On one of my early tours of the former Boston & Albany west end, Bob Buck chased an eastward freight from Pittsfield up the grade toward Washington Summit, Massachusetts. Near Dalton, Bob, Doug Moore, John Conn, and I piled out of Bob’s Ford van and watched the train crawl up grade.
I can still smell the creosote from the ties on that hot August afternoon.
Doug Moore will undoubtedly remember that later the same day, we were along the former New York Central Hudson Division when an Amtrak Turboliner blitzed by at more than 100 mph. In the heat of the moment, I enthusiastically suggested that Bob chase that train as well.
After all, he’d done so well catching the freight—why not go after the Turbo?
Kodachrome 64 with Leica IIIA and Summitar 50mm lens.
At 9am, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, my third railroad photography class of the Spring season convened at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pa.
I had enthusiastic participants. Following a brief introduction, by Museum Director Pat Morrison, I gave a concise 15 minute slide presentation, and we adjourned to the Museum to make photographs.
To make use of the fine Spring weather, initially we all went outside into the yard to photograph the locomotives and rolling stock on exhibit there, and to observe construction of the new roundhouse that is being built toward the west end of the Museum’s grounds.
Afterward, we returned inside, where Pat and I spoke with participants. I answered questions and made a variety of photos.
Among the benefits of the class is that we can take down some of the steel barriers to allow for unobstructed photography of key exhibits. In addition, Pat opened up several locomotives for exploration, photography and for use as viewing platforms.
I discussed photography, cameras and technique with many of the participants, while exposing dozens of photos using my Nikon Z-series mirrorless cameras.
Among the lenses I worked with was my old Nikkor f2.0 135mm ‘defocus’ prime telephoto.
Although I’ve made dozens of visits to the Museum, everytime I go, I make different photos, and that is one of the points of the classes: ‘learning to see.’
Nikon Z6 with Nikkor f2.0 135mm prime telephoto-focused manually.Roundhouse construction.Nikon Z6 with Nikkor f2.0 135mm prime telephoto-focused manually.Nikon Z6 with Nikkor f2.0 135mm prime telephoto-focused manually.E44 detail.Museum Director Pat Morrison with GG1 4935. Exposed with Nikon Z6-III with Nikkor Z-series 24-70mm lens.Nikon Z6 with Nikkor f2.0 135mm prime telephoto-focused manually.Nikon Z6 with Nikkor f2.0 135mm prime telephoto-focused manually.Exposed with Nikon Z6-III with Nikkor Z-series 24-70mm lens.
I spent the day working my way west from Rochester, New York following the former New York Central ‘Water Level Route’.
By early afternoon I’d made it all the way to Erie, Pa.
Among the photos I exposed in Erie was this panned view of a Conrail Trail Van trailer rolling across the diamond with the former Pennsylvania Railroad. If you look carefully, you can see in the distance Norfolk Southern’s former Nickle Plate Road bridge over the PRR line.
After exposing my photos, I drove all the way back to Rochester.
Leica M2 with 50mm f2.0 Summicron lens; Kodachrome 25 slide film.
Tracking the Light Explores Conrail on the 50th Anniversary of its commencement of operations!
My photo of former Conrail GP30 2233 appears on the cover of the April 2026 Friends of the Railroad Museum Milepost, a glossy publication published by and for the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
This image is timely, since April 1st marked the 50th anniversary of Conrail assuming operations of bankrupt Northeastern railroads (Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, Reading, Lehigh Valley etc).
This also nicely coincides with the topic of my next Railroad Photography class at the Museum, which will focus on equipment displays relating to Conrail and its precursors.
The advertisement for the class reads:
“Railroad Photography: PRR to Penn Central to Conrail with Brian Solomon” will be held on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, from 9 AM to 11 AM, at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The cost is only $25.00 per person. The class size is limited to 25 individuals and is designed for beginning photographers ages 18 and over.”
August 9, 1988: Boston Line milepost 81, east of Palmer, Massachusetts.
On this day, I spent the afternoon with a Conrail maintenance-of-way gang as they were undercutting the old Boston & Albany mainline where Route 20 crossed the line.
They were working with a large undercutting machine called the ‘Dirt Devil’ which used a chain-driven excavator to remove material from below the tracks. This was necessary to allow to improve vertical clearances for double-stacks and covered tri-level auto racks.
Exposed on Kodak Tri-X black & white film using my father’s Rolleiflex Model T.
Someone might ask, ‘why didn’t you make color photos?’
