Over the last month, Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian (New York-Philadelphia-Pittsburgh) has regularly sported a GE P42 diesel in heritage paint.
I’ve been fond of catching locomotive 130, which wears the so-deemed “Phase 2” scheme—reminiscent of Amtrak’s F40PH diesels and E60 electrics in the 1970s.
Using a Nikon Z mirror-less camera, I made these photos of Train 43 as it worked westbound along the former Pennsylvania Railroad near Lancaster, Pa..
Tracking the Light explores railroad photography.
During midday, Amtrak 42 and 43—the eastward and westward Pennsylvanians—pass Lancaster within a few minutes of each other. Unlike the electric Keystone services these trains are diesel-hauled.
Shelley Lane abuts the railroad and makes for classic location to rollby trains.
I made these views with a 24-70mm lens set to its 24mm wide angle wtih a 1/2000th of second shutter speed as train 43 worked west in early afternoon with a classic P42 Genesis diesel leading.
I think, it would have been neat to stand here 60 years earlier to catch a Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 passing at speed with tuscan red passenger cars in tow.
One of these day’s I hope to time a rolling meet here. So far, I’ve come very close.
Tracking the Light Posts explores railroad photography.
Amtrak’s General Electric Genesis™ diesels are reaching the end of their useful lives.
Yet, as of this writing in October 2023, these 1990s-vintage diesels still regularly work the Pennsylvanian between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
During the high midday light of summer, I didn’t expend time to photograph the passage of the Pennsylvanian, Amtrak trains 42 and 43, which normally pass one another not far from where we now live in Lancaster, PA. However, last week, I picked a bright afternoon to photograph both trains at Gap, similar to what I had done back in January.
Both trains were captured using my Nikon Z7II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom.
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May 1, 1971, Amtrak was born—Fifty years ago today.
I wrote about Amtrak’s 50th anniversary in my May 2021 Trains column.
To commemorate this half-century mark on Tracking the Light, I’m posting this scan of a color slide I that I exposed back in October 2000 of Amtrak P42 No. 1 crossing the Quaboag River at West Warren, Massachusetts.
At the time, I was working to fulfill a assignment for Mark Hemphill, then editor of Trains. Ultimately, Trains used a similar view of this same locomotive on this same bridge that I made a few days later. That photo showed P42 No. 1 panned using a slow shutter speed to convey speed.
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