In October 1990, Boeing-Vertol light rail vehicles pass on Carl Street, just west of the Sunset Tunnel.
I exposed this photo on Kodachrome 25 slide film with my Nikon F3T and an f4.0 200mm Nikkor telephoto.
My intent was to show the streetcars against a backdrop of San Francisco gingerbread Victorian houses. Selecting the optimal exposure was tricky owing to the low-angle of the sun. I wanted to maintain the bright highlights without risk of under exposing the background.
Although it is tempting in these situations to expose for the highlights, in this case I didn’t want the unnatural ‘nightmare’ effect caused by surreal dark background.
Unlike today, back then I’d rely largely on my handheld Sekonic meter to gauge exposure. Although the F3T had a built in meter, I never found this to be sufficiently accurate to maintain consistent exposures with slide film.
A visit to the Netherlands this evening (29 March 2015) yielded this silhouette of an NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) train at sunset west of Bergen op Zoom.
Lumix LX7 view: Sunset on March 29, 2015 a few miles southwest of Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands. I made a similar image on Fujichrome using my Canon EOS 3 with 40mm lens.
In March 2001, Mike Gardner and I were poised to photograph a Norfolk Southern coal train destined for Strawberry Ridge, Pennsylvania.
As dramatic clouds crossed the sky, I exposed this black & white photograph with my Rolleiflex Model T. A few minutes later I made colour slides of the coal train using my Nikon N90S.
I like the way the curve of the tracks offers a near continuation of the curve formed by the tops of the trees on the left.
Finding an interesting locomotive is always an opportunity for photography. Finding a rare locomotive in crisp October sunshine is a great opportunity!
In October 2008, Pat Yough, Tim Doherty and I found Western New York & Pennsylvania Alco C-430 number 430 at the Olean Yard in Allegany, New York.
I think this locomotive has had more owners than I’ve had automobiles. It began as one of ten C-430s on New York Central, giving that railroad more of this rare model than all the other buyers of the type put together.
The C-430 is an attractive machine and I used the sunshine to good advantage. Here are a few of the studies I made of 430 on that bright morning.
Exposed on Fujichrome with a Canon EOS-3 with 100-400mm zoom lens.430 retains its classification lamps, a vestige of train-order rules that no longer have relevance to operations.
On the afternoon of July 1, 2011, I heard a heavy westward freight ascending Washington Hill near the old Middlefield, Station.
It’s been a long time since there was a station here, but the site remains a dramatic place to photograph the old Boston & Albany line. I got into position for some photography. Nice afternoon sun and inky shadows; what’s the best way to work this?
Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens set to 135mm; 200 ISO, f7.1 at 1/500th of a second. I set the exposure manually, using a meter reading off the ballast. If I’d let the camera program select the exposure, it would have likely over-exposed the front of the locomotive (in other words the front of the engine would appear too light.) The reason for this is simple; the camera meter program would have tried to balance the scene for the dark shadows. Here experience with the equipment, knowledge of the location and an appreciation for light and shade allowed for correct exposure of the scene.
To accentuate the effect of the grade, I used a telephoto perspective, while setting my focus on the front of the locomotive. I waited for the right moment when it was in full sun.
I made a sequence of images, but for me this one best captures the drama of the scene.
December 23, 2002 was a cold, wet, dark and mucky; in other words, typical sugar beet weather.
We were visiting the cabin at Wellingtonbridge, watching the machine load beet into ancient-looking four-wheel corrugated wagons. A steady ‘thump, thump, thump’ as the roots plopped into the wagons.
It wasn’t great for photography. But the driver of the laden beet (soon to depart Wellingtonbridge for Mallow, Co. Cork) said to me, ‘Get your photos now, this is all going away . . .’
Sadly, his prophecy came true. Old 129, a class 121 diesel built by General Motors at La Grange, Illinois in 1961, was cut up for scrap only a few months after I exposed this black & white photograph.
Exposed on black & white film with a Rolleiflex Model T.
Irish Rail’s sugar beet traffic carried on for a few more years (three more than I thought it would). The last laden beet train departed Wellingtonbridge in January 2006. Afterwards, it was a downward spiral. Today, the wagons and loading machine are gone; the cabin is closed and the line rusty.
Yet, in the intervening months and years, I returned dozens of times, and made photos at all times of day and night. By the time the last beet train turned a wheel, I’d made hundreds of images of operation.
This old upper quadrant semaphore was located in Monson, Massachusetts about a mile from the Palmer diamond. It served as a fixed distant to the absolute signal protecting the crossing and was always in the diagonal position indicating ‘approach’.
I made this image on July 20, 1986 of a northward Central Vermont freight (probably job 562).
Purists may note that Canadian National referred to its cabooses as ‘Vans’. More relevant was that by this date, cabooses were becoming unusual in New England. Conrail began caboose-less operation on through freights a few years earlier.
