Tag Archives: LUAS

Shows Dublin’s LUAS trams.

LUAS McDonalds Tram at Heuston Station

July 27, 2013 brian solomon Leave a comment

Advertising Tram by Moonlight in Dublin.

LUAS tram advertising McDonalds pauses at Dublin’s Heuston Station on the evening of 20 July 2013. Lumix LX3 photo.

I was waiting to catch Dublin’s LUAS from Heuston Station to the city centre last Saturday evening (20 July 2013) when I spotted this advertising tram outbound.

I grabbed my Lumix, set it for ‘Aperture Priority’ (the ‘A’ on the top dial) and dialed in a 1/3-exposure override to compensate for the inadequate contrast ratio caused by sodium vapor streetlights against a dark sky.

As explained in earlier posts (click here), many camera meters expect daylight-type situations, and thus calculate exposure based on these parameters and this tends to result in under exposure of nighttime scenes. Since the camera meter doesn’t know what the scene looks like, it is important to make the adjustment manually.

I’ve found from past experience that a 1/3 to 2/3s stop override (in other words + 1/3 or 2/3s in the exposure menu) general provides the necessary compensation. Another alternative is to make a test photo and then expose manually based on the histogram output. This required more time than I had, so I went for the easy solution.

I faced another problem. No tripod. So, I relied on my fall back alternative of placing the camera on the ground while propping up the lens with my spare Lumix battery. This has the secondary effect of providing an unusually dramatic angle.

One last complication: I had only one exposure left on the camera’s card! I knew this and so had to get it right with one try. The tram only stopped long enough for me to make that one exposure anyway.

It was nearly a full moon, which gave me a little bit extra skylight. If I’d had more time and more exposures, I may have made a second photo with a 2/3s exposure override. But that’s a minor point. Hopefully, I have another opportunity to photograph this unusual tram. Perhaps next time in daylight

photography

Happy Birthday Tracking the Light!

July 19, 2013 brian solomon Leave a comment

Tracking the Light’s first full year.

It was exactly one year ago (July 19, 2012) that Tracking the Light made its debut.

In the last year this site has had nearly 24,000 visits.

Of the nearly 235 posts, the following topics have been the most popular:

1) Gallery Post 1: Sperry Train at Islandbridge Junction on August 30, 2012

2) LUAS Tram Crash on Benburb, Street Dublin September 10, 2012

3) Installment 1: Central Vermont Railway at Windsor, Vermont

4) Gallery Post 2: Looking Back on Irish Railways 1998-2003

5) Tracking the Light Extra! Breaking Views!

Irish Rail 0117077 leads a wagon transfer over the River Liffey at Islandbridge at 4:25pm on April 10, 2013. Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens.

Among the posts that drew the least interest:

1) Sunset at Bonn, Germany, August 1998

2) Chicago & North Western Station, Chicago August 1984

Deutche Bahn InterCity train 522 Berchtesgadener Land (Berchtesgaden—Hamburg) catches the glint of the setting sun at Bonn, Germany. Compare this view with that of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited catches the glint at Palmer, May 28, 1986. (posted December 7, 2012). Exposed on Fuji Sensia II (ISO 100) slide film using a Nikon F3T fitted with f2.8 135mm lens. Exposure calculated manually with a handheld Sekonic Studio deluxe light meter (approximately f8 1/500 sec).

Chicago, August 19, 1984. Exposed on Kodak Safety Film 5063; bulk loaded Tri-x 400, exposed at ISO 400, processed in Microdol-X.

As a result of my careful marketing analysis, I’ve determine the best ways for Tracking the Light to go viral are:

1) Encourage Sperry to plan a safely staged ‘derailment’ on Dublin’s LUAS route (to demonstrate the dangers of hidden rail fractures, perhaps) using former a Central Vermont Railway switcher painted in Irish Rail grey and then photograph it on a dull day using my Lumix LX-3. (Along the lines of the theatrically arranged ‘cornfield meets’ of the late Victorian era.)

