Tag Archives: #narrow gauge

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EBT’s Return

The East Broad Top excursion we had photographed (see yesterday’s post) wandered up to Colgate Grove and was turned on the wye.

In the interval, we went for pizza, which we consumed trackside. Soon smoke on the horizon and a distant whistle announced the returning train.

I took up a lineside position and focused both my film and digital cameras in anticipation of the locomotive coming into view.

It was exciting to see old number 16 up close and under steam. I had seen this locomotive back in the 1990s. In those days it resided in the gloom of the roundhouse at Rockhill Furnace where it had been for decades.

Now this old Baldwin narrow gauge 2-8-2 has steam in its belly again and was performing as the star of the show. No.16 looks and sounds great!

I made these photos with my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom lens.

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Broad Top and the Barn or No. 16 Under Steam

Last Saturday, we visited the fabled East Broad Top in passing.

This was one stop in our quick pass through central Pennsylvania.

We waited along highway 522 for the northward EBT passenger train

In the 15 years since, I last made photographs along the line (, EBT has undergone tranformations.

This was my first opportunity to catch recently restored EBT Mikado No. 16 under steam.

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Bord na Mona-March 2, 2013

This day ten years ago, photographer Denis McCabe and I traveled to Lanesborough, Co. Longford, Ireland to photograph the Bord na Mona (Irish Peat Board) three foot gauge industrial railway.

The system around Lanesborough was the most charming and photogenic of the larger Bord na Mona operations.

On March 2, 2013, the weather was suitably Irish; misty, cool and damp.

I made these images using a Lumix LX3 pocket digital camera. I exposed the original files as RAW and processed them using Adobe Lightroom to make scaled JPGs for internet presentation.

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Sunburst near Shannonbridge—13 September 2014.

On this day seven years ago, Denis McCabe and I were photographing Bord na Mona’s Blackwater Network near Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly, Ireland.

At sunset we caught this laden peat train heading toward the Shannonbridge generating station located on the eastbank of the River Shannon.

This is a RAW file from my old Lumix LX7 processed in Adobe Lightroom to better balance the colorful sunset sky with the shadow areas on the ground.

Between 1998 and 2019 I made dozens of trips to photograph Bord na Mona’s three-foot gauge systems.

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Bord na Mona—October 2019

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October is my favorite time of year for photography. Relatively low sun with rapidly changing weather, and rusty foliage help make it a continually changing canvas. It is a time of change, when summer fades and winter begins.

I was reviewing my photos exposed just about a year ago on a visit to the Irish narrow gauge Bord na Mona with photographers Mark Healy and Aidan Vickers. This was one of several autumnal explorations of the peat hauling railways in the boglands of Ireland last year.

On this one day I made photos on both the Lanesborough and Shannonbridge networks.

At the time the Bord na Mona was enjoying an Indian Summer. We caught a variety of trains on the move, but the writing was on the wall for these once very active industrial lines.

Photos exposed using my FujiFilm XT1.

Mount Dillon, County Longford.
Empty train at Lanesborough, County Longford.

Dredging boat in the Royal Canal with Bord na Mona bridge north of Killashee ,County Longford.
Old Bord na Mona locomotive at Blackwater, County Offaly.
Old Bord na Mona locomotive at Blackwater, County Offaly.
Crossovers near Shannonbridge, County Offaly.

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Elusive Two Foot Gauge at Sanders Station.

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We were aware that there was a contemporary two-foot gauge tourist railroad on a portion of the historic Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes—a once extensive line that succumbed during the Great Depression.

So, on a recent drive around rural western Maine, Kris Sabbatino and I visited Philips, Maine and were delighted to find the small station at Sanders, where two-foot gauge tracks met the road.

The sign on the station read ‘Trains will run in 2021’.

After making a few photos, we decided to explore further . . .

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Two Foot Gauge Steam

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Here’s another view from the amazing winter photography trip sponsored by Maine’s Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum in conjunction with Portland’s Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum.

Sometimes conditions practically photograph themselves, all you have to do is point the camera!

Exposed digitally using a FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm zoom lens. Arctic conditions produced some stunning steam effects.

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Number 9 Bathed in Steam—Three Photos.

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Last weekend the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum in conjunction with Portland’s Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum invited me to a magical event featuring three steam locomotives under steam.

Arctic conditions were tough on fingers and toes, but made for spectacular displays of steam and condensation.

Among the stars of the event was former Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington number 9, a legendary machine that had been saved from scrapping many years ago and then stored for decades in a Connecticut barn.

This was my first visit with old number 9.

I exposed these photos digitally but I also made use of an old Nikon F3 to exposed both black& white and color film so that future generations may be able to appreciate the cosmic even of January 18-19, 2020.

More photos soon!

Special Thanks to Wayne Duffett and Ed Lecuyer.

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