Tag Archives: #Pan Am Southern

photography, Tips and Technique

North Pownal Eleven Years Ago

On this date, July 17, 2010, I exposed this series of digital images with my Canon EOS 7D fitted with a prime Canon f2.8 24mm lens.

This camera was very new to me at the time. It was my first digital SLR and I had purchased it on advice of Chris Guss just a month earlier.

I bought it to augment my first digital camera, a Lumix LX3 (first of four similar cameras).

I was traveling with David Hegarty, and we caught Pan Am Southern’s intermodal freight symbol 22K passing through the curves on the Boston & Maine Fitchburg line at North Pownal, Vermont.

This famous photographer’s location is located in the far south-west corner of the state.

This morning, I made some nominal adjustements to the Canon RAW files using Adobe PhotoShop to correct for color temperature and bring in detail in the shadows and highlights.

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Eastward at Orange

We concluded our vigorous chase of Pan Am Southern’s ED8 at Orange, Massachusetts, having first seen this freight earlier in the day at East Deerfield Yard.

The overhead bridge in the center of Orange offers several advantages;

  1. Nice elevation.
  2. A long tangent.
  3. Parking is close, easy to obtain and not far from route 2A.
  4. There’s an orange building near the tracks, which allows the title of the photo dual meanings.

I made this photo with my Nikon Z6.

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Against the Sun at Millers

After photographing Pan Am Southern’s eastward ED8 passing searchlight signals at Lake Pleasant (See Monday’s Post), the chase was on!

Kris Sabbatino and I rolled eastward after the 106 car freight as it ascended the grade up the valley of the Millers River.

At Millers Falls, Massachusetts, we paused at the overhead bridge near the center of town that spans both former Boston & Maine and Central Vermont lines (now operated by Pan Am Southern and New England Central respectively) for a dramatic photo looking into the the afternoon sun.

Working with my Nikon Z6, I made a sequence of coming and going photos as the train roared by.

Later, I adjusted exposure, contrast and color using Adobe Lightroom to make for more pleasing images.

We continued after the train making more photos along the way!

ED8 rolls through Millers Falls, Massachusetts on Saturday March 6, 2021.

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Pan Am Southern and Searchlights

On Saturday afternoon, a Pan Am Southern freight departed East Deerfield yard eastbound for Ayer, Massachusetts.

Kris Sabbatino and I drove to Lake Pleasant crossing in Montague to intercept the train.

I opted for an unorthodox framing to feature the General Railway Signal searchlight signals that survive at this location.

Once standard on the Boston & Maine, these now antique signals are become increasingly rare and well-worthy of photographing.

Images exposed using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens. Nikon NEF RAW file processed using Adobe Lightroom.

Below the cab, NS has stenciled ‘ACSES PTC’ to indicated the types of advanced signaling that this locomotive is equipped to work with. Installation of these modern signaling systems have largely coincided with the replacement of legacy signaling, including traditional searchlights such as those pictured here.

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