., where I hoped to catch Amtrak 670 in the afternoon sun.

The tracks are oriented on a south-north alignment at Christiana, which makes it a good place to photograph eastward train on a sunny day, if you mind the shadows.

Where Keystone 670 was pretty much ‘on the advertised,’ Amtrak 42, the eastward Pennsylvanian had fallen down a bit, and was just a few minutes behind.

So for the effort of one eastward train, we caught two! One electric and one diesel.

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Christiana Station at Night

On our evening drive, we called into the former Pennsylvania Railroad station at Christiana, Pa.

With my Nikon Z7-II firmly mounted on my old Bogen tripod, and working with available light I made these photos using time exposures. Details below:

Nikkor 24-70mm lens at 70mm, 1 second exposure at f4.0, ISO 200.
Nikkor 24-70mm lens at 28mm, 3 second exposure at f4.0, ISO 200.
Nikkor 24-70mm lens at 29mm, 6 second exposure at f4.0, ISO 200.

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Amtrak Schedule tip! Coming and Going on the Main Line at Christiana, PA

The old Pennsylvania Railroad station at Christiana is a neat place to catch Amtrak’s Keystone trains. Over the last few months I’ve visited this location several times.

Saturday evening Kris and I stopped by Christiana to make a few photos an approaching eastward Keystone.

I track Amtrak’s trains on my phone using the ASM.transitdoc.com app, which updates about every 5-6 minutes and shows the train’s last reported location, operating speed, and indicates if it is on-time or runnng behind, while providing a full schedule of station stops.

This is often more useful than either Amtrak’s own website, which can be difficult to navigate quickly, and more up to date than 3rd party printed schedules.

We wanted to photograph Keystone Train 674. As it turned out this was operating on a special schedule owing to track work. I only discovered the train’s schedule alteration after the fact when researching the timetable for this Tracking the Light post.

However, since we used transitdoc App, the on-line interactive map provided all the information we needed and was up to date and literally at our finger tips!

So, despite the schedule alteration, we only had a short wait at Christiana and made some neat photos of the train coming and going at speed.

Trailing view of Amtrak 674 at Christiana, PA

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Christiana Station from both sides of the Main Line.

Amtrak Keystone train 643 passes Christiana westbound.

Last week, I caught up with fellow photographer, author and Trains contributor Dan Cupper, who offered to spend the day showing me railroads in the Lancaster/Strasburg area of Pennsylvania.

Among the places we visited was the archives/meeting house of the Lancaster Chapter, Inc., National Railway Historical Society which is located in the old Pennsylvania Railroad freight house at Christiana, Pennsylvania.

While I’d visited this the passenger station earlier in the week, the day our our visit had much better weather. Also, it was my first ever visit inside freight house where we were met by the chapter’s Stephen Himpsl.

Among the things we explored were views of the freight station and the old passenger station from both sides of the former PRR Main Line.

The passenger station hadn’t served in its intended role since the 1950s, but had been restored and was in good shape.

I made a variety of images using my Nikon mirrorless cameras including those presented here. Most received post-processing adjustment using Adobe Lightroom to better present the data captured by the camera’s NEF RAW files.

More to come on our explorations at Christiana and other nearby locations.

Pennsylvania Railroad sign on the old Christiana freight house.
Lancaster Chapter NRHS has a variety of artifacts and memorabilia on display, including this Lionel GG1 electric locomotive.

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Misty Morning at Christiana, PA.

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.

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Pennsylvania Station at Twilight.

1 Comment

Pat Yough said, ‘You’ve never been here before?’

‘No, somehow I missed this.’

‘How’s that possible?’

I’d been to Gap, Pennsylvania many times to photograph Amtrak trains. But I never ventured railroad-east along the Main Line to Christiana, instead driving Highway 30 toward Coatesville.

I should have  known better.

Often the most interesting locations are away from the main road.

There’s your tip for the day!

Former Pennsylvania Railroad station at Christiana.

Former Pennsylvania Railroad station at Christiana.

The old Main Line. Now Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor.

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