Persistence. Patience. Planning. (And an understanding wife!)

For more than two years, I’ve been trying to photograph an eastward train on the Port Road Secondary from the Enola Low Grade Trail at Safe Harbor.

I’ve made at least 30 visits to Safe Harbor. I’ve climbed the steps to the trail no less than a dozen times.

While I’ve caught a westward train from a perch on the old Low Grade; and I’ve made a nocturnal sequence of a coal train from below the Low Grade trestle, my vision of catching a eastward train had from the bridge had thus far remained elusive.

My friend Dan Cupper had shown me his version of a Norfolk Southern train here, and in scouring the archives at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania I found Kodachrome views of PRR electrics by the late James P. Schuman, which inspired my persistence.

My-wife-Kris, Seamus-the-Dog, and I live just 15 minutes from the bridge.

The other evening, Kris and I were on our evening drive. My thoughts of exploring Marietta were foiled by a serious automobile accident at the intersection of PA Routes 772 and 441 that detoured us eastward. So instead we drove to Columbia, and continued on toward Washington Boro, as we have done countless times in darkness.

At Washington Boro the signals displayed ‘clear’ for an eastward movement. There was still an hour’s daylight in the sky.

“This is my best shot at Safe Harbor.”

Patience paid off.

Tracking the Light makes its own Luck!