Tag Archives: #industrial decline

Housatonic, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; 3 Photos from Tracking the Light

This post is really about clouds and change.

Two weeks ago, fellow photographer Mike Gardner and I were in Pittsfield, Massachusetts waiting for the arrival of the Housatonic Railroad freight from Canaan.

Standing on a bridge completed in 2016, we were at the center of what had been a massive General Electric plant, but has since been closed and largely demolished.

Somewhere in my older photos, I have a photo of an eastward Conrail freight led by GE diesels passing through this plant that had straddled the Boston & Albany mainline. I also have a photo of the Alco switcher that worked the plant.

The Housatonic freight arrived and paused to make its drop for CSX. The sun emerged from the clouds and I made these views.

Lumix LX7 view. The buildings in the distance were once part of the GE complex that occupied this site.

 

Wide angle view with Lumix LX7.
This new bridge is more than a vantage point, but part of the story. I like the extreme depth of field in this view.

For me the train is incidental. The dramatic cloudy sky with the ruins of the GE Plant tell the story. A story so often repeated across New England.

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