I felt like a Victorian explorer being led through forests by expert guides. Petri and Pietu Tuovinen, and Markku Pulkinen led me a long a disused track.
“There is a locomotive turntable here.”
Indeed! Masked by trees, hidden from view, and located off the end of a lightly used branch line at Ammansaari, Finland is the old turntable once used to spin light steam locomotives.
Few visitors are afforded the privilege of seeing this relic. It was like finding a Mayan pyramid in the rain forest.
I exposed these photos digitally using my FujiFilm X-T1. For effect, I set the camera to the preset that emulates black & white film with a red filter. For posterity, I also exposed a few color slides.
My old Contax with real black & white film would have served me well here.
At dawn on June 9, 1996, I was set up near the west end of the old Kate Shelley Bridge. Mist clung to the valley floor as the sun painted the sky to the east.
Across the cornfield to the west I could hear an eastward Union Pacific freight blowing for highway crossings, the roar of its locomotives gradually getting louder.
Exposed on Fujichrome Provia 100 film using a Nikon F3T.
I opted for this semi-silhouetted view. My subject is the bridge; the train is meant to be incidental. Yet the train makes the photos more interesting, and the couple of Conrail engines in the large consist of locomotives provide added interest for the keen observer.
This was little more than a year after Union Pacific had absorbed Chicago & North Western.
A decade later, UP began construction of a new bridge here using a modern structure. I imagine that the scene is much changed today.
The other day, I was on Main Street in Palmer, Massachusetts near the Day and Night Diner (where I’d just finished breakfast), when I saw an eastward CSX intermodal train approaching the Palmer diamond.
Fuji X-T1 photo of Palmer’s Day and Night Diner on May 1st, 2015.
In the lead was a 4700-series SD70MAC. Since in recent times, CSX’s safety-cab General Electric locomotives have dominated the scene on the old Boston & Albany route, I was keen to make a photo of this comparatively unusual leader.
Now, I’d been away for a while, so for all I knew, the 4700s had been leading every day for the last month. Or, it may have been the first time over the line since I was here last. Hard to know, but why take a chance. Plus it was as good as excuse as I needed for a time-honored chase up the Quaboag River Valley.
But would I make it? Intermodal trains can be nimble and tend to have a high horsepower per ton rating. There’s a speed restriction across the diamond, and I thought, if I moved quickly, I might be able to zip east toward Warren for a photograph.
First I had to navigate three traffic lights in Palmer. The first two I made without problems, but the third stabbed me. Soon, I was heading out of town on Route 20, but reasons beyond my understanding, the car in front of me dawdled.
I was even with the locomotives and gaining quickly by the time I’d reached ‘Electric Light Hill’ (where the right of way of the projected Grand Trunk line to Providence was graded to cross the B&A—a point so known for the nearby electric substation opposite the tracks).
At this point, the engineer should have opened the throttle to ‘run-8’ and been charging for the grade up the valley. By rights, I would have lost the race at that stage, unless I was willing to ignore the posted limit.
As it turned out, there was no need to consider such transgression of highway safety. The eastward train had begun to slow down. I surmised that it might be stopping at CP79 for a meet with a westbound.
A pair of CSX GE’s lead a westward carload freight past CP79. The eastward intermodal train would have to wait. Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 with 18-135mm lens set at 135mm.
Kudos to the dispatcher in Selkirk! It was a very tight meet. At the field near CP79 (where the long controlled siding that began at CP83 ends), I spotted a westward train and caught a photo of it from across the freshly greened fields. Yet, my primary subject never had to stop.
This meet gave me the extra couple of minutes I needed to reach Warren with ample time to park, adjust and set my camera and compose my images.
Eastbound at Warren. Just like back in the day when Bob Buck would photograph Boston & Albany’s Lima-built Berkshires working eastbound tonnage. Well sort of.
It’s a chase I’ve done many times over the last three decades. It helps to know the railroad. All was quiet in Warren that day, save for the roar of the train.
It was seventeen years ago that I caught my first glimpse of the multiple-arch Kilnap viaduct from the window of a scheduled Bus Éireann coach running from Limerick to Cork.
