Tag Archives: #Maryland

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Do the Numbers Matter? Read this one . . .

June 11, 1982, New Haven, Connecticut: Amtrak 903 was a common Amtrak AEM-7. I made this photo of the locomotive during the New Haven engine change, shortly after it arrived from Washington D.C.

My father and I had traveled up from Washington behind 903.

The F40PH that will take the train the rest of the way to Boston South Station is at the left.

What is so special about 903?

At 1:30pm on January 4, 1987, at Chase, Maryland, Amtrak 903 and 900 leading train 94, ‘The Colonial,’ collided with Conrail B36-7s 5045, 5052 and 5044 at a speed of more than 100mph . The engineer of 903 and 15 others were killed in the wreckage. Engines 903 and 900 were completely destroyed.

The locomotive engineer of the Conrail engines survived the wreck without major injury. He was later found at fault for the accident. The details of this accident forever changed American railroading. Veteran railroad crews refer to the time prior to January 4th as ‘BC’ (before Chase).

On June 12, 1982 number 903 was just another AEM-7, and a relatively new locomotive at that.

Exposed on Kodak Tri-X black & white film with my Leica 3A rangefinder.

Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Amtrak’s Crescent Under Wire

The Crescent is Amtrak’s daily long-distance train that connects New York City with Atlanta and New Orleans.

Nearly five years ago, my father and I traveled overnight on the Crescent between Wilmington, Delaware and New Orleans as part of a three-day Amtrak epic that began at Windsor Locks, Connecticut and concluded at Houston, Texas.

During mid-October, Kris and I spent the afternoon following the Susquehanna River down to Perryville, Maryland. I navigated our way to the MARC commuter rail station from memory. (I’d last stopped there in 1992). This is situated along Amtrak’s former Pennsylvania Railroad’s Northeast Corridor. Upon arrival, I saw there was a train coming, alerted Kris and grabbed my Nikon Z6 to make telephoto views.

As the train approached, I made this sequence of digital images, while Kris filmed its passing with her phone. It was the southward Crescent with Viewliner sleepers and diner at the back.

Crosslit late autumn sun made for dramatic images as the train braked for the slow order over the Susquehanna River bridge. The challenge was capturing the light on the train between shadows from the electrification supports. (Tip: It helps to have a rapid release setting to take bursts of images.)

Another train was approaching from the far side of the river. But I’ll save that for a later post.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Susquehanna Bridges viewed from Port Deposit

In late October, Kris & I drove down the east bank of the Susquehanna to Port Deposit, Maryland. This historic town offers some magnificent views of the river.

The four bridges in the picture from closest to furthest are: Interstate 95, CSX’s former Baltimore & Ohio, US Highway 40, and Amtrak’s former Pennsylvania Railroad bridge that runs between Perryville on the east bank to Havre de Grace on the west bank.

I made this photo with my Nikon Z6 and 70-200mm Z-series zoom set at 200mm. I wonder what I could do here with an even longer telephoto lens?

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography, Rail transit marathon

Baltimore Light Rail on Election Day.

Leave a comment

On November 3, 1992, my brother Sean and I visited Baltimore, Maryland.

Working with my old Nikon F3T with an f4.0 200mm Nikkor lens, I exposed this Kodachrome slide of the Baltimore Light Rail .

Brian Solomon’s Tracking the Light is Daily!

Subscribe using the form toward the end of this post.