Exposed on July 20, 1986 using a Rolleiflex Model T with ‘Super slide’ insert to make for a roughly 645-size black & white negative.
Even rarer in New England were semaphores. Yet this one survived until very recently, when Central Vermont successor New England Central finally replaced it with a color-light. See earlier post: Monson Semaphore Challenge.
A minor point regarding this composition; I’d released the shutter a moment too soon, and so the left-hand back of the caboose visually intersects with the semaphore ladder. This annoys me. Sometimes I like a bit of visual tension in an image, but in this case it doesn’t work.
Not that I can go back and try it again, as much as I’d like to!
In the mid-1980s, Canadian National Railway’s Montreal Locomotive Works M-420s were commonly operated on its Central Vermont Railway subsidiary.
It might seem odd in retrospect, but I wasn’t keen on these peculiar locomotives when they were common. Although they were derived from an Alco design, and I was big fan of Alco, I thought they were ugly and not ‘real’ Alcos. I much preferred Central Vermont’s own Alco RS-11s.
June 25, 1986, State Line Crossing, Monson, Massachusets. Exposed on Kodachrome 25 slide film with a Leica 3A fitted with a 65mm Elmar using a Visoflex.
My ill-founded prejudices never stopped me from making photographs of the M-420s. And even back in 1986, I was pleased to catch this one leading Central Vermont’s freight 562 across Route 32 in Monson, Massachusetts (immediately north of the Massachusetts-Connecticut State Line).
This is the top of State Line Hill and it was all downgrade from here. I’m standing on a pile of ballast for elevation.
We heard the thunderous roar of EMD 645-E3 diesels laboring upgrade in ‘Run-8’ (maximum throttle.) Thick fog at Bealville in the California Tehachapis amplified the sound.
I was traveling with my friend and fellow photographer Brian Jennison, a veteran of Tehachapi railroad photography.
As the sound faded in and out, I looked for an angle; walking back and forth, I finally settled on this view on the outside of the curve at the often-photographed Bealville horseshoe.
A version of this image appeared in Pacific Railnews in the mid-1990s when I worked for Pentrex Publishing.
On Southern Pacific all train movements were deemed either ‘eastward’ or ‘westward’ in their relation to the direction traveled from milepost 0 in San Francisco, regardless of the compass. In the Tehachapis, a train may be traveling in all directions at the same time owing to the exceptional sinuosity of the trackage.
This uphill freight was moving railroad timetable east.
In the lead was a Rio Grande SD40T-2. It had a transitional lighting arrangement, that included its as-built headlight and oscillating lights, plus recently added ditch-lights and a ‘gumball’ rotating yellow light atop the cab. Again the fog has accentuated the locomotive’s lights.
I was working with my Nikon F3T with Nikkor f1.8 105mm telephoto mounted on my Bogen 3021 tripod and loaded with Fuji 100 slide film (what I used to call ‘Fujiahundred’). I metered the scene with a Sekonic Studio Deluxe handheld photocell.
The sound show was far more impressive than any image I could have made of the train’s approach and passing. I wish I could stand there again in the fog on that April 4, 1993 morning!
I’ve been keeping my Lumix busy making night photographs of Dublin on the run up to St. Patrick’s Day. In previous posts I’ve featured Irish Rail’s Heuston and Connolly Station bathed in green light. Today, I’m exhibiting some of the city’s other structures.
Clery’s on O’ Connell Street, Dublin. Lumix LX-7 photo.Dublin City Hall. Lumix LX-7 photo.Story Teller Bus with greened old bank, College Green, Dublin. Lumix LX-7 photo.Dublin Docklands. Lumix LX-7 photo.LUAS Green Line with Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin. Lumix LX-7 photo.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Royal College of Surgeons, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin.Bank of Ireland on College Green, Dublin. Lumix LX-7 photo.Trinity College on College Green, Dublin. Lumix LX-7 photo.Heuston Station, Dublin.
Here’s just a few from my Fuji X-T1. Notice the different colour profile.
Four Courts, Dublin, lit for St. Patrick’s Day. Fuji X-T1.Four Courts, Dublin, lit for St. Patrick’s Day. Fuji X-T1.Mellows Bridge, Dublin, lit for St. Patrick’s Day. Fuji X-T1.
Yesterday, I displayed an image of Dublin’s Heuston Station bathed in green light; today, I feature Connolly Station. These Dublin railway terminals are among the oldest big city stations in continuous use in the world.
Connolly Station features classic Italianate architecture typical of many large stations world-wide.