2) Hire a Korean guy with sunglasses to dance around near the tracks. (Gangnam Style) —hey, with more than 1.5 Billion hits, something must be working, right??

3) Offer free Twinkies to all Tracking the Light subscribers.

4) Plan a merger with LeakyWiks.

5) Encourage everyone who enjoys the site to spread the word (and links) with their friends and urge regular visitors to subscribe! (there’s a box for comments toward the bottom of the posts and a box to tick that enables the subscription feature—admittedly this is a bit Kafkaesque, and hopefully I’ll find a better means of enabling subscriptions soon!)

Incidentally, my elaborate plans to import a German electric for demonstration were to be aborted, unfortunately Amtrak didn’t get the memo! 😉

Thanks again for checking Tracking the Light!

Brian Solomon

railroad tracks. — Chicago & North Western’s Chicago-Omaha mainline at sunset.

photography

LUAS at the Red Cow April 2005

June 30, 2013 brian solomon 2 Comments

400mm View of an Alstom Citadis Tram.

In April 2005, Dublin’s LUAS light rail system was still relatively new. Services on the Red Line service between Dublin Connolly Station and Tallagh had only commenced the previous September.

The Trams still had that ‘right out of the box’ quality. They were new and shiny and free from dents and day-to-day wear and tear. The yellow safety stripes were still in the future.

The Irish Railway Record Society was working on a special LUAS edition of their Journal and fellow IRRS members Stephen Hirsch, the late-Norman McAdams and myself spent a morning intensively photographing LUAS operations and its trams to help fill this publication.

The morning was bright but had a hazy diffused quality of light, typical of Irish April weather. I exposed this image with my Nikon N90S fitted with a Tokina 400mm lens.

However when I inspected the processed slide, it left me with something of quandary: While I was satisfied with the composition and the subtle backlit qualities, I’d felt that I’d misjudged the lighting and overexposed the image by about a stop. Worse, I didn’t manage to keep the camera level, so, by my normal standards of judgment, I felt the slide projected poorly.

Despite these flaws, I found the slide, scanned exceptionally well. In post processing I was easily able to correct for level, and the exposure looks fine on the computer screen without need for manipulation.

This just goes to show what doesn’t look good on film, may, in fact, produce a better than average final image in other media.

photography

Purple Ad Tram on LUAS Green Line

April 5, 2013 brian solomon Leave a comment

Spring Colors for Dublin Transport.

The other evening I was at birthday party in Dublin’s old Harcourt Street Station where I noticed the passing of a purple advertising tram. Wednesday, April 3, 2013 dawned clear and bright, so during the course of my day, I took a spin down the LUAS Green Line, and intercepted this latest ad tram. I exposed digital photos with my Lumix LX3, while making a few slides with my old Nikon F3.

Alstom Citadis Tram in advertising livery arrives at Kilmacud on the LUAS Green Line, April 3, 2013.

LUAS Alstom Citadis Tram seen at St Stephens Green, Dublin.

I’ll be presenting my illustrated talk “Ireland through American Eyes 1998-2008 My first Decade in Ireland” to the London area Irish Railway Record Society on April 18, 2013.

The program begins at 1900 (7pm) upstairs at the Exmouth Arms, 1 Starcross Street, LONDON NW1, (advertised as a 5 minute walk from London’s Euston station). A nominal donation of £3.50 is asked of non-IRRS members (members £2.50)

For more on the IRRS see: http://www.irrs.ie/

photography

The Sun Doesn’t Always Shine In Dublin; But it did on April 2, 2013!

April 4, 2013 brian solomon Leave a comment

Irish Rail‘s Day in the Sun—April 2, 2013.

It was a rare day in Dublin. After what has been reported as the coldest March on record (and, undoubtedly one of the grayest), waking up to a clear blue dome was a joy. As a weekday, Irish Rail had fair bit on the move, above its normal schedule of passenger trains.

