The former Pennsylvania Railroad Northern Central route passes Railroad Park in the appropriately named borough of Railroad, Pa.
Kris, Seamus-the-Dog & I, revisited this iconic location last weekend to withness the passing of Northern Central Railway’s Santa Express holiday train.
This was powered by a former Pennsylvania Railroad GP9, one of only a few to survive into the modern era.
Tracking the Light Post explores the peculiarities of railroad photography!
Trebusice. . . .
Long ago I noted that there seems to be an inverse ratio regarding railroads with traffic and those passing bucolic photogenic scenery. With a few notable exceptions, the rule is simple: pretty places require lots of patience or great fortuity; while grim, dire venues often benefit from a concentration of traffic.
Rural Vermont: pretty and pretty quiet. Industrial overbuilt northern Indiana: bustling with trains seemingly on the move at every bend in the line.
It was a cool, gray afternoon in January 2009 when Denis McCabe, Tim Doherty, and I visited Trebusice in western Czech Republic (Czechia). Here we found an intensively utilized multiple track electrified line surrounded by strip mines, yards, and heavy industry.
The place was crawling with trains, and correspondingly bleak.
Fascinating, yet apocalyptic. Photogenic because of its exceptional severity.
I exposed a roll of Fujichrome using a Canon EOS 7D. Monday, I scanned a few of the slides. Did I also expose some Kodak Tri-X? I should have. Gray was the operative color. I’ve included a few images here. More to follow in the coming days.
Tracking the Light is on autopilot while Brian & Kris are on holidays.
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‘What’s the name of this town?’
‘Railroad, Pa.’
It’s aptly named; the old Pennsylvania Railroad Northern Central route goes right through it.
Kris and I had wandered here after leaving Stewartstown. I made a few photos in the village of Railroad, before we headed north along the Northern Central line, now operated by a tourist railroad called the ‘Northern Central Railway.’
Five minutes out of town we spotted a southward NC Ry excursion train on the move with an old Pennsylvania Railroad GP9 leading an eclectic mix of cars.
We zipped back to Railroad and I made a few photos of the train using my Nikon Z7-II and Kris’s Fuji XT-4.
‘Well that was pretty neat!’
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