Who said I didn’t?
I made both Kodachrome and Tri-X photos of the Dirt Devil crew. All have withstood the test of time.
Tracking the Light Looks Back on Conrail on the railroad’s 50th Anniversary!
May 13, 1984: I was four weeks away from graduating high school. On that day I traveled with Bob Buck and met friends on the ‘B&A West End’ (Conrail’s former Boston & Albany climb over Washington Hill).
At Middlefield, Massachusetts the deep chug of big General Electric diesels alerted us to a westward freight.
Working with my Leica IIIA fitted with my dad’s 21mm Super Anglon, I exposed this series of black & white photos.
The Super Angulon was a favorite lens, but best used judiciously. Another key to the success of these photos was my film choice : Kodak’s Panatomic-X.
Rated at ISO 32, this super fine grain black & white emulsion offered super sharp images and wonderful tonality. The difficulty was its slow speed. It was really only practical on very bright days.
Looking back at my many photos made in the early 1980s, I wish I’d used Panatomic-X more often, rather than my preferred film of time: Kodak Tri-X (rated at ISO 400). If I’d had the resources, I sould have had multiple cameras with different types of film in each. Oh wait . . . I think I had another camera that day . . . and it was loaded with Kodak Ektachrome 200.
Those slides are for another post on another day.
Conrail had just ten GE C30-7s, locomotives 6600-6609, and in the the 1980s these were often assigned to the Boston Line. In mid-1984, the railroad began receiving its order for fifty C30-7As. Where the C30-7s had 16 cylinder engine that feature a louder heavier sound, the C30-7As, used a 12-cyldiner engine, and I believe were fitted with more effective sound emissions controls, which muted the sounds of their exhaust. The three C30-7s working this heavy westbound shook the earth at Middlefield that morning nearly 42 years ago!
In the 1980s, I’d often photograph Conrail on the former Erie Railroad west of Hornell, New York on the main line to Buffalo. This was a scenic line that retained its pre-Conrail character, where classic US&S upper quadrant semaphores still protected train movements and the old code lines remained in place.
At that time, Conrail retained the Erie’s directional double-track arrangement, normally operated in the current of traffic under rule 251. However, the traditional eastward track (No2) was only maintained to 10mph, while the westward track (No1) was maintained for significantly faster speeds.
If an eastward train wasn’t facing opposing traffic, the distpatcher in Hornell could issue orders (and in later years a Form-D) to allow the train to use the westward main in the eastward direction in order to speed its progress over the line.
As a young photographer, I much preferred finding a through freight plodding along at 10mph, since this would allow me to more easily follow it in my car and get just about all the angles I wanted without having to drive too fast. An eastbound train on track 2, also typically meant that there were westbound trains close by, which made for added interest.
On May 7, 1988, I was following Conrail’s BUOI led by SD50 6801. Clear skies and Professional Kodachrome 25 (PKM) loaded in my Leica M2 were a great recipe for making color photographs.
At 8:30am, I made this photo of BUOI near Swain, New York. On this day, I stayed with the train for many miles. The Kodachromes from that adventure have been part of my collection ever since and this photo has been published in various places over the years.
I remember the final days of March 1976, when, my father brought me— at age 9—trackside for a couple of days to witness northeastern railroading before Conrail absorbed operation of most of the large railroads in the region.
Twenty-three years later, he and I spent two days along Conrail’s former New York Central lines in eastern New York state , documenting the railroad’s final days.
Working with a Canon EOS borrowed from the manufacturer for review, I exposed this telephoto view of westward TrailVan train TV79 on the Water Level Route near Tribes Hill, New York.
Canon EOS with 100-400mm zoom, Fujichrome slide film. Exposed near Tribes Hill, New York on May 29, 1999.
On November 12, 1987, I drove my 1973 Plymouth Scamp along the backroads from Scottsville to Salamanca, New York. Early that afternoon I caught Conrail’s OIEL east of town, making its way west on the Meadville Line—the former Erie Railroad main line running from Hornell, New York, to Meadville, Pennsylvania.
In its heyday, Salamanca had been an Erie division point, home to a large railroad station and a significant yard. By the time of my visit, however, the town was only a shadow of its former glory. Even so, simply seeing the place fascinated me. I wanted to see more of the old Erie Railroad to the west, so I followed OIEL.