Irish_Rail_224_IWT_Liner_Islandbridge_Jct_Vert_IMG_0463 — Irish Rail Class 201 number 224 rolls through Islandbridge Junction with the Dublin-Ballina IWT-Liner on April 2, 2013.

My first move was to catch the ‘down IWT Liner’ (Dublin to Ballina International Warehousing and Transport container train) from my usual spot. This place is easy, too easy, so has often become my default location. Not to linger, I hopped on the LUAS (Dublin’s tram system) to meet my friend Colm O’Callaghan down (at) the North Wall (near Dublin port).

We proceeded to a favored overhead bridge at Claude Road on Dublin’s North Side to catch Irish Rail’s last orange 071 (number 084) working a long welded rail train up from the permanent way depot (track maintenance yard). This was delayed coming across from Islandbridge by the passage of scheduled trains on the Sligo Line.

Rotem ICR. — A Sligo to Dublin Connolly passenger train passes Claude Road, Dublin.

071 class diesel. — The long welded rail train approaches Claude Road in Dublin on April 2, 2013.

Once standard, orange trains have all but vanished from Irish Rail in recent years. General Motors-built class 071 number 084 is the last locomotive in traffic to wear orange paint. A new livery is being applied to the 071 class presently.

After catching this unusual train, we moved down to the Cork Line at Lucan South to wait for the ‘Up IWT Liner’ from Ballina led by another of the 071 Class General Motors diesels.

All of these images were exposed with my Canon EOS 7D. Had I anticipated such a productive venture, I would have brought along a film camera. Perhaps next time!

The Ballina to Dublin IWT liner works ‘up road’ on the slow line near Lucan South in west suburban Dublin. Not far behind is a Cork to Dublin-Heuston Mark4 on the fast line. This will overtake the freight in a few minutes.

I’ll be presenting my illustrated talk “Ireland through American Eyes 1998-2008 My first Decade in Ireland” to the London area Irish Railway Record Society on April 18, 2013.

For more on the IRRS see: http://www.irrs.ie/

The 1020am Cork to Dublin-Heuston passenger train screams along on the fast line near Lucan South.

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St Patrick’s Day Parade Dublin

March 18, 2013 brian solomon 2 Comments

Tracking the Light spent yesterday in Dublin photographing the St Patrick’s Day festivities.

Check out Tracking the Light’s Dublin Page for a sampling of images.

Also check out my eBook for Apple iPad: Dublin Unconquered.

photography

Tracking the Light now features a Page on Dublin

March 13, 2013 brian solomon Leave a comment

Irish Photography: Focus on Dublin.

Georgian terrace houses, Dublin, Ireland. — Georgian architecture, Parnell Square, Dublin.

I’ve posted a variety of recent images of Dublin, Ireland to a special page on Tracking the Light. See: Recent Images of Dublin Ireland listed on the third tier in the header.

I intend to update this page regularly with fresh images of Ireland’s capital city!

While not strictly related to railways, this will occasionally feature images of Irish Rail, LUAS, Railways Preservation Society Ireland, views of the canals and other relevant topics.

Keep an eye out for St Patrick’s Day images, on or after the day!

Click HERE to see the Dublin page.

Looking up in the National Museum — Dome on the National Museum, Dublin. March 8, 2013

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, March 2013. — St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, March 2013.

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Two views of Broadstone, Dublin

February 26, 2013 brian solomon 5 Comments

Broadstone_Dublin_Jan_3_2000 — Broadstone Station, Dublin greets the new millennium. Rollei Model T with f3.5 75mm Zeiss Tessar lens.

Broadstone Station was the Dublin terminus of Ireland’s Midland & Great Western Railway. This enigmatic railway was built west from Dublin parallel to the suffering Royal Canal, and Broadstone Station was located adjacent to the existing Royal Canal basin in the north city center. M&GWR was among lines consolidated as Great Southern Railways in 1924, a move that sealed the fate of Broadstone; it was closed as a passenger terminal in 1936 (although tracks remained for freight services into the 1970s). The buildings survive as a Dublin Bus depot (garage). The old canal basin was filled in many years ago and is now car park. The canal bridge that once spanned the road adjacent to the station is remembered in period photos on the walls of neighborhood pubs. Soon rails will return to Broadstone in the form of a LUAS light rail extension.