On various occasions since then, I’ve travelled across Kilnap on trains running between Dublin and Cork.
On April 20th, thanks to the expert guidance of Irish Rail’s Ken Fox, I finally visited this noteworthy bridge on the ground and made these photographs. It is just a few miles from Cork’s Kent Station on the double-track Dublin-Cork mainline.
Panoramic composite exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera.Panasonic Lumix LX7 photo.Irish Rail 222 leads the down Dublin-Cork passenger train. Exposed with a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera.
In August 2011, Chris Guss and I were exploring Kansas City Southern’s mainline south of Neosho, Missouri.
We made a series of night photos around Ginger Blue. This place gets points for its evocative name. The classic search light signals were another bonus.
As Chris set up and tested his synchronized strobes, I made a series of photos of the signals and surrounding farm yard.
Exposed using a Canon EOS 7D mounted on a tripod. Synchronized strobe lighting was blended with a long time exposure to allow for effects of existing light, including the focused beam of the searchlight signal.My ‘behind the scenes’ image. The white streaks are traces of Chris Guss’s flash light. This was a five minute exposure made digitally and largely with available light. If you look closely, you can see some of the lighting stands and at left, one of the signals. Note the star trails in the sky.
My new book Classic Railroad Signals from Voyageur Press covers the search lights, semaphores and other types of historic signal hardware. I’m looking forward to perusing my author’s copy!
I’m always looking for an angle. A family outing on the Schuylkill River in September 2007 provided this opportunity. A SEPTA Silverliner IV glides across the former Pennsylvania Railroad’s Connecting Railway bridge.
In 1914, this massive arch over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia replaced the original 1867 double-track bridge made of stone arches and a metal truss span. Today it carries Amtrak’s North East Corridor. Although it resembles the stone arches it replaced, it is actually a reinforced concrete arch faced with sandstone.
I exposed this image at dusk on Fujichrome slide film using my Nikon F3. The low angle afforded by my seat in the canoe, allowed me to make the most of the surface of the river without getting wet. Would a Brunswick green GG1 have made for a better photo?
I exposed this photograph of stored freight cars in the derelict remains of the former New York Central yards at Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania.
Exposed on Kodachrome 25 with a Leica M2 with 50mm Summicron. Exposure calculated manually using a Sekonic Studio Deluxe photocell.
The rolling gentle profile of the distant hills and the contrast between soft afternoon sun and inky shadows intrigued me. I find the hills oddly compelling, as in over the hills and far way.
This yard had been a busy place once but by the Conrail era was just the vestige of another era. There’s rusty tracks below the grass and bushes.
The tide was in. The sun was low and rich. The train was on time. I was poised at the popular overlook at Pinole, California. Dozens of scheduled Amtrak trains pass this point everyday, so on one level this was akin to ‘shooting fish in a barrel.’
Yet, the ease of photography here, facilitated by great weather, open varied scenery, and frequent operations, makes for a perfect opportunity to experiment and exposed different angles.
Exposed on Fujichrome Film.
In this case, I’ve opted to make a clean, yet dramatic vertical image. Notice how I’ve left ample room on top for a magazine title, and space all around for cover blurbs (left or right) and the requisite bar code (typically located at lower right).
When I was working at Pentrex Publishing in the 1990s, we’d often reject potential dramatic photos as not suitable because there wasn’t room for the cover blurbs. But an absolute killer (that is, no chance for cover placement) was in situations where the bar code would fall on the front of a locomotive. Bar code placement was non-negotiable.
Would this make a good cover photo? I can’t say, but I was looking to fit the format when I exposed this slide in 2008.
Contrasts in transport: A CSX local ambles along a four-lane highway south of Benwood, West Virginia.
It was a bright clear morning on August 18, 2011 when Pat Yough and I followed this freight on the old Baltimore & Ohio to make a series of images including this one.
What does this photograph say about the road? The railroad?
Exposed with a Canon EOS 7D fitted with 28-135mm lens set to 38mm. ISO 200, f7.1 1/500th of a second.