SD50 6822 was in the lead. West of Salamanca, near Steamburg, I made this panned photograph from Route 17. My Leica M2 was loaded with Kodachrome—great for bright, sunny days but difficult to work with on a dull one. My exposure was f2.0 at 1/60 of a second. The wide aperture contributed to the corner vignetting in this image.
What sticks in my mind is that my car radio was playing “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You” by George Harrison, from his latest album, Cloud Nine, which had been released just a few days earlier.
Scan of Kodachrome 25 slide.I made a variety of subtle changes using Adobe Lightroom to improve the appearance of the original photo. I wonder how these changes will translate after WordPress photo compression.
I made it as far west as Jamestown—that’s where my map ended. There was no GPS or Google Maps in those days. The Erie dipped down into Pennsylvania beyond that point. It would be another twenty years or so before I finally traced the line over its full distance between Jamestown and Meadville, but those are stories for another day.
I’ve previously posted to Tracking the Light some of my favorite photos exposed on this day on the former Pennsylvania Railroad at Bennington Curve.
In this view, exposed in the early morning light, a set of GP40s lead an uphill train. The roar of the 16-645E3 diesels was intense and it made for memorable drama.
Conrail was really busy railroad in those days. In addition to parades of eastbound and westbound freights, there were light helper moves and a few Amtrak trains.
In 1987 my choice film was Kodak T-Max 400, then a relative new emulsion. After more a year of work with T-max, I returned to using older emulsions such as Kodak Tri-X, which I felt produced better results. However, modern scanning techniques have allowed for pleasing interpretations of this almost 40 year-old negative.
My friends and I were set up at the rock cut that in part comprises the location known as ‘Twin Ledges’ situated on the east slope of Washington Hill. This was the former Boston & Albany main line, operated by Conrail as its Boston Line.
The trees had just a leafed out on May 24, 1987, when I made this image of a laden Conrail BAL (ballast) extra ascending the grade behind a consist of GE C30-7As.
Long after the train had squeeled through the reverse curves, we could hear its locomotives chugging west toward Washington Summit near Hinsdale, Massachusetts.
Conrail was a class act that made for countless photo opportunities.
Fifty Years after it commenced operations,Tracking the Light takes a fond look back on Conrail!
On this day 50 years ago, Conrail commenced operations on the newly formed network of railroad lines largely created from the bankrupt ruins of traditional Northeastern railroads.
In August 1986, I made this sunrise view of a Conrail C30-7A at West Springfield, Massachusetts on Kodachrome 25 slide film.
Between 1976 and 1999, I made thousands of photographs of Conrail operations, machinery and people.
April 16, 1989, was a busy day on the former Erie Railroad.
It was another of my epic trips photographing the Erie that began before dawn.
Among the trains I photographed that day was an eastbound Delaware & Hudson PLMT (Pittsburgh & Lake Erie–Mount Tom, Massachusetts) unit coal train running via trackage rights on the line then owned by Conrail.
At the time, D&H was being operated by the New York, Susquehanna & Western and was short on motive power. This coal train was underpowered and moving at less than track speed. Leading the consist was former Reading Company GP39-2 No. 7410, still wearing Reading paint. Other locomotives in the consist had been borrowed from Bangor & Aroostook and leased GATX unit (in Chessie System paint). Fifth in line was a NYS&W SD45, still in the Cascade green and white of its former owner, Burlington Northern.
I had been following this train for miles through New York’s Canisteo Valley in my Toyota Corolla. Near West Cameron, I hastily parked and ran through a farmer’s field to capture a series of photos as the train passed from across the river.
On my way back to the car, the farmer stopped to chat. “I don’t mind you walking through my field, but I thought you ought to know that I killed six rattlesnakes there the other day.”
At the time, I wasn’t sure whether he was joking, trying to rattle me, or serious. A couple of weeks later, however, I was walking the line about a mile to the west when I spotted a rattlesnake lying near the rail. As I passed, the “snake” slithered off in three different directions—each with its own distinct rattle.
In January, 1988, I made this portrait of Conrail SD50 6726 at Gang Mills Yard on the former Erie Railroad west of Corning, New York.
Kodachrome 25 was my color film of choice in those days. And it was always nice to find winter sun on a Conrail locomotive. The SD50s were among my favorite Conrail EMDs at that time.
Although I have many photos of Conrail SD50s, this one has never seen the light of day, until now.
I know that some viewers might dismiss this as ‘just an engine picture’, but it is a photo of an impressive looking engine—and that was all it was ever meant to be.