Broadstone Station is a vestige of Irish railways long gone. The station was executed in an Egyptian revival style and completed in 1850. I find the building fascinating, yet difficult to photograph because it is hemmed in by the five inhibitors of urban railway photography: pavement, walls, fences, wires and unkempt brush. On a weekday, cars and buses surround the old structure, which lend to ironic images of a grand decayed station encircled by transport modes that contributed to its redundancy. Making a simple image that captures the grandeur of the station isn’t easy. Here are two of my efforts: one was made with my old Rollei Model T on 120 size black & white film on January 3, 2000. I exposed the other digitally last Tuesday afternoon (February 19, 2013) using my Canon 7D and 40mm pancake lens.

Dublin's Broadstone Station, February 19, 2013. Exposed with Canon 7D fitted with 40mm pancake lens. — Dublin’s Broadstone Station, February 19, 2013. Exposed with Canon 7D fitted with 40mm pancake lens.

photography

White Tram Prowls Dublin’s LUAS

February 22, 2013 brian solomon Leave a comment

White tram near Bus Aras, Dublin. February 19, 2013. Canon 7D with 40mm pancake lens.

The majority of trams on Dublin’s LUAS network are dressed in light silvery lavender with yellow safety strips around the body of the cars roughly at headlight level. The yellow stripe was added after the 2004 LUAS start up. Every so often, a single tram is decorated in an advertising livery. Last autumn (2012) there was an attractive blue tram advertising a cable television service. The other day, I noticed an all white tram advertising a phone service. This is like the one red jellybean in a bag of black ones. It’s something to watch out for and relieves the monotony of an otherwise uniform fleet. For photography it opens up opportunity to catch something a little different. After all, what can white do that silver cannot?

LUAS tram Dublin — Ordinary LUAS tram catches the glint at Bus Aras, Dublin. February 19, 2013. Canon 7D with 40mm pancake lens.

Tram in Dublin — White tram on Benburb Street Dublin. February 19, 2013. Canon 7D with 40mm pancake lens.

photography, Tips and Technique

More Secrets on Pan Photos

February 19, 2013 brian solomon 1 Comment

Practice panning. I’ve found this increases the ratio of success. Trams are good subjects for practicing. They come by a frequently and at regular intervals. They operate in urban environments with interesting backgrounds. If one set of pans isn’t satisfactory, no problem, there’ll be another tram along shortly. Also, trams tend to be double-ended, allowing opportunities for panning coming and going.

Dublin is blessed with a modern tram system. The LUAS is well suited (and aptly named— translated from the Irish roughly means ‘speed’) for panning. LUAS Citadis trams built are by Alstom, and are a standard European model. I find these reasonably photogenic, so far as trams go and they glide along smoothly. Over the years I’ve made a variety of LUAS pans. I exposed this pair of tram pans yesterday afternoon (February 18, 2013) along Dublin’s Benburb Street using my Canon 7D fitted with 40mm Pancake lens (which as result of the 7D’s smaller sensor size provides a 35mm film camera equivalent of about 60mm lens)

Here’s a few tips for making clean pan photos:

1) Use a 50mm lens or short telephoto. (Making pan photos with wide-angles and long telephotos is much more difficult)

2) Manually select a shutter speed between 1/15^th and 1/60^th of a second. (the longer the shutter is open, the greater the effect of blurring, but the harder it is to obtain a clean pan).

3) Make a series of experimental photos to practice the panning motion.

4) Pan by pivoting the entire body.

5) Pick a point in the frame to line up with the subject; try to hold the subject to that point during the entire pan.

6) Begin panning well before the subject is photographed and plan to continue panning until well after the shutter is released. Don’t stop suddenly.

7) If using an SLR/DSLR, plan on making a single frame and not a series of motor drive exposures. (The mirror flapping up and down is distracting and may simply result in a series of badly blurred images instead of a single sharp one).