Exposed on Talbot Street with a Lumix LX-7 mounted on a mini Gitzo tripod with ball head; ISO 80 f2.0 at 1/3.2 seconds with daylight white balance. Pity about the refuse sacks on the footpath.Exposed with a Lumix LX-7 mounted on a mini Gitzo tripod with ball head; ISO 80 f2.0 at 1 second, daylight white balance. This was made at 7pm on March 13, 2015.
The greening of Connolly for St. Patrick’s Day is a more subtle treatment than on some of Dublin’s structures.
It’s become an annual tradition to bathe Dublin’s iconic buildings with green light on the run up to St. Patrick’s Day. I exposed this view of Heuston Station on March 12, 2015 using my Lumix LX-7.
Lumix LX-7 image; f1.8 1/3.2 seconds, ISO 80, auto white balance, Vivid color profile.
For me one of the most effective times to make night photographs is when there’s still a hint of daylight remaining.
Here we are with another catchy title. Yet, it’s fairly descriptive, and neatly covers for the fact that I’m separated from my notes from the day. What?
Back in July 2002, some of my Irish friends and I were photographing along former Great Western lines in the west of England. On this day, we scoped out an elevated location—often pictured in magazines—at Dawlish Warren.
When were arrived at there, I was shocked to find about 40 other photographers with a similar idea in mind.
Class 47 at Dawlish Warren. Nice spot, but I didn’t know I’d need to take a number and join the queue to make a photo there.
My friends and I made a few photos, but it takes some of the fun out of the challenge when you’re in such a large group (and not really part of the group). I think most of the folks were after Class 47 diesels that were then still working some Virgin Cross Country trains.
So, we abandoned the popular place, and migrated east toward Exeter where we found this remote location along the River Exe. (And here I suffer from my notes being in Massachusetts, and me in Ireland; what was the name of this spot? It was near a church, along the River . . .Ah! sounds like the line from a song, oh well).
Classic: Virgin HST at speed. Exposed with a Contax G2 with 45mm Zeiss lens on Fujichrome Film. 1/1000th of a second.
I was pleased to catch a bright red and yellow Virgin HST racing along. While not uncommon at the time, the HST is among my favorite trains in the UK. I think I was in the minority among the folks at Dawlish Warren; they didn’t seem to have any interest in the HST’s at all!
Sometimes you have to walk the steps one at a time to get the best view.
Over the last few weeks, Irish Rail’s Relay train has made visits to the Dublin area en route from its base at Port Laoise to the Navan Branch (where it was involved in track maintenance) and back again.
The Relay train is one of those elusive trains operated by permanent way department, which makes it a special prize to catch on the move.
Irish 084 leads the Relay train up road near Clondalkin. Sister loco 074 is heading down road light engine as a ‘swap’ for the loco working a laden timber train to Waterford.Irish Rail 084 with Relay train up road near Clondalkin. Exposed with Fuji X-T1.Trailing view of the Relay train. This the gantries at the back are used in the relaying of track.
Keeping close tabs on the railway aids in finding these trains. But equally important is patience track side and sensing when and where to look.
Irish Rail 084 brought the train up road on February 27, 2015. Like the bullet fired skyward, what goes up must come down. But when?
On Tuesday, March 3, 2015, I took the LUAS down to Spencer Dock and walked to the road bridge that overlooks Irish Rail’s yard at Dublin’s North Wall. There I noted a gray 071 (loco 084) with the Relay train. When the guard came down and started the locomotive, then a few minutes later hung the tail lamps at the back of the train, I knew that it would soon be on the move.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015: Irish Rail 084 with the Relay train at Dublin’s North Wall. The engine has just been started. Any bets when it might depart? Exposed with Fuji X-T1.
But how quickly would it depart? That’s the million-dollar question (subject to the local exchange rate). Calls were made, transportation arranged, and weathermen consulted . . .
More than two hours later, I caught it on the quad-track section of Irish Rail’s Dublin-Cork mainline at Stacumny Bridge (near mp 8 ¾). As it turned out, the Relay train followed the down IWT liner.
An Irish Rail 22K Rotem-built Intercity Rail Car flies up road at milepost 8 3/4. Fuji X-T1 photo.Waiting at Stacumny Bridge near milepost 8 3/4, I was rewarded by the passage of the IWT Liner with locomotive 8209 wearing an unfinished version of the new Enterprise livery. Fuji X-T1 photo.Not long after the IWT liner worked down road, the Relay train came into view. Success! (And yes, I exposed a slide of this elusive train.) Waiting here for a month of Sunday’s wouldn’t reward you with this photo. (The Relay train tends to run on weekdays.)Irish Rail 084 with Relay train passes Islandbridge Junction on March 10, 2015. Fuji X-T1 photo.
These digital photos are the teasers: I used my EOS-3 loaded with Provia 100F (the real McCoy, not simulated) for some slides of the action.
During the last few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with my new Fujifilm X-T1digital camera by making photos on the streets of Dublin. I’ve presented a sampling of my results on Tracking the Light’s Dublin Page (CLICK HERE).
