Tag Archives: Kansas City Southern

photography

Searchlights at Ginger Blue, Missouri.

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In August 2011, Chris Guss and I were exploring Kansas City Southern’s mainline south of Neosho, Missouri.

We made a series of night photos around Ginger Blue. This place gets points for its evocative name. The classic search light signals were another bonus.

As Chris set up and tested his synchronized strobes, I made a series of photos of the signals and surrounding farm yard.

Exposed using a Canon EOS 7D mounted on a tripod. Synchronized strobe lighting was blended with a long time exposure to allow for effects of existing light, including the focused beam of the searchlight signal.
Exposed using a Canon EOS 7D mounted on a tripod. Synchronized strobe lighting was blended with a long time exposure to allow for effects of existing light, including the focused beam of the searchlight signal.
Five minutes at Ginger Blue Missouri IMG_9364 1
My ‘behind the scenes’ image. The white streaks are traces of Chris Guss’s flash light. This was a five minute exposure made digitally and  largely with available light. If you look closely, you can see some of the lighting stands and at left, one of the signals. Note the star trails in the sky.

 

My new book Classic Railroad Signals from Voyageur Press covers the search lights, semaphores and other types of historic signal hardware. I’m looking forward to perusing my author’s copy!

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photography

Kansas City Southern’s Dodger.

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McElhany, Missouri

It was the afternoon of August 16, 2011, Chris Guss and I were on a three day visit to Kansas City Southern’s north-south mainline. We were chasing the ‘Dodger’—what I’d call a local freight—led by freshly painted GP38 in the revived ‘Southern Belle’ scheme. This locomotive was originally Penn-Central 7800.

We set up on this grade south of Neosho. I worked with my Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens and Canon EOS 3 with 200mm and Fujichrome. This view was made with the digital camera.

Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens set at 127mm; exposed at ISO 200 f6.3 1/500 second.
Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens set at 127mm; exposed at ISO 200 f6.3 1/500 second.

What impressed me most about the ‘Dodger’ was its crew’s exceptional efficiency. They wasted no time when switching. There are lessons to be learned from these guys!

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