8) Pay careful attention to the background and how it relates to your subject.

9) Repeat steps 1 to 8 as often as is practicable.

I’ll divulge a few more panning tricks in a later post.

A LUAS Tram passes the Millennium Bar on Benburb Street. This was the location of the well-publicized tram crash on September 10, 2012, that I featured in a post on that day. See: LUAS Tram Crash on Benburb, Street Dublin. Canon 7D with 40mm pancake lens. ISO 100 f18 at 1/15th second. (Full frame without cropping or post processing adjustment except scaling for internet viewing.) — A LUAS Tram passes the Millennium Bar on Benburb Street. This was the location of the well-publicized tram crash on September 10, 2012, that I featured in a post on that day. See: LUAS Tram Crash on Benburb, Street Dublin.
Canon 7D with 40mm pancake lens. ISO 100 f18 at 1/15th second. (Full frame without cropping or post processing adjustment except scaling for internet viewing.)

photography, Tips and Technique

Dublin’s Harcourt Street at Dusk

December 28, 2012 brian solomon 2 Comments

There are very few places where I my memory predates the railway. However, Dublin‘s LUAS tram system (opened in 2004) offers one example. I made my first photos of Harcourt Street in March 1998. It was a rainy evening, and I was experimenting with some tungsten balanced Fujichrome to enhance the blue twilight glow.

LUAS on Harcourt St IMG_0887©Brian Solomon — On November 3, 2010, a LUAS Green Line Tram bound for St. Stephens Green navigates Dublin’s Harcourt Street. Canon 7D with 28-135mm lens set at 130mm, ISO 1250 1/40th sec f5.7.

Moving a dozen years forward, on November 3, 2010 I was interested in replicating the effect of my earlier efforts (without any attempt at precisely recreating the scene; my 1998 photo was made from the south-end of the street looking north, while the 2010 image was from the north-end, looking south). The image of the tram was made with my Canon 7D with the 28-135mm lens. Here, the tungsten color balance was accomplished in-camera using the ‘light bulb’ white balance setting. (See: Steam at Dusk, December 15, 2012) . This image was made during the final glow of daylight, and rather than neutralize the bluish light by using the auto white balance setting, I opted to enhance the effect while offering adequate compensation for the warm-balance street lamps. I was particularly drawn to reflections in the street and the repeating window frame patterns in the Georgian buildings above the tram. The pedestrian silhouettes seem apropos for the time of year; here past meets present.

photography, Tips and Technique

Gallery Post 4: Dublin’s LUAS on Harcourt Street

November 4, 2012 brian solomon Leave a comment

LUAS on Harcourt ©Brian_Solomon — Wearing a freshly applied advertising livery, LUAS tram 5008 works southward on Harcourt Street in Dublin on November 2, 2012. Photo by Brian Solomon

On the afternoon of Friday, 2 November 2012, I was only my way up to John Gunn’s Camera on Wexford Street in Dublin to buy a few rolls of film. (Yes, I still do that sort of thing). Gazing down Cuffe Street toward St Stephen’s Green, I noted a Green Line LUAS tram in a new advertising livery heading to its terminus. While most of Dublin’s Alstom-built Citadis tram fleet are painted in a metallic lavender with yellow safety stripe, from time to time LUAS dresses a tram or two in a full wrap advertising. In recent months, an attractive blue tram has been frequenting the Red Line route advertising a television service. Friday’s sighting caught my attention, since it’s the first time I noted this new livery. Sometimes these advertising trams can be very short lived, and I like to catch them on camera when I can. Although I was a bit tight on time, I diverted via Harcourt Street, where the Green Line passes nicely restored Georgian terrace houses. Normally a tram will turn around in about 5-10 ten minutes from St. Stephen’s Green, so I knew I wouldn’t have long to wait.