The camera can yield fantastic results, but successfully manipulating its various modes, colour profiles, features, switches, levers and other controls takes patience to master.
Compare the Fuji’s results with the myriad of images on my Dublin page exposed over the last two years.
More to come!
Wood Quay at sunset. March 4, 2015. Exposed using a Fujifilm X-T1 mirrorless digital camera fitted with an 18-135mm zoom lens.
I made this non-conventional view of the Waterbury Branch shuttle on November 16, 1992.
Using my F3T with Nikor 200mm lens mounted on a tripod, I aimed away to catch the train trailing in order to feature the New Haven painted FL9 locomotive working in push-mode at the back of the consist.
I worked with the ‘around the corner’ lighting that emphasized the textures of the sides of the locomotive and cars, the frost covered ground, while making for a gossamer-like background of trees and electrical wires.
In this composition, I’ve carefully included the electrical pole at top right. It would have been easy enough to crop this out, but I’ve left it in because it serves as an important visual element.
The insulators and wires atop the pole catch the light and draw the eye away from the main subject, while putting context to the network of wires behind the train and so adding a degree of depth to the whole photograph.
Too often, subtle compositions like this one have been cropped by philistines. Simplifying the image doesn’t necessarily make for a better photograph. If I wanted a tighter simpler view, I would have exposed it that way.
For many years, a crucial part of my photographic process was quite literally the chemical processing of my black & white negatives.
Having loaded film onto reels in darkness, and spent 25 minutes to an hour pouring fluids into and out of tanks, there would be a moment of truth . . .
Often the film will have held latent image from expeditions far and wide. Here were moments captured on silver halide, but until this second never before seen.
As I opened the tanks, I’d be wondering, ‘What was on the film?’
Did I capture what I was hoping too? Were my exposures correct?
I peel off the film from the reels dripping wet and hold them to the light.
The negatives would tell me in an instant what I wanted to know.
The image that I’d see dripping from wash water was something like this. Did I have it? Was this worth printing? Maybe . . .
Then came the arduous, but necessary steps of drying, sleeving, and then, if I got to it, printing the negatives.
Sun streams through the clouds as an eastward SBB train glides through the station at Visp, Switzerland in June 2001. Exposed on 120 size black & white film using a Rolleiflex Model T.
London offers wonderful contrasts linking the 19th century Victorian-era with more modern eras.
Paddington Station was the terminal for the Great Western Railway—Brunel’s broad gauge empire. Since that time the world has changed beyond recognition.
Today, albeit much enlarged, Paddington remains as an important urban hub.
When I visited in May 2010 the shed was filled with 1970s-vintage HST sets in modern paint, operated by First Great Western.
Paddington, May 2010. Exposed with a Lumix LX3.
Such a difference in decades fascinates me.
What will this scene look like in another ten years? In another 100 years?
Below are a selection of photos that I made with my X-T1 of the trip to Drogheda on Thursday, March 5, 2015.
Over the years I’ve traveled on many RPSI trips, so this was more an exercise to put my camera through its paces, trying different modes, and making photos of the people as well as the equipment.
Children board the special at Dublin’s Connolly Station.Old ‘flying snail’ logo on 461’s tender.At Connolly Station, Dublin.
RPSI staff discuss operations at Connolly Station.
It was a significant event; it is my understanding to have been the last trip with old Cravens carriages in the traditional orange and black livery.
Immediately after the trip the carriages were brought over to the Inchicore Works where they will be painted in RPSI’s new blue and cream livery to match the rest of the train.
On arrival at Drogheda.The last outing for orange Cravens; once a staple of Irish Rail’s passenger fleet.
Drogheda.In the loop at Skerries as a down road ICR passes.The steady beat of an 071 class General Motors diesel leading a laden Tara Mines zinc train at Skerries.Trailing view of the Tara Mines train that overtook the RPSI special at Skerries.On arrival at Connolly, locomotive 071 coupled onto the RPSI carriages to bring them over to the Inchicore Works. On the left is Irish Rail 231 on the Enterprise for Belfast.
Thanks to everyone at the RPSI and Irish Rail for making this trip a great day out for all involved!
I exposed these photos with my Fuji X-T1 a little while ago (7 March 2015). Compare these photos made in soft afternoon sun with my image of the same freight train at the same location last Saturday (28 February 2015)
Locomotive 071 is the class leader; one of Irish Rail’s 18 General Motors-built model JT22CW dual-cab six-motor diesel-electrics.
To make the most of slight diffused afternoon light, I opted to use the camera’s ‘Velvia’ colour profile, which emulates the characteristics of Fuji’s slide film of the same name.The 18-135mm zoom lens on the Fuji X-T1 allows to rapidly change the its focal length.Here’s last week’s Saturday down IWT Liner (International Warehousing and Transport container train from Dublin’s North Wall to Ballina, County Mayo).
