Tag Archives: #Pennsyvania

SD40-2s at Tamaqua Station

“Let’s sit out on the platform.”

A fortuitous suggestion.

We decided to stop by at the Tamaqua Station Restaurant on the way back from Scranton. It was sunny and bright, but not too hot, and during our previous visits we’d always dined inside, so why not try one of the outdoor tables?

A waitress came by to take our drink order. Kris had iced tea, and I ordered a Rusty Rail Fog Monster (a New England Style IPA, brewed in Mifflinburg, PA). About that time, Kris said, ‘”Did you hear that?”

“What?”

“A whistle! There’s a train coming.”

And, indeed, there was! Or at least a set of light engines.

A pair of Reading & Northern SD40-2s came up to the station and stopped, almost directly opposite our table. The crew changed ends, waited for the southward signal to clear, and then proceeeded into the Tamaqua Yard.

That worked out well!

Our meals were delivered, and afterward Kirs ordered dessert as the signal cleared to ‘Approach’.

Stay tuned for more . . . .

Glint Light across the Soyfields

September Sunset at Esbenshade Road in Strasburg. Filtered late summer sun made for classic golden glint light.

Years ago, I made a project of captureing trains in the glint light on Kodachrome. This film had a wonderful ability to render glint that made for many stunning slides.

The other night I used my Nikon Z7-II to capture the fading summer sun.

To make the most of the scene, I set the camera to ‘M’ (manual) and dialed in my shutter speed and aperture by using the in-camera histogram to get the most effective pixel distribution from dark to-light . This resulted in about a stop darker than the in-camera meter was suggesting in ‘A’ mode (automatic).

After exposure, I balanced the image with post processing controls using Adobe Lightroom. In this way I was able to maintain detail in the sky and on the side of the train, while keeping the shadows from becoming opaque.

Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to 52mm; ISO 100, f18 at 1/200th of second. File adjusted in Post Processing.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to 70mm; ISO 100, f9 at 1/250th of second. Camera set manually. RAW File adjusted in Post Processing.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to 70mm; ISO 100, f7.1 at 1/250th of second. Camera set manually. RAW File adjusted in Post Processing.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to 24mm; ISO 100, 4.0 at 1/500th of second. Camera set manually. RAW File adjusted in Post Processing.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to 70mm; ISO 100, f4.0 at 1/320th of second. Camera set manually. RAW File adjusted in Post Processing.

Tracking the Light Catches the Golden Glint!