Kodachrome 25, exposed using a Leica M2 with 50mm Sumicron.
In my search for Conrail SD50 photos, I rediscovered this image that I exposed on February 23, 1985 and scanned back in 2010.
My father and I had driven to Selkirk, New York to photograph a Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts excursion scheduled to cross the Hudson on Conrail’s normally freight-only Selkirk Branch.
The crown jewel of New York Central’s low-grade Castleton Cutoff is the immense Alfred H. Smith memorial bridge. Construction for this massive structure began in 1922. It was named for the late Central president who had initiated its construction but died before its completion.
While we waited at the west end of the Smith Bridge for the passenger special, Jim Shaughnessy arrived with 4×5 Graphic in hand and a similar vision in mind.
My dad made video, Jim exposed large-format photos, and I worked with 35mm black & white in my father’s Leica M4. For this view of a freight preceeding the passenger train, I used a Leitz f4 Elmar 135mm telephoto.
That’s Conrail 6721 in the lead. But, I’m looking for 6722 and 6723 (among others), so it’s Back to the Files for me!
On April 1, 2026, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Conrail. Big Blue was not yet 9 years old when I made this 1985 photograph.
Here’s another black & white photo from the lost image file.
On December 2, 1984, my friends and I visited Worcester, Massachusetts. I exposed this trailing view of Conrail’s SEPW (Selkirk to Providence & Worcester) leading its train through the crossovers from eastward to westward main trains, and taking the switch that led down the long ramp to P&W’s yard off Southbridge Street.
On this day, no less than six General Electric B23-7s had led SEPW east from West Springfield to Worcester. At Worcester, these had run around the train (with the caboose remaining at the westend).
Back in those days, my photography was very much hit and miss. I was working with a Leica 3A that was loaded with Kodak Tri-X. This wasn’t my original camera, but rather one borrowed from my father.
Exposed hundreds of rolls of film with those antque Leicas. I scanned this image last week.
Conrail’s 50th anniversary will occur this April 1st.
Tracking the Light Explores Railroad Photography Daily!
DxO Film Pack7 is a program that enables the import and conversion of digital files to simulate the appearance of images made with traditional film emulsions.
I began dabbling with this tool the other day, which led me to look back over one of my 40 year-old photo albums, examining the aesthetics of my traditional images.
In the mid-1980s, I routinely worked with Kodak and Ilford B&W films and made 3.5 x 5 inch ‘proof-prints’ from my negatives by cutting 5×7 inch paper stock in half.
Here, I’ve scanned one of my original 3.5 x 5 inch prints, and for comparision also converted a digital file exposed last week (February 1, 2026), using DxO Film Pack7 software to simulate Kodak Tri-X and Ilford HP5.
The purpose of this exercise is purely about appearance and nostalgia. Although I’ve selected a retro subject (an old Budd RDC), the intent is to compare the aesthetic qualities of the the simulated black & white with my actual vintage black & white.
I wonder if the Nikon Z6 digital camera had been available to me in 1985, would I have chosen this camera over my stalwart Leica 3A loaded with hand-rolled Kodak Tri-X?
Handmade 3.5 x 5 inch proof print from a 35mm black & white negative. Conrail’s Sunday TV-9 rolls west through Warren, Mass., on February 3, 1985. The Sunday TV9 ran on a later schedule than its weekday counterparts. This was something of a ‘clean-up train’, which often carried ‘bare tables’ (empty TTX intermodel flats) as well as stray carload traffic along with cars of intermodal trailers. In this situation, a lone covered hopper trails behind the GE C30-7As followed by 40ft trailers on flats.Back of the original proof-print, complete with my notation. At the time the GE C30-7A diesels were relatively new.Digital photo exposed on February 1, 2026 using a Nikon Z6 and converted using DxO Film Pack7 to resemble an image exposed on Ilford HP5 black & white film.Same image as above, but converted to resemble a photo exposed on Kodak Tri-X 400. It was this conversion that inspired this post. I have a lot of grainy high contrast photos from the 1980s that look like this one.
DxO has offered a discount to Tracking the Light readers. If you are interested in buying DxO Film Pack 7 or other DxO programs, the discount code “TRACKINGTHELIGHT” will work for 15% off for any new customer at shop.dxo.com.
In early February 1979, my father drove my brother and me to Palmer, Massachusetts. A visit to the old Palmer Union Station alerted us to a train working in the old Boston & Albany yard to the east.