A visit to Prague in May 2000 fulfilled my desire to make gritty urban images. Using my Rolleiflex Model T and Nikon F3T, I exposed dozens of photographs of eclectic Bohemian architecture and electric railed vehicles.
Tatra Tram on Cobbled Streets—cropped view.
This image of Tatra T3 working westbound on Prague’s number 9 route is typical of my photography from that trip.
Prague is one of those great cities that seems to beckon a photo at every turn. Or certainly that was my impression.
I’m presenting two versions of the image: the first is tightly cropped view made possible by the camera’s excellent optics and careful processing of the film (also for some adjustments for contrast in digital post-processing); the second is a pure, un-cropped image. Take your pick!
Un-cropped and unmodified view of a tram on the number 9 route in Prague.
This is one of my favorite Burlington Northern images. Tom Danneman, TSH and I were photographing Powder River coal operations in May 1995.
We caught this empty train working west of Edgemont with nearly new SD70MACs. Burlington Northern had only a few months left before consummation of merger with Santa Fe.
Three Burlington Northern SD70MACs lead coal empties west of Edgemont, South Dakota on May 26, 1995. Three SD70MACs were standard Powder River coal train power. This photo was run large as an opening spread in my book Modern Locomotives: High-Power Diesels, 1966-2000, a title published by Motorbooks in 2002.
Shortly before the train arrived into view some thin clouds softened the sun. While this effect tends to spoil a photo, especially those made on Kodachrome, in this rare case, I think it actually made for a better image.
I feel that the slightly subdued contrast works well with the foreground grasses, the framed tree, and the dark paint on the locomotives.
I exposed this on Kodachrome 25 using my Nikon F3T with 35mm perspective control lens mounted on my Bogen 3021 tripod.
I made this photograph the other night using my Lumix LX-7 set for ‘Monochrome’.
The complexity of the scene features several visual layers.
Here are two versions of the photo. The top image is the camera generated Jpeg, unmodified except for scaling. The bottom image is the result of some modifications in post processing.
The unmodified file; this is the camera generate Jpeg, scaled for internet presentation.This version was modified from the camera RAW file.
Using the ‘levels’ slider, I’ve lightened the mid-range shadows to reveal greater amounts of detail inside the pub and improve the overall contrast. Then I made some localized contrast adjustments with the dodging tool.
With the saturation slider I de-saturated the image, removing all color. Although, I’d exposed it in ‘Monochrome’, the camera-file gave the file a bluish hue that I didn’t feel was necessary or desirable.
I like the second version of the image better. However my changes have had the secondary effect of de-emphasizing the LUAS tram that was the original primary subject.
Comparison of the two versions shows a little bit of work can improve a digital image.
Here’s another gem from my Conrail files. I have tens of thousands of Conrail photos, many of them exposed in black & white.
This image caught my eye. November 1984 was a busy month photographically, and I exposed almost all my photographs that month with an old Leica 3A. (My original camera had suffered a failure, so I was using one of my dad’s.)
This was exposed mid-month, probably on a Saturday. I was traveling with some friends. We’d seen Conrail PWSE (Providence & Worcester to Selkirk, New York) working the old Boston & Albany yard in Palmer, and were heading west to find a location.
The train got the jump on us, and there was a panic as we saw the train racing west behind us: “There it is!” I made this grab shot looking down the road at North Wilbraham toward one of the few grade crossings on the B&A route west of Worcester, Massachusetts.
Conrail PWSE races across the grade crossing at North Wilbraham, Massachusetts in November 1984. Exposed on 35mm black & white film using a Leica 3A with 50mm Summitar. Photo cropped to eliminate unnecessary foreground. Notice my careful placement of the locomotives in relation to the trees and poles.
For me this captures the scene. North Wilbraham isn’t the most salubrious environment, but so what? Not every place is a park and it shows the way things were in the mid-1980s. I can hear ‘The Cars’ (Boston band) playing on the radio.
Need a close up of Conrail’s B23-7s? I have lots of those too.
Now wouldn’t this have been a cool angle 40 years earlier with one of Boston & Albany’s class A1 Berkshires hauling freight under a plume of its own exhaust?
Sunday, February 22, 2015 had been a wet windy day, but as evening approached, I saw the clouds clearing in the west. I made an opportunity to experiment with my X-T1.
The dramatic lighting effects of a winter evening in Dublin are as good a time as any to make photographs, and I’ve found that among the strengths of my new camera is working in low light.
Harcourt Street, Dublin. ISO 1600
To retain the hues of dusk, I switched the white balance setting from ‘auto’ to ‘daylight,’ while I upped the ISO dial to its higher ranges, and selected the ‘Velvia’ color profile.
