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New York Central Transformed—Rochester, New York 1986.

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On the afternoon of September 12, 1986, I exposed this photograph of a westward Conrail double-stack container train on the former New York Central Waterlevel Route passing the Amtrak Station at Rochester, New York.

The old New York Central era tower was still standing, and the station platforms, complete with the old ‘Rochester’ signs dated from the New York Central era.

In the lead was a twenty-year old former New York Central GP40, and I was just short of my twentieth birthday.

Yet, this double stack train was unlike anything ever seen on the old New York Central. Among the big changes imposed under Conrail was a clearance improvement program that allowed for much taller trains.

Exposed on Kodak black & white film. Negative cropped for presentation here.

My book Conrail and its Predecessors is available from the Kalmbach Hobby Store.

See: https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/01309

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May 10th 1892 and Number 999—Three Photos!

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On May 10th 1892, New York Central & Hudson River 4-4-0 with engineer Charles Hogan at the throttle raced special section of the Empire State Express westward toward Buffalo. This was no ordinary train, but a publicity run dreamed up by the railroad’s propaganda mastermind George Daniels.

On a downgrade tangent near Corfu, New York, Hogan sped the engine to bone shaking speed; reporters on-board watched the telegraph poles along the line blurred by ‘like a picket fence’, while those timing the run using stop watches claimed that the train hit a ridiculous 112.5 mph! 

It was a great story and often repeated as ‘the fastest any engine had gone up until that time’. Papers around the nation reported the feat as fact bringing fame to New York Central and its locomotives. Daniels basked in the glory of his publicity stunt, which numerous railroads have sought to emulate and exceed. 

I made these photos of the famous locomotive on visit to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry in December 2018.

On the day of its fast run, 999 was equipped with much taller drive wheels than seen in these photos. Big wheels were key to fast running.

If 999 had been numbered 38, would anyone care?

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photography, Tips and Technique

Not the New York Central—At Night!

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Does anyone remember the spoof newspaper ‘Not the New York Times’?

Anyway, at first glance this nocturnal photo might be mistaken for a mid-1950s view of a New York Central EMD GP with a Bangor & Aroostook boxcar.

Of course there are lots of hints to the contrary. If you look carefully, the GP9 in this view has ditch lights (a feature of the 1990s and later). The paint scheme, while inspired by the ‘New York Central’ lightning stripe, isn’t really like anything actually used by the railroad on a GP9. And, of course this engine has dynamic braking grids (just barely visible at the top of the long hood), , which as everyone knows(to quote a phrase) isn’t representative of New York Central’s GP9s, since none had dynamic brakes.

Stupid details!

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photography, Tips and Technique

CSX SD40-2 at Rotterdam Jct.

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Yesterday I scanned this 20-year old slide of an eastward CSX freight passing the signals at CPRJ—Rotterdam Junction, New York.

I’d exposed the slide using my first Nikon N90S on Fujichrome Sensia RA slide film.

I made great use of the Nikon N90S, and when I wore out the first one, I bought another.

Oddly, when reviewing my slides, I find that my work with the N90S wasn’t as refined as the photographs that I made with either my Nikon F3 (with which I used the same lens pool as the N90S) nor my Contax G2 rangefinder that had its own lenses.

I can’t really explain this phenomena, but I wish I’d recognized it sooner.

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Conrail and Conway in December 2019 TRAINS Magazine.

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Travels have kept me on the move. But last night I finally sat down with the paper copy of December 2019 Trains and read my column on page 13 that talks about New York Central and Conway Scenic.

Cover of Dec 2019 trains.

There I am on page 13!

Here’s the scene I wrote about in the column but didn’t picture in the article. I made a couple of color slides here too.

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photography, Tips and Technique

Turbo Blasted!

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Is this a bad photo? It isn’t what I hoped to get.
 
On January 9, 1986, I braved arctic conditions at Conrail’s Dewitt Yard in East Syracuse, New York to make photos in the snow.
 
In addition to Conrail views, I exposed two black & white photos of an Amtrak turbo train running from Niagara Falls to Grand Central Terminal.
 
The head on view is a bit distant, and my trailing exposure was exposed prematurely.
 
My only excuse is that my hands were numb with cold.
 
