Railroad photography isn’t necessarily aided by a windswept empty car park, a host lighting poles, catenary masts, fences, not to mention the metal monstrosity posing as a footbridge.
This was the scene at Readville, Massachusetts on Sunday, Morning, December 6, 2015.
An MBTA train heading for Boston was due shortly. Since locomotives operate on the south-end of consists, I set up for a trailing pan photo. I focused on the new engine and allowed the setting to settle into a sea of blur.
An MBTA HSP46 passes Readville, Massachusetts on Sunday December 6, 2015.
This is one means of making the ugliness more interesting.
Exposed at 1/60th of a second using my FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera. Contrast controlled in post processing using Lightroom.
Back in my Pentrex Publishing days (in the mid 1990s) I wrote an editorial about the ultimate demise of the searchlight signal.
Even then, this style of hardware was out of favor for new installations, yet thousands of the old signals still remained.
Today they are fast disappearing, and at many installations they are already gone.
Old searchlights west of Ayer, Massachusetts. Once common, this style of signal has been out of favor for decades and are now rapidly being replaced.
Two weeks ago, when traveling with Bob Arnold and Paul Goewey, we opted to photograph an outbound MBTA train passing these General Railway Signal searchlights on the old Boston & Maine west of Ayer, Massachusetts
MBTA train 453AM works west of Ayer with HSP46 2027 in the lead.. How long will this new diesel and these old signals co-exist? Bets anyone? The replacement signals are already in place at Shirley, a mile or so to the west.
I wanted to feature one of the new HSP-46 diesels passing the vintage signals to show the contrast in technology. The window for making this type of photograph is rapidly narrowing, as these searchlight’s replacements are in place and will soon be cut in.
My book Classic Railroad Signals, published by Voyageur Press, details many varieties of older signal hardware and tells the story of American signaling with stunning photographs and detailed historical information. Get your copy today!
Elevation is often the key to better railway photographs. That was certainly the case on the morning of July 6, 2015, when Paul Goewey and I inspected the view from the parking garage opposite Worcester Union Station.
We were lucky to catch new MBTA HSP46 2027 leading an outbound train from Boston. These locomotives are unique to MBTA, and in long-standing tradition have large road numbers painted on their roofs. (atop the cab in yellow numerals).
Exposed with my Lumix LX7.FujiFilm X-T1 digital photograph.
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