My 18-135 lens is a remarkably sharp piece of glass and its built-in image stabilization allowed me to work hand-held in lighting situations that would have been all but impossible with my film cameras.
In bound LUAS Green Line tram glides down Harcourt Street at dusk. ISO 1600; 1/30th of a second.Pan of LUAS tram on Harcourt Street. ISO 3200 f4.0 1/30th of a second.Pan of LUAS tram on Harcourt Street. ISO 3200 f4.0 1/30th of a second.
I exposed about 140 images over the course of an hour and one half. That’s equivalent to just less than 4 rolls of slide film. I admit that sounds like a lot, however when I found an interesting scene, I’d bracket my exposure, while experimenting with various metering and focusing modes while pushing the limits of image stabilization.
This was an opportunity to test the camera’s capabilities, while working in a visually familiar environment. So, I revisited streets where I’ve photographed frequently over the years.
Montague Street looking west.Whelans of Wexford Street. 135mm setting, ISO 1600.Wexford Street looking south.Chinese New Year lamps on Castle Market.Crecent moon. ISO 3200; 135mm.Dublin Bus takes the corner at Dame Street and South Great Georges Street.Zoom-pan of a traffic on Dame Street.The evening glow looking west on Dame Street. Hundreds of years ago there was a gate to the old city down there.
This is a sampling of Sunday’s efforts. I exposed RAW and Jpgs of each photo; presented here are scaled versions of the Jpgs. Other than the necessary size reduction for internet presentation, I’ve not manipulated, adjusted or otherwise enhanced these photos in post-processing.
Thursday, February 26, 2015: Today Enterprise 8209 wearing a new livery (or rather what appears to be about half of the new Enterprise livery) worked Irish Rail’s Dublin (North Wall) to Ballina IWT Liner.
Irish Rail operates container trains for International Warehousing & Transport most weekdays, however it is unusual to find this locomotive working the train. The 201 Class are General Motors-built locomotives technically similar to the F59PHI used in North America.
Irish Rail’s IWT Liner passes Platform 10 near Heuston Station. Fuji X-T1 photo.Irish Rail’s IWT Liner at Islandbridge Junction near Heuston Station on February 26, 2015. Fuji X-T1 photo.A classic roster view: Irish Rail’s IWT Liner at Islandbridge Junction near Heuston Station on February 26, 2015. Fuji X-T1 photo in ‘Velvia’ mode. (And yes, yes, I made one in ‘Provia’ mode too. And a slide.)
Yesterday, I featured locomotive 206 working the Ballina to Dublin IWT Liner which featured a more complete variation of the new paint scheme. At least today, I had the sun, fickle as it may be!
I was lucky because the train was blocked at Islandbridge Junction, giving me an opportunity to expose a few colour slides and then hoof it up the road for another angle.
The IWT works up the ‘gullet’ on its way west. Fuji X-T1 photo.
A little while ago, I caught Irish Rail 206 wearing a fresh new dress leading the afternoon IWT Liner from the top of the Phoenix Park Tunnel in Dublin. I made these photos with my Fuji X-T1.
I think the new photography mode is: ‘ISO 6400 and be there’. It was pretty dark. This was my first glimpse of the locomotive in this new livery. I’m sure there’ll be ample opportunity to catch it in better light, but thanks to improved technology I was able to make the most of the moment.
I considered leaving out the second ‘Connecticut,’ but for the sake of clarity I’ll risk sounding redundant. The real topic is the nearly tragic tale of the photograph itself.
I’d pulled this Kodachrome slide from my old box of ‘3rds’— my category meaning ‘just above garbage’. In otherwords, if I got tight for space, I’d pitch it.
For years I wondered what had happened to this slide!
In August 1987, I’d made several trips to photograph Conrail’s New Haven to Selkirk (symbol NHSE) on the former New Haven Railroad New Haven—Springfield line.
The challenge of this project was that the train departed Cedar Hill Yard (near New Haven) very early in the morning. If I recall correctly, it went on duty there about 3am. My strategy was either to drive past the yard in Hartford to see if it was there, and then pick a location for a photograph, or simply set up and wait.
On this day, August 18, 1987, I was waiting on spec. I’d figured, at least I’d catch a few of the southward Amtrak trains, and if Conrail’s NHSE didn’t show up, I’d head off elsewhere.
After selecting my spot by water level, and after Amtrak’s Bankers went south, I was rewarded by a pair of SD40-2s leading a very long NHSE. The light was nearly perfect and I exposed several frames of Kodachrome 25.
When the slides came back I was sorely disappointed. These had two flaws: the color had shifted red (often a problem with Kodachrome that was too close to its expiry date); but worse, the images were off level (tilted). The second problem was especially galling because I’d featured the river so prominently.