I encouraged Pop to drive us over to the old B&A freight house, which was adjacent to Haley’s Grain Store. Here we found a former Penn Central SW1500 and a freshly painted Conrail caboose. This was the local which had just finished up its switching and would soon head west to the yard at West Springfield.
My pre-war Leica 3A was loaded with Kodak Ektachrome 200, and during the course of our adventure, I exposed several slides.
I was in 7th grade at the time, and my photography skills were marginal. What I find remarkable is that my slides survived all these years. I recently found them mixed in a collection of my father’s slides and recognized them as my own.
Working with Adobe Lightroom, I made a variety of adjustments to the photos to improve their mediocre qualities and make them more interesting to look at.
Scan from original Ektachrome slide without cosmetic modifications.Improved versions of the top scan. In this version, I’ve made a variety of adjustments to exposure, contrast and color.Adjusted Ektachrome color slide.
Conrail was then in its infancy and would survive for another 20 years as a class I carrier serving Palmer.
For more than a century, the repetitious patterns made by lineside rows of poles carrying code lines were a characteristic of North American main lines.
Code lines carried signal information and other railroad communications functions.
By the late 1980s, railroads in the eastern United States were replacing code lines with more modern communications hardware, often consisting of bundles of fiber-optic cables that were buried line-side.
The old lines were being removed, which contributed a significant change to the railroad landscape and altered the way I framed up my photos. While the code lines sometimes interferred with images of passing trains, in other instances the lines provided perspective and scale, presented strong vertical lines that augmented composition, and lent an element of continuity between photos old and new.
On the morning of January 14, 1989, I braved the frosty weather and stood upon the old iron bridge that spanned Conrail’s former Erie Railroad line west of Dalton, New York in order to photograph Delaware & Hudson’s NY-10 (a double stack container train carrying Sealand boxes to New Jersey from the West). This used a New York, Susquehanna & Western routing to reach its New Jersey terminal and was led by a NYS&W SD45.
Working with my Leica M2 loaded with Kodachrome 25, I made these two color slides as the train passed. The wires are the true subject of my photographs, and I carefully integrated the codeline patterns into my compositions.
The slides were processed by Kodak a few days after exposure, but most remained in the yellow box that Kodak returned them to me until a few days ago. Finally, after 37 years in the dark, I scanned them for presentation here.
Tracking the Light examines the thoughts and techniques behind railroad photographs!
Conrail came into being 49 years ago—April 1, 1976.
In honor of this momentous event for Northeastern Railroading, I am posting this view I made of Conrail SD40-2 6364 passing Lilly, Pa., on its ascent of the Alleghenies working the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line.
This was exposed on a sunny morning in November 1998, Conrail’s last full year as a Class-1 carrier.
I spent more than 20 years photographing Conrail trains. Yet, it always amazes me how much of the Conrail network that I never saw in action.
Shortly before sunset on a frosty January evening in 1999, I exposed this Fujichrome slide of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad mainline in Batavia, New York.
Most of the Lehigh Valley mainline across western New York was abandoned following the creation of Conrail on April 1, 1976.
This isolated segment survived to serve local customers, and at the time of this image it was being operated by Genesee Valley Transportation.
Conrail itself only had a few months remaining of independant operation before its class-I operations were split between CSX and Norfolk Southern.
Not long after the eastward Norfolk Southern intermodal train came to a stop east of SIP 116 to change crews, the westward intermodal train that we’d been anticipating came into view.
This scene unfolded nicely, and I made a series of photos as the trains passed one another on the old Pennsylvania Railroad ‘Middle Division’ at Cove, Pa.
Bright sun and freight trains on the move brought me back to another time, when photographer Mike Gardner and I caught a series of Conrail freights at this same location.
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
In the mid-1980s, I made numerous trips to photograph Conrail’s Boston Line—the former Boston & Albany—at Stateline Tunnel. This short, curved, twin bore tunnel is located a few miles west of the Massachusetts-New York Stateline in Canaan, New York.
On the morning of Aug 24, 1984, my pal TSH and I spent several hours at the tunnel waiting for trains. Four decades earlier, my friend Bob Buck had photographed at this same location, and I was familiar with his photos of B&A’s Lima Berkshires, New York Central Mohawks, and new Alco FA diesels at the tunnel.
I made this view of Amtrak Train 448—Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited—approaching the west portal on the eastward track using my pre-war Leica 3A 35mm camera loaded with Kodak Tri-X.
This was an early favorite photo of mine and for years I had a mounted print of it on my wall.