Unfortunately, during my short wait, the wind kicked up, the sky darkened, and a deluge ensued; in other words it was a typical Dublin afternoon. I held my ground, despite the difficult weather, which not only dampened my day, but knocked my exposure down about 8 stops. As always, I carried my Lumix LX3 digital camera (see: Installment 3: Lumix LX-3—part 1 An Everywhere Camera). While normally I use its lowest ISO setting of 80, the gloom didn’t permit this, and I bumped up sensitivity to ISO 200. Within a few minutes the tram was whirring down Harcourt Street allowing me to expose a sequence of images. My favorite is this pan view made at f2.8 at about 1/60 of second. Since lighting conditions were rapidly changing, I used the camera’s built in ‘A’ (Aperture priority) setting, which allowed me to set the low f-stop. By panning the tram, I kept it relative sharp while putting the Georgian houses and street into a sea of blur. If time allows, I’ll try to catch LUAS 5008 again on a brighter day.

Reminder: Brian Solomon will be giving an illustrated talk titled Ireland from an American Perspective 1998-2003 at the Irish Railway Record Society’s Heuston Station premises in Dublin at 7:30pm on Thursday November 8, 2012. Admission free.

Here’s the Apple iBookstore link to my iPad eBook ‘Dublin Unconquered’: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dublin-unconquered/id548794442?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

photography

LUAS Tram Crash on Benburb, Street Dublin September 10, 2012

September 10, 2012 brian solomon 1 Comment

On the morning of September 10, 2012, LUAS tram 4010 proceeding westward on Benburb Street toward Heuston Station in Dublin collided with a bin lorry (garbage truck) near the Croppies Park. This accident occurred on my virtual door step, so I reluctantly availed myself of the opportunity to make photos. I say reluctantly because I don’t relish railway accidents and I prefer to portray railways in a positive light. However, the proximity of the crash, and the fact I just completed my first LUAS video the previous day (September 9, 2012) encouraged me to make the ten minute walk to the crash site.

LUAS Crash on Benburb Street Dublin September 10 2012

When in Dublin, I routinely walk the route of the LUAS, and have passed this spot hundreds of times in the eight years since LUAS Red Line operations commenced. In fact, the Irish Railway Record Society Journal recently published a photo I made of LUAS at this location during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in May 2011.

I regularly ride the trams as well. Normally LUAS is a pleasant, safe, and convenient means to travel into Dublin, which is why I chose to feature LUAS in my video: A Tram Called LUAS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn7HWp-KbAg&sns=em

These photos demonstrate the crash worthiness of the LUAS’ Citadis trams. Although the front was smashed, glass broken, and tram derailed, considering the impact, the vehicle survived in relatively good shape and appears to have protected people within as best as is possible in such circumstances.

Luas tram damaged in Dublin crash. — LUAS Crash on Benburb Street Dublin September 10 2012

I made these images with my Lumix LX-3, the camera I carry everywhere just for these types of circumstances.

LUAS_Tram_Crash_Ground_Level_Mod1_P1360607©_Brian_Solomon_ — Benburb Street LUAS Crash

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LUAS video

September 10, 2012 brian solomon Leave a comment

Check out my YouTube video on Dublin’s LUAS tram network. Short and sweet; this was filmed with my Lumix LX-3 and Canon 7D digital cameras and edited using Apple’s iPhoto.

See: A Tram Called LUAS

Tracking the Light

Tag Archives: LUAS

LUAS McDonalds Tram at Heuston Station

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LUAS at the Red Cow April 2005

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Purple Ad Tram on LUAS Green Line

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The Sun Doesn’t Always Shine In Dublin; But it did on April 2, 2013!

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St Patrick’s Day Parade Dublin

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Tracking the Light now features a Page on Dublin

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Two views of Broadstone, Dublin

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White Tram Prowls Dublin’s LUAS

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More Secrets on Pan Photos

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Dublin’s Harcourt Street at Dusk

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Gallery Post 4: Dublin’s LUAS on Harcourt Street

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LUAS Tram Crash on Benburb, Street Dublin September 10, 2012

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LUAS video

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Railway photography by Brian Solomon