Into the ‘3rds’ bin! At that time I could go back to Windsor on any given day and repeat my effort. Except that I didn’t.
Years went by. I remembered the morning of the photograph and I recalled exposing the slides. In searching, I’d found slides of NHSE from other days. But this image was missing, as were quite a few other images from the same period.
Finally, I found it again, and quite by accident. In looking for photos for a book project (Conrail, probably), I opened the big box of ‘3rds’ to see what was inside . . . and, isn’t it amazing to see how slides improve with age?!
Now with desktop scanning and post-processing technologies, the job of adjusting color balance and cropping to improve level are remarkably easy.
And there’s a lesson in photography (well two, really).
Among the features of the Fuji X-T1 is a setting to make broad panoramic images. This is done by sweeping the camera across a scene as it exposes a burst of images in rapid succession. The camera’s internal software then assembles the images as a horizontal image.
Dusk at Sean Heuston Bridge looking toward Heuston Station. I’ve made a broad sweep using the panorama feature. This sews together a bunch of images exposed in rapid order.
Using this feature as intended will produce a convincing panoramic photograph. However if subjects move they may appear more than once or become altered beyond recognition.
I experimented by panning a LUAS tram in panoramic mode. The result looks like the world’s longest tram.
I set the panoramic mode as I panned a LUAS tram arriving at Heuston Station. The effect was this image that appears to be ‘the world’s longest tram.’
It was an exciting time. Mass-Central had just recently acquired a former Santa Fe CF7, which to me seemed like a really exotic locomotive, and was running excursions over the old Boston & Albany line from Ware to Palmer, and Ware to South Barre.
My friend Bob Buck of Warren got involved with publicity while I made a point of both riding some of the trains and photographing them from the ground.
Exposed on 35mm black & white film using a Leica 3a with 50mm Summitar; exposure calculated with the aid of a Weston Master III photo cell. Film processed in D76.
This image was probably exposed on a Saturday afternoon in late September or early October. I’m not sure of the exact date because the individual negative strip has been separated from its original sleeve and my notes from the time are a bit minimal (and filed about 4,000 miles away). However judging by the foliage on the trees, it wasn’t too late in the season.
I’d followed the train down from Ware. It made a spirited run and approached each crossing with the bell ringing and horn blaring. Here a man has jumped off the engine to flag the difficult Route 181 crossing in Palmer, Massachusetts, where the tracks cut across the road at a difficult angle.
I’ve always liked this location because the line angles toward the road down a gently curving ramp with a row of trees beyond that makes the whole scene seem like a big diorama.
Back then, my photography was entirely inspired by the spirit of the moment and I didn’t put a lot of forethought into details such as location, lighting and composition. My mode was to ‘get ahead of the train then jump out and grab a photo or two.’
It helps to be near the tracks. In Dublin, my oft-photographed location at Islandbridge Junction is only a five minute walk away.
It wasn’t the brightest day, last week when I made the opportunity to make a few photographs of Irish Rail’s Dublin (North Wall) to Ballina IWT Liner. This is a freight train that I’ve photographed very often owing to its operational regularity and proximity. It was the perfect subject to try out my new Fuji X-T1.
Irish Rail ICRs were plentiful. Time for a test photo. Fuji X-T1 with 18-135mm lens at 18mm; ISO 1250 f4.9 at 1/500th of a second in ‘Velvia’ mode.
I wandered up to my location as Irish Rail was shuffling some 22K series ROTEM-built Intercity Railcars (ICRs). While these are a dime a dozen (or is that ten euro cents for ten?) and the light was flat, I put the camera to use. What better time to practice?
I felt that the ‘Velvia’ setting was too saturated for the overcast scene, so I switched to ‘Provia’ and opened up by about a third of stop for a slightly lighter image. The IWT liner was routed through Platform 10 around the ICRs.The flexibility offered by the 18-135mm lens and other controls allowed me to quickly adjust my perspective as the IWT Liner got closer. It wasn’t moving very fast. I’ve made many photos here, but this was my first catch of a gray 071 work the IWT. If I’d been using actual Provia 100F slide film my exposure would have been about f2.8 at 1/125th. Tough lighting for midday.
The liner made its appearance and I exposed a burst of images in ‘Provia’ mode. (The Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera has traditional Fuji film profiles programmed into it.)
As luck would have it, the liner wasn’t moving very quickly and it looked as if it wouldn’t stay ahead of the 11 am passenger train to Cork, so my friend and fellow photographer Colm O’Callaghan traveled to Hazelhatch at the end of the quad-track.
We made it in enough time to watch the 11am passenger overtake the IWT Liner and made some photos of the train.
Irish Rail’s IWT liner ambles toward Hazelhatch. An ICR is working uproad toward Dublin on the quad track mainline. Fuji X-T1. By using the tilting rear screen, I was able to hold the camera over my head and compose this scene in ‘live view’.