The negative had been missing for decades, but resurfaced the other day while I was going through boxes in our new house.
I scanned the original 35mm negative using my Epson V600 flatbed scanner and processed the image using Adobe Lightroom.
More than 40 years have passed since I exposed this image. It just doesn’t seem so long! Today, Bob Buck would have been 95! Happy Birthday Bob!
I started in Palmer, Massachusetts and followed the old Boston & Albany west all the way to North Wilbraham.
Although, I remember the walk. Some of the details are lost to time.
Approaching the Hovey Hill Road overpass in Monson, Mass., I heard a wicked throbbing roar coming from the west.
Today, I know exactly what I was hearing. Back then I only knew a train was close. I scrambled from trackside up to the bridge. Just in time to make these photos.
An eastward Conrail freight passed by on Track 2 led by three former Erie Lackawanna SD45-2s and and an SD40-2 spliced between them. Wow. What I’d do to experience that again today!
So what was I hearing? EMD’s SD45-2, like its pre Dash-2 antecedant , the SD45, was powered by a 20-cylinder version of its 645 diesel. This engine produces a characteristic low-frequency sound; when two or more of the type work in tandem, the synchronizing effect of the exhaust from the valves creates a low throbbing sound that carries for many miles. This is especially noticeable when the engines are working in the middle throttle positions. Twenty years later I made a project of preserving that exact sound, but that’s a story for some other time.
Kodak 35mm Tri-X, exposed with a Leica 3A fitted with a Canon 1.8 50mm lens. Film processed in D-76.Kodak 35mm Tri-X, exposed with a Leica 3A fitted with a Canon 1.8 50mm lens. Film processed in D-76.
This Conrail freight was one of several I saw that bright day, 40 years ago. Interestingly, I never did anything with these images until now. Pity I didn’t have a good tape recorder.
In March 1976, my father brought me trackside for a couple of days to witness northeastern railroading before Conrail assumed operation of most of the large railroads in the region.
Twenty-three years later, we spent two days along Conrail’s former New York Central lines in eastern New York state , documenting the railroad’s final hours.
At the time Mel Patrick and I were writing a column on photography for Trains Magazine. Magazine Editor Kevin Keefe had organized for Canon to send us a selection of cameras and lens to work with. At the time, I was primarily a Nikon user.
These were among the images that I made on May 29, 1999 using the Canon equipment loaded with Fujichrome.
Two days later Conrail concluded its independant Class 1 operations. CSX inherited the lines pictured here.
Conrail SD50 6800 leads NFSE (Niagara Falls to Selkirk, NY) eastbound near Palentine Bridge, New York. May 29, 1999.Conrail TV79 westbound at Tribes Hill, NY. May 29, 1999.Conrail westward freights at Tribes Hill, New York. TV203 (on right) is overtaking SENF (on left). Conrail sunset; former Boston & Albany tracks near Chatham, New York. May 29, 1999.Conrail sunset; former Boston & Albany tracks near Chatham, New York. May 29, 1999.
May 16, 1987 was brilliant sunny day and a great time to photograph Conrail in action.
I was working with a borrowed Canon A-1 with 50mm lens loaded with professional Kodachrome 25 (PKM) and I’d spent the morning photographing Conrail freight on the Southern Tier —what Conrail called the former Erie Route between Binghamton and Buffalo, New York.
At Hunt, New York, I caught up with a westward OIBU (Oak Island to Buffalo) and followed it west. Between Linden and Dixons on the east slope of Attica Hill this freight took the siding and stopped to wait for its eastward counterpart, Conrail’s BUOI.
While the train was stopped, I took the opportunity to make locomotive portraits.
General Electric B23-7 1966 caught my eye because its road number coincides with my birth year.
I scanned this slide using a Nikon LS-5000 scanner. After scanning I imported the TIF file into Lightroom and made a few small changes to exposure, color temperature, color balance and contrast. Below are both the unaltered file (scaled as a JPG) and the adjusted file.
The end of this month will mark 25 years since the end of Conrail as a Class-1 railroad, when its operations were divided between CSX and Norfolk Southern.
This is the un-adjusted file; although scaled for internet, threre were no changes to exposure, color or contrast in post processing.With this version, I made a few very minor changes to exposure, color and contrast to improve the overall appearance of the image.
Two weeks ago, I visited the preserved Power Directors Office (PDO) located within the Harrisburg, Pa., station.
