Tag Archives: #NS

photography

Well Timed Visit to Columbia

The other evening we arrived near the old Pennsylvania Railroad station in Columbia, Pa., just as the signal displayed slow-clear for a westward movement at Cola from the Columbia Secondary onto the Port Road Branch.

Within a minute we could hear a train whistling for crossings up the line.

I set up my tripod and opted to experiment with my Nikon Z7-II fitted with my f2.8 70-200mm lens for action rail night photography. The last time I made photo here I’d worked with my 24-70mm and made a wide angle view with the full moon. This time I’d compose view tightly on the approaching train.

Just as I got the camera set up the level crossing signals started flashing, the gates came down, and the rail glinted from the lights of Norfolk Southern’s H19 local.

I adjusted the ISO on my camera to 25,600 and set the aperture to f2.8.

Once the autofocus had locked on to the lights of the lead engine, I switched the focus to ‘manual’ so the headlights wouldn’t confuse the focus setting; then I made this series of images.

The camera’s NEF RAW files were processed using DxO PureRaw to created DNG files, which I then imported into Lightroom for adjustment.

Tracking the Light seeks out the night!

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Norfolk Connections

The morning of 15 September 2006 was clear and bright. It was the third attempt we made to catch Irish Rail’s Ballina-Dublin Norfolk liner from a vantage point in this field near Ballyvary, Co. Mayo.

On this day, many of the containers carried by the train were actually Norfolk Line boxes. While this may seem unremarkable, in practice it was relatively unusual, and on many days the train carried an assortment of 20 and 40 foot containers.

Norfolk Line was a component of the Maersk Group. Years later, this train became the IWT Liner, which years ago was a regular feature on Tracking the Light, as I often photograph it on my extended visits to Ireland.

I have a variety of connections with name Norfolk. My wife Kris grew up in the town of Norfolk, Massachusetts, and in recent years we have paid several visits to Norfolk, thus the photographs of MBTA near the Norfolk Station.

These days, American Class I carrier Norfolk Southern is among my regular subjects, including its local freights on the New Holland and Lititz Secondaries and on former Pennsylvania Railroad main lines.

A decade before I was born, my father paid visits to the Norfolk & Western to photograph their magnificent steam locomotives at work. I have often featured these images in my books, as well as N&W photos from other photographers, including the late John E. Pickett and Jim Shaughnessy.

Ten years ago, fellow photographer Pat Yough and I traveled to Norfolk, Virginia where we visited the Norfolk Southern Museum (that displayed one of my photos on the wall) and traveled on Norfolk’s The Tide lightrail system.

Exposed on Fujichrome using a Contax G2 rangefinder with 45mm Zeiss lens.

Tracking the Light Tracks Norfolk!