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Traditional View at Goves

Sometimes the traditional three-quarter view of a train is the best way to go.

Add in a little bit of elevation, over the shoulder sun, a ‘tunnel’, plus a favorite locomotive, and you can have a very nice image of a train.

That was my feeling last Friday (April 21, 2023) at Goves, near Bartlett, New Hampshire when I awaited the passage of Conway Scenic’s Sawyer River train.

I thought about making a long telephoto view of the locomotive framed inside the ‘tunnel’ below Route 302. In the end, I opted to make a traditional railroad photo using 3/4 angle and 48mm focal length with over the shoulder sun .

This location was recently cleared of brush by the railroad, which makes for a nice place to picture a train in motion.

My favorite Conway Scenic locomotive is GP38 252. I’ve been making photos of this engine for forty years. But it has special signifcance for me because it is almost exactly the same age as me.

It was delivered to Maine Central at St. Johnsbury, Vermont in early November 1966; I was delivered at the end of October that year. I wonder what day 252 left Electro-Motive’s factory in LaGrange, Illinois?

Nikon Z7-II in-camera Jpg, scaled but otherwise unaltered.

Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!

NEF RAW file adjusted for color saturation and contrast in Adobe Lightroom.
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Mount Washington Looms Large.

The other day, I caught a returning Snow Train at Intervale, New Hampshire with the great mass of Mount Washington looming 18 miles to the North.

In the lead was former Maine Central Railroad GP38 252. A locomotive delivered in November 1966.

Fresh snow and bright sun help make the photo. This same location isn’t as impressive on a dull day when clouds obscure the mountain.

Exposed with my Nikon Z6 fitted with a Z-series f2.8 70-200mm zoom.

Tips and Technique

Guilford 252 in 1997

Back in July (2020), I posted a photo of Guilford Rail System 252 under the title ‘Unexpected Surprise’. See: http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/2020/07/23/unexpected-surprise/

The significance of the locomotive is that Maine Central 252 (pictured) is now owned by Conway Scenic, where I now work as the Manager of Marketing.

Today’s TTL photograph portrays the same train, Guilford’s EDLA (East Deerfield to Lawrence, Massachusetts) a little later on the same May 1997 evening.

After photographing it near Farleys, Mike Gardner and I had continued east on Route 2.

Here on the Wendell-Erving town line, I had aimed to recreate a photo that I’d made with photographer Brandon Delaney a dozen years earlier, when I caught an eastward train from the same spot. In that earlier photo a derelict barn was standing to the left of the road.

In this view all the remained of the barn was the foundation.

I offer two variation of the same photo. The top is a straight scan without post processing adjustment to contrast, color etc. The second features my processing to improve the appearance of the image.

May 16, 1997.

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