This historic former Pennsylvania Railroad facility is a vestige of its grand late-1930s electrification to Harrisburg, that consisted of Mainlines and connecting routes
This office was used to control and balance the distribution of high-voltage alternating current electricity to the various lines. Today it presents a fascinating map of the western extent of PRR’s electrification.
To my eyes, it has the look and aroma of an enormous Lionel electric train set from the World War II era. The style of the control panels and wiring reminds of my dad’s train sets from the post war period.
Dan Cupper arranged the tour, and NRHS’s Jim Nowotarski provided an excellent and exceptionally detailed explaination of how the desk performed and the background behind its restoration. I’ll need to sit through this talk several more times before I can begin to absorb the detail of this amazing installation.
The desk was closed by Amtrak in 2013, and its remaining functions transfered to its Centralized Electrification and Traffic Control office in Wilmington, Delaware.
The once important role of the PDO reveals the long-term failures of short-sighted decisions made during the Conrail-era, when freight traffic was routed away from former PRR routes east of Harrisburg, and freight-only lines stripped of their electrification, and in some cases abandoned altogether.
What may have made operational sense 45 years ago, represents a poor use of resources and infrastructure in the long term. Consider that in most of the industrialized world, railroad electrification has been gradually expanded, and not abandoned.
Photos exposed using my Nikon Z7-II.
Dan Cupper studies the detail diagrams in the PDO.
Dan Cupper studies the detail diagrams in the PDO.
Dan Cupper studies the detail diagrams in the PDO.
Dan Cupper points to the clock which stopped at the moment the Power Directors Desk was closed in February 2013.
Dan Cupper points to the clock which stopped at the moment the Power Directors Desk was closed in February 2013.
Dan Cupper points to the clock which stopped at the moment the Power Directors Desk was closed in February 2013.
The Harrisburg area is a maze of trackage, which is alive with freight and passenger movements. Among the of the busiest lines is Norfolk Southern’s former Reading Company route (operated as its Harrisburg Line), which joins the former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line route (operated as NS’s Pittsburgh Line) near Amtrak’s former PRR passenger station in Harrisburg, PA.
This route carries the lion’s share of east-west freight moving through Harrisburg, specifically traffic moving to the New York City and Philadelphia metro areas.
Prior to routing and infrastructure changes in the Conrail-era, the majority of freight coming east on the PRR route, continued east of Harrisburg on former PRR routes. Traditionally, the junction between PRR and Reading lines at this location was a relatively minor connection between the historic railroad systems.
It was a warm Tuesday in early April, when I made these photographs of a westward NS double stack container train from the Mulberry Street Bridge railroad-east of Amtrak’s former PRR Station. This freight is making the transition from the old Reading to the old PRR route.
Images exposed using a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens, files adjusted in Lightroom.
On this day in 1996, I was driving from Wisconsin to Massachusetts in a U-Haul truck with most of my worldly belongings (including the majority of my photographs).
Would you believe me if I told you that I took a detour to follow the old Erie Railroad main line across New York’s Southern Tier, and when I heard on the scanner that an eastward coal train was through Hornell, I drove the U-Haul into a grave yard on the banks of the Canisteo River, climbed a tree and exposed this series of color slides?
Between 1986 and 1991, I documented vestiges of the former Erie Railroad using hundreds of rolls of Kodachrome, Ektachrome, and T-Max black & white film.
I made dozens upon dozen of trips along Conrail’s lines, seeking to make images of this fascinating railroad in its environment.
There could be long intervals between trains, and some days were more productive than others.
October 14, 1988 was memorable because it was a perfect day. I had a very early start. The autumn foliage was at its peak. It was clear from dawn to dusk. Conrail and Delaware & Hudson ran a lot of trains, and I had Kodachrome 25 in my Leica.
Among the photos I made that was this view of Conrail SD50 6774 leading OIBU west through Swain, New York at 8:07am.
I like this image because although 6774 is key to the composition, it isn’t the only subject of interest and it captures the essence of rural western New York in autumn.
Soon old 6753 will be featured on TTL. The lure of the quest is about finding treasures along the way. If I found the prize too soon there would be no joy in the path to it.
