Tag Archives: #Railfreight

Pan Am’s SAPPI-3 Part 1

Last Sunday, Kris Sabbatino and I drove along the old Maine Central Hinkley Branch north from Waterville, Maine to photograph Pan Am Railway’s SAPPI-3 local freight.

This was on the advice of New Hampshire rail photographer Andrew Dale, who suggest the trip and the train timings, and who joined us along with Connor Welch later in the morning.

The day was clear and bright with a deep sky.

Working with my FujiFilm XT1 fitted with 28mm pancake lens, I made these photos as the freight departed SAPPI’s Somerset Mill. The train carried mostly 50-foot boxcars of paper product.

These two photos feature slight variations in composition and exposure. The top photo is slightly lighter than the bottom. Both are camera JPGs exposed with the Velvia color profile.

The pair of GP40s and old style boxcars is a real throwback to railroading of decades gone by. It was also the first real revenue freight that I’d photographed in daylight in months!

More photos to follow soon!

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Empty Oil at Tapa

On a trip to Estonia in July 2002, I’d organized a cab ride on a freight from Tallinn to Tapa, where I spent the evening.

The following morning, I exposed this view near the station with my Nikon N90S and 135mm f2.0 lens of an empty oil train led by a 2M62 diesel heading toward the Russian frontier.

This was a very busy junction with a lot of freight, mostly oil trains, passing through.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!