In the gutter between the road and the tracks is some rubbish. Litter. I wish it weren’t there. Using Photoshop I can make it disappear. I haven’t.
For that matter, I can change the color of the locomotives, add clouds to the sky, or remove some cars from the road. I haven’t done that either.
It was a typical late summer’s day at the top of Ballybrophy Bank on Irish Rail’s Dublin-Cork mainline in 2006.
I was expecting a procession of passenger trains down road (toward Cork). At the time there was still a good variety of intercity passenger stock and Irish Rail’s 201s were working in four different liveries. This was an opportunity to show the passage of trains.
Here, I’ve presented variation on a theme. I’d mounted my Nikon F3 with 105mm lens on Manfrotto 190PRO tripod. I kept the essential framing the same for each passing train, while making necessary changes to exposure reflecting the changes in light.
Frame 1: Irish Rail 220 with Cravens. Exposed on Sensia 100 with a Nikon F3 with 105mm lens. Exposure calculated with a Minolta Mark IV light meter. Image scanned with an Epson V500, other than scaling for internet presentation, I’ve made no modifications to colour, contrast or exposure.Frame 3, Enterprise painted 206 leads Mark 3s. Exposed on Sensia 100 with a Nikon F3 with 105mm lens. Exposure calculated with a Minolta Mark IV light meter. Image scanned with an Epson V500, other than scaling for internet presentation, I’ve made no modifications to colour, contrast or exposure.Frame 5, Irish Rail 211 leads Mark 3s. Exposed on Sensia 100 with a Nikon F3 with 105mm lens. Exposure calculated with a Minolta Mark IV light meter. Image scanned with an Epson V500, other than scaling for internet presentation, I’ve made no modifications to colour, contrast or exposure.Frame 6, Irish Rail 216 leads Mark 3s. Exposed on Sensia 100 with a Nikon F3 with 105mm lens. Exposure calculated with a Minolta Mark IV light meter. Image scanned with an Epson V500, other than scaling for internet presentation, I’ve made no modifications to colour, contrast or exposure.
Notice how the quality of light and the position of the train changes the scene.
Normally when photographing moving trains, I’d adjust my framing, angle and the focal length of the lens to reflect changes in lighting, length of train, and the colour/shape of the leading engine as it specifically relates to background and foreground elements.
The effects of sunlight and contrast make a significant difference in the end result.
Exposed on Fujichrome 100 with my Nikkormatt FTN with a Nikkor f4 200mm lens, then popped off a second photo with my Nikon F3T loaded with Kodachrome. Scanned with an Epson V600 at 4800 dpi, scaled in Photoshop and reduced for internet presentation.
There’s no beach here. I stood on the edge of the Badlands looking east as a violent thunderstorm raged over the Missouri Valley near Mandan, North Dakota.
The sun was near the horizon as the last of its golden rays filtered across the open landscape. Lightning flashed in the distance.
This had been Yellowstone country in Northern Pacific days: massive 2-8-8-4s were built to move freight across the difficult undulating railroad east of Glendive, Montana.
No Yellowstones for me. By 1994, they were but a distant vision, all scrapped before I was born.
A headlight appears on the horizon. What’s this? A westward empty coal train returning to Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. An unusual white-faced locomotive in the lead.
This was Burlington Northern SD60M 1991, a specially painted to commemorate Operation Desert Storm.
This is among my favorite photographs from my big 1994 trip that began in January near Rochester, New York and ended six months later at Waukesha, Wisconsin.
I’ve made good use of this photo over the years. It appeared in Pacific RailNews 1994 Annual Rails West and again in my book The American Diesel Locomotive published by MBI in 2000.
Some Irish friends and I spent a week in the Mosel and Rhein Valley regions to photograph special trips organized for the 175th anniversary of German railways.
On this day, April 7, 2010, I exposed this view of a double-headed iron ore train crossing the Mosel on the big bridge at Bullay.
Exposed at Bullay, Germany with my Lumix LX-3.