This is the raw and adjusted scan of my original Kodachrome 25 slide. Exposed at 8:07am on October 14, 1988 using a Leica M2 rangefinder with f2.0 50mm Summicron lens. My old Dodge Dart is parked behind me with the engine running. Soon, I’ll be in pursuit of this train en route to my next desination. Slide scanned with Nikon LS5000 slide scanner powered with VueScan 9.8.04 software.This the same scan as above, but adjusted using Adobe Lightroom to improve its presentation. I’ve lightened the image, reduced contrast, warmed the color balance, lightened and warmed shadow areas, while slightly increasing overall saturation.
Working with my old Leica M2 loaded with Kodachrome 25 slide film, I made this view of an eastward Delaware & Hudson freight led by New York, Susquehanna & Western SD45s crossing Conrail’s impressive Portage Bridge over New York’s Letchworth Gorge.
This was among my favorite mid-Spring morning locations. Winter run off made the Upper Genesee Falls especially impressive, while the sun illuminated the north side of the bridge.
This bridge was erected by the Erie Railroad in 1875, and was considered the first example of a tower supported viaduct, a type that in the late 19th century became a popular type of construction for long and tall bridges.
Norfolk Southern inherited this section of the former Erie from Conrail. The old bridge was in poor condition and had required a 5 mph slow order. NS finally replaced the aged viaduct in 2017 with a modern arched truss.
An eastward Delaware & Hudson freight carrying loads of rock salt eases across the Portage Bridge at 9:25am on April 7, 1989.
For me April 7, 1989 sticks in my mind as a great day to photograph along the old Erie Railroad. This was just one of many images I made that day.
On the afternoon of January 29, 1988, Conrail TV7 was changing crews at Buffalo’s Frontier Yard on the old New York Central Water Level Route.
Compositionally, this photo has always both intrigued and annoyed me. I wish I’d either got a little closer or framed in a way so that the top of the locomotive hadn’t been cutoff.
As it stands the image is awkward and imperfect, yet it serves as a window in time to another era.
Inbound and outbound crews were preserved for posterity.
Exposed on Kodachrome 25 using a Leica M2 fitted with 50mm f2.0 Summicron. Scanned with a Nikon LS5000 scanner.
Photography is about light. The quality of light makes a difference.
Below are two photographs made at the same location on the same day and of two very similar trains but under very different lighting condtions.
These were exposed on the same roll of Kodachrome 25 using my Nikon N90S near milepost 130 on Conrail’s former Boston & Albany mainline (less than a mile from the old Middlefield Station).
The first shows a pair of SD80MAC leading symbol freight SEBO (Selkirk to Boston) in bright morning sun at 7:59am. The second shows Conrail symbol freight SESP (Selkirk to West Springfield yard) at 9:56am.
My notes from the day spelled out the difference in one word; “cloud.”
Kodachrome did not handle overcast situations well. Both photos are scaled RAW scans without any adjustment to color, exposure, contrast or sharpness.
In recent months I’ve been undertaking a herculean effort. I’m beginning to organize my slide files.
Over the last 40+ years, I have made tens of thousands of slides, while embracing conflicting theories of photographic organization.
Now, I am attempting to consolidate and organize my slide files. In one tub of original boxes, I found a box (one of several) mis-labeled ‘Conrail, Rochester, April 1987, Ektachrome’.
This was a ‘free’ roll of film, given to me as part of photo package from Kodak to students at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Free. No cost to me. At a time when I could barely afford two rolls of Kodachrome a week!
And there was a problem. Giving Ektachrome to a Kodachrome shooter!
I took the film, and I made photos with it. Nothing urgent. Nothing serious. Nothing so important that I’d commit it to Kodachrome.
A more serious problem manifested when I searched for the note sheet that goes with the roll of film. The box said ‘April 1987’, but in fact the photos were exposed on March 11, 1987. I should have known.
Eastward Conrail freight captured at Lincoln Park with a Leica 3A and 65mm lens on EN100 Ektachrome slide film at noon on March 11, 1987.
This was among the many slides that I scanned yesterday.
In my ongoing effort to scan, archive, and organize my slide collection, I’ve been scanning slides, and reorganizing the original chromes so that they are placed together by similar subject.
Conrail is just one of dozens of my subject categories . Ultimately, I hope to subdivide the Conrail slides in to smaller categories largely based on precursor railroad routes.
This Kodachrome 25 image of a westward Conrail unit coal train was exposed in September 1988 at School Road in Batavia, New York, near milepost 399 on the former New York Central ‘Water Level Route’ main line using my old Leica M2 with 50mm f2.0 Summicron lens.
It is one of hundreds of Conrail photos I exposed between 1985 and 1999 of Conrail trains working the old Water Level Route.