Worse! I seem to have misplaced my detailed notes from the day, so all I have is abbreviated notes on my negative sleeve and a few print captions to work from.
Poor show, me.
 
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Color Photos of the 2017 New York Central System Historical Society Convention.

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On the weekend of May 5-7 2017, I attended and spoke at the New York Central System Historical Society Convention held in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

The theme of the convention was the Boston & Albany and it was dedicated to my friend, the late-Robert A. Buck of Warren, Massachusetts. Key to the convention events was a chartered MBTA train that operated from Worcester to Boston.

I gave the banquet talk focusing it around Bob Buck’s B&A experiences and photography as well as my own B&A work.

Special thanks to Society and convention organizers, especially Joe Burgess, Bill Keay, and Rich & Nancy Stoving.

I made these photographs using my Lumix LX7 digital camera.

Joe Burgess at registration.

Victor Hand presenting his New York Central photographs.

Banquet hall.

Lumix panoramic view of the banquet hall.

Worcester Union Station.

Stovings at Worcester.

MBTA special at Worcester.

Rich Stoving.

Watching the passing scenery along the old Boston & Worcester route.

Bill Keay on a ‘busman’s holiday’.

Green flags at South Station.

MBTA HSP46 number 2004.

MBTA double-deck Kawasaki car.

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CSX on the Hudson at Mine Dock Park—November 18, 2016.

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The sun was just rising over Bear Mountain, when I arrived at Mine Dock Park located on the west shore of the Hudson near Fort Montgomery, New York.

I set up on CSX’s River Line, historically New York Central’s ‘West Shore’ route. At first the signals were all red. Then after a bit the northward signal cleared to ‘medium approach.’

I concluded that a northward train would be taking the siding, thus in all likelihood it would be making a meet with a southward train. I secured an elevated view from the rock cutting north of the public crossing.

About 45 minutes elapsed and then a northward train took the siding as signaled. Six minutes later, this southward CSX autorack freight came gliding down river. I exposed a series of digital images with my Lumix LX7. The sun was perfect and the late autumn foliage on the trees made an already picturesque scene even better.

A southward CSX auto rack train hugs the Hudson at Mine Dock Park. Lumix LX7 photo.
A southward CSX auto rack train hugs the Hudson at Mine Dock Park. Lumix LX7 photo.

The train was moving relatively slowly, which allowed me to zoom out (to a wider focal length) as it approached. Which of the two views do you prefer? A southward CSX auto rack train hugs the Hudson at Mine Dock Park. Lumix LX7 photo.
The train was moving relatively slowly, which allowed me to zoom out (to a wider focal length) as it approached. Which of the two views do you prefer?  Lumix LX7 photo.

Nothing tricky or complicated here; it was just a matter of being in the right place for the action and paying attention to the signals.

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Ghost of the New England States; Budd-built Babbling Brook Blitzes Warren.

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Yesterday’s (August 25, 2016) Boston section of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited carried an American classic: the streamlined Budd-built observation car Babbling Brook, a former New York Central car of the type that operated on the New England States (Boston-Chicago).

My dad and I made photos of Amtrak’s eastward Lake Shore Limited (train 448) by the recently restored Warren, Massachusetts railroad station.

New York Central Babbling Brook passes the old Warren, Massachusetts station on August 25, 2016. The New York Central System leased the Boston & Albany in 1900. Central’s Budd-built New England States Limited was B&A’s premier post-war passenger train and passed Warren daily. There were fewer line-side trees back then. This image was adjusted in post-processing using Light Room. I’ve tried to emulate the contrast and color palate of a late 1940s image.
New York Central Babbling Brook passes the old Warren, Massachusetts station on August 25, 2016. The New York Central System leased the Boston & Albany in 1900. Central’s Budd-built New England States was B&A’s premier post-war passenger train and passed Warren daily. There were fewer line-side trees back then. This image was adjusted in post-processing using Light Room. I’ve tried to emulate the contrast and color palate of a late 1940s image.

Telephoto view at Warren, Massachusetts.
Telephoto view at Warren, Massachusetts.

I made these views using my FujiFilm XT1. Pop exposed a Fujichrome color slide with his Leica M.

Brian Solomon’s

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