Sometimes, as photos age, the ordinary train you caught while waiting, seems more interesting than the extraordinary train that you’d set out to capture in the first place!
My title may seem strange but it is descriptive: On March 29th, 2015, I visited the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) station at Bergen op Zoom.
Telephoto photo exposed at Zoom.
Working with my Fuji X-T1 fitted with an 18-135mm zoom lens (set to its maximum telephoto setting), I made this photo of an NS Verlengd InterRegio Materieel (VIRM) double-deck electric multiple unit arriving at the station.
Even on Sunday, NS provides a half-hour interval passenger service to Bergen op Zoom. The trains are clean, reliable and well patronized.
I was traveling with Dean Sauvola. Just before sunrise on October 22, 1995 we paused at a favorite grade crossing near Colo, Iowa where I made this image (among others).
Rails to the horizon offer the classic textbook illustration of perspective.
Exposed on Fujichrome using a Nikkormatt FTN with 28mm Nikkor AF lens (focused manually). Exposure calculated with a hand-held Sekonic Studio Deluxe photo cell.
A vertically cropped version of this image was featured in August 2008 TRAINS Magazine, and again at the end of a special TRAINS issue commemorating photography.
This scene has completely changed since I made this photograph on Kodachrome in January 11, 1993. Tom Carver and I had taken a trip to Montreal to catch six-motor MLW Locomotives on the move.
Between photographing these diesels, we spent time along Canadian National’s electrified suburban lines.
In the mid-1990s, the route was re-electrified, new equipment was procured and train operation was conveyed from CN to a regional public authority called Société de Transport la Communauté Urbaine de Montreal.
The trackage arrangement at Val Royal was simplified and the station renamed Bois Franc.
January 11, 1993, Val Royal, Montreal.
What I recall most about the morning of this photograph was the bitter cold and the difficulties of manipulating my Nikon F3T with numb hands.
Finding an interesting locomotive is always an opportunity for photography. Finding a rare locomotive in crisp October sunshine is a great opportunity!
In October 2008, Pat Yough, Tim Doherty and I found Western New York & Pennsylvania Alco C-430 number 430 at the Olean Yard in Allegany, New York.
I think this locomotive has had more owners than I’ve had automobiles. It began as one of ten C-430s on New York Central, giving that railroad more of this rare model than all the other buyers of the type put together.
The C-430 is an attractive machine and I used the sunshine to good advantage. Here are a few of the studies I made of 430 on that bright morning.
Exposed on Fujichrome with a Canon EOS-3 with 100-400mm zoom lens.430 retains its classification lamps, a vestige of train-order rules that no longer have relevance to operations.
Or, if you prefer: locomotives fore and aft on a ballast train in the cutting.
The three-track cutting extending from Islandbridge Junction up the grade toward Inchicore in Dublin is known as “the Gullet”.
Permanent way works (track maintenance) on Irish Rail’s Cork line on Saturday March 21, 2015, required operation of HOBS (high output ballast system) trains with locomotives at both ends.
While topped and tailed operations are quite common in some countries, these have been very unusual in Ireland in modern times.
I made several views of this train with an aim to emphasize the locomotives at both ends.
Fuji Film X-T1 digital image; contrast and exposure adjust in post processing.Looking west.
These images were exposed using my Fuji Film X-T1 digital camera. Among the features of this camera is an adjustable fold down rear-view display that allows me hold the camera at arms length over a wall. A built in level feature is especially useful in these circumstances.
This old upper quadrant semaphore was located in Monson, Massachusetts about a mile from the Palmer diamond. It served as a fixed distant to the absolute signal protecting the crossing and was always in the diagonal position indicating ‘approach’.
I made this image on July 20, 1986 of a northward Central Vermont freight (probably job 562).
Purists may note that Canadian National referred to its cabooses as ‘Vans’. More relevant was that by this date, cabooses were becoming unusual in New England. Conrail began caboose-less operation on through freights a few years earlier.
Exposed on July 20, 1986 using a Rolleiflex Model T with ‘Super slide’ insert to make for a roughly 645-size black & white negative.