My Fuji X-T1 has a tilting rear display, a first for me. This allowed me to hold the camera high over the railing on the footbridge at Hazelhatch and frame up a series of images.
But is the image sharp? I was entirely relying on the camera’s autofocus. This is a cropped view of the above image.Here is an even tighter crop of the same file. While I exposed RAW and Jpg files simultaneously, this crop is taken from the Jpg. I’ll explore the RAW files later.
After the train passed, I could hear the class 071 diesel-electric roaring away in ‘run-8’ (maximum throttle) for at least five minutes. I grew up to the sound of turbocharged EMD diesels, so its always a treat to hear an old 645E3 working.
When I got home, I pored over the files fresh from the X-T1. These were some of the first action shots with my new camera. Not too bad considering the dull light. More to come!
Best of the lot; using the RAW file, I lightened this image slightly and made nominal localized contrast adjustments in post processing.
It was the evening of June 15, 2004, and I was out along the old Burlington C&I line at Chana, west of Rochelle, Illinois. The sunset was this amazing tapestry of color, like a Turner oil painting. I had a few minutes to make the most it.
I had several Nikons loaded with different types of Fujichrome and my old Rolleiflex. I made this view with a Nikon F3 and my Nikkor 180mm telephoto.
The old General Railway Signal searchlight signal with its classic finial and the code lines beyond made for good silhouette subjects. I blasted through about a half a roll of film before the color faded. I’ve found you have to make the most of these cosmic moments when they happen.
Often there’ll be a great sunset, but I won’t be in a position to use the light for anything constructive, and so I’ll just have to gaze at it with regrets. Seeing a missed opportunity in a sunset; that’s one of the downsides of being a photographer.
In January 2009, Tim Doherty, Denis McCabe and I made photos at a suburban branch station called Praha-Ruzyne, situated west of Prague’s historic center and near the Vaclav Havel (international) Airport. A wire operated semaphore caught my interest.
This scene presents a lesson in composition. It was a visually interesting but stark environment to make photographs.
The Czech capital is a fascinating city with some of Europe’s finest architecture. Unfortunately, none of this is present at Praha-Ruzyne, which is characterized by urban development stemming from the country’s austere period of Soviet-influence.
I opted to work in silhouette and exposed this color slide for the highlight areas of the sky while allowing shadow areas to go black and be virtually free from distracting detail.
Photograph made using a Canon EOS 3 with 100mm lens and Fujichrome slide film.
My challenge was placing the semaphore mast and blade in a position that makes it most prominent. I’ve balanced the composition by putting this signal diagonally opposite from the diesel railcar at lower right. The red lights on the back of the railcar immediately attract the eye, while the semaphore draws it back again.
In the middle is a lone figure crossing the line which both adds a prominent human element that offers a sense of scale, while imposing a poetic element of; ‘man versus his environment’.
The trackage arrangement makes for a complex pattern that reflects the light of the morning sky . On the hill above the train is a large building that hints at the greater urbanity of the scene. Without it, the image might be mistaken for a photo of a rural village.
Two specially difficulties were the array of vertical lighting masts which distract from the semaphore, and the railing along the line that visually interferes with the trackage, but adds a layer of depth.
The trees in the distance beyond the tracks are slightly diffused by morning haze and contribute to sense of depth—an especially important element in this silhouetted view, which would otherwise be flattened by the minimalism imposed by my choice of exposure.
How might this image compare with one at the same location exposed on a bright summer afternoon?
Historically, Philadelphia had one of the most extensive urban streetcar networks in the United States.
My recent book Streetcars of America co-authored with John Gruber and published by Shire, features a selection of historic images of Philadelphia’s cars.
My father began photographing in Philadelphia in the mid-1950s, and my family has kept up the tradition.
A SEPTA Kowasaki car works Lancaster Avenue with the Philadelphia Center City skyline in the distance. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.An historic PCC in route 15 service turns the corner from 63rd Street to Girard Avenue. Canon EOS 7D.SEPTA’s number 15 on Girard Avenue.A few minutes later this training car came grinding along.A view looking east on Girard Avenue. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.
On January 16, 2015 I re-explored several Philadelphia streetcar routes to make photographs. I was surprise to see one of the 1980s-era Kawaski cars working as a ‘Training Car’ on Girard Avenue—normally the domain of restored PCCs for the number 15 cross-town line.
Later my brother Sean and I went over to Media to catch the route 101 car. The Media line is one of the vestiges of the old Philadelphia Suburban Lines.
Media, Pennsylvania is proud of its streetcar!SEPTA’s Route 101 Trolley en route from 69th Street.SEPTA 101 on the streets of Media, PA. Canon EOS 7D with 40mm lens.
