Tag Archives: #LX7

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Transatlantic Journey

Last week, Kris and I traveled from Lancaster, Pa., to Dublin, Ireland for the first stage in an epic trip.

This is our first overseas journey since moving to Lancaster. We explored a variety of airline options, and ultimately setted on a rarely traveled path.

American Airlines operates a connecting bus from the Lancaster Airport to Philadelphia. So we booked a through round trip ticket from Lancaster to Dublin. My railroad acquaintances may wonder why we didn’t opt to take Amtrak to Philadelphia and then SEPTA Airport train to th airport.

We considered Amtrak, but the connecting bus offered a variety of practical advantages:

1) Since it was a through ticket, we could check our baggage in Lancaster and collect it in Dublin, thus saving the luggage schlep between trains at 30th Street in Philadelphia. This also cut out a train change, which would be especially problematic on the return leg.

2) The bus is operated by American Airlines, so if anything went wrong with the connection, it was on the airline to make it right. With the rail connection we were at the risk of the railroad’s not performing as planned.

3) The bus only carried a few passengers so we had plenty of space.

4) Bus connection passengers are afforded a special security option at Philadelphia that was much less taxing than having to deal with the main queue of people at security.

Although we didn’t travel by train, we did see a SEPTA Silverliner V at the airport.

We traveled on Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which was a very comfortable way to cross the big pond.

Photos were made with a Lumix LX7.

American Airlines airport connection bus at Lancaster Airport.
American Airlines airport connection bus at Lancaster Airport.
American Airlines airport connection bus at Lancaster Airport.
Not my finest Silverliner V photo, but at least we saw a train during the trip.
Not my finest Silverliner V photo, but at least we saw a train during the trip.
Not my finest Silverliner V photo, but at least we saw a train during the trip.
American Airlines 787 at Philadelphia Airport.
American Airlines 787 at Philadelphia Airport.
American Airlines 787 at Philadelphia Airport.
Sunrise over the North Atlantic
Sunrise over the North Atlantic
Sunrise over the North Atlantic
The view from our Dublin hotel.
The view from our Dublin hotel.
The view from our Dublin hotel.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Grab Shot on the New Holland Secondary

I was running errands. On my way back to the apartment, I found that Greenfield Road under Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line was closed—likely as result of flooding from the recent rains—so I detoured around via Willow Road. On my way, I heard Norfolk Southern’s New Holland local sounding for a crossing.

I approached Willow Road (in greater Lancaster) with haste. With my Lumix LX7 in hand, I pulled over in time to see theNS local freight approaching. I didn’t have much time to set the camera. So, I zoomed in, framed up my photo and exposed a series of digital images.

The first two were the best.

When I got home I discovered that the camera was set to record in JPG rather than RAW. That’s not the end of the world, but not having a RAW file greatly limits the ability to make adjustments.

In this case, it doesn’t matter much, December morning sun produces excellent lighting conditions with very good contrast and color.

I’ve scaled the best of the sequence for presentation here, but the photo is otherwise unaltered, and appears basically as it looked right out of the camera.

I was home about 5 minutes after I made this photo.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!