Even rarer in New England were semaphores. Yet this one survived until very recently, when Central Vermont successor New England Central finally replaced it with a color-light. See earlier post: Monson Semaphore Challenge.
A minor point regarding this composition; I’d released the shutter a moment too soon, and so the left-hand back of the caboose visually intersects with the semaphore ladder. This annoys me. Sometimes I like a bit of visual tension in an image, but in this case it doesn’t work.
Not that I can go back and try it again, as much as I’d like to!
In the mid-1980s, Canadian National Railway’s Montreal Locomotive Works M-420s were commonly operated on its Central Vermont Railway subsidiary.
It might seem odd in retrospect, but I wasn’t keen on these peculiar locomotives when they were common. Although they were derived from an Alco design, and I was big fan of Alco, I thought they were ugly and not ‘real’ Alcos. I much preferred Central Vermont’s own Alco RS-11s.
June 25, 1986, State Line Crossing, Monson, Massachusets. Exposed on Kodachrome 25 slide film with a Leica 3A fitted with a 65mm Elmar using a Visoflex.
My ill-founded prejudices never stopped me from making photographs of the M-420s. And even back in 1986, I was pleased to catch this one leading Central Vermont’s freight 562 across Route 32 in Monson, Massachusetts (immediately north of the Massachusetts-Connecticut State Line).
This is the top of State Line Hill and it was all downgrade from here. I’m standing on a pile of ballast for elevation.
We heard the thunderous roar of EMD 645-E3 diesels laboring upgrade in ‘Run-8’ (maximum throttle.) Thick fog at Bealville in the California Tehachapis amplified the sound.
I was traveling with my friend and fellow photographer Brian Jennison, a veteran of Tehachapi railroad photography.
As the sound faded in and out, I looked for an angle; walking back and forth, I finally settled on this view on the outside of the curve at the often-photographed Bealville horseshoe.
A version of this image appeared in Pacific Railnews in the mid-1990s when I worked for Pentrex Publishing.
On Southern Pacific all train movements were deemed either ‘eastward’ or ‘westward’ in their relation to the direction traveled from milepost 0 in San Francisco, regardless of the compass. In the Tehachapis, a train may be traveling in all directions at the same time owing to the exceptional sinuosity of the trackage.
This uphill freight was moving railroad timetable east.
In the lead was a Rio Grande SD40T-2. It had a transitional lighting arrangement, that included its as-built headlight and oscillating lights, plus recently added ditch-lights and a ‘gumball’ rotating yellow light atop the cab. Again the fog has accentuated the locomotive’s lights.
I was working with my Nikon F3T with Nikkor f1.8 105mm telephoto mounted on my Bogen 3021 tripod and loaded with Fuji 100 slide film (what I used to call ‘Fujiahundred’). I metered the scene with a Sekonic Studio Deluxe handheld photocell.
The sound show was far more impressive than any image I could have made of the train’s approach and passing. I wish I could stand there again in the fog on that April 4, 1993 morning!
London offers wonderful contrasts linking the 19th century Victorian-era with more modern eras.
Paddington Station was the terminal for the Great Western Railway—Brunel’s broad gauge empire. Since that time the world has changed beyond recognition.
Today, albeit much enlarged, Paddington remains as an important urban hub.
When I visited in May 2010 the shed was filled with 1970s-vintage HST sets in modern paint, operated by First Great Western.
Paddington, May 2010. Exposed with a Lumix LX3.
Such a difference in decades fascinates me.
What will this scene look like in another ten years? In another 100 years?
On Thursday, March 5, 2015, Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s 2-6-0 number 461 ran a special trip from Dublin’s Connolly Station to Drogheda and return.
This was a great opportunity to put my new Fuji X-T1 through its paces.
I exposed a great number of images on the day, including this panoramic view of the train on the station platform at Drogheda.
Panoramic composite exposed using a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera.
This long and narrow image is a camera produced composite: I exposed several similar images, by sweeping the camera across the scene laterally as the camera flutters away. The resulting image is sewn together in camera.
I’ll post more photos of my adventures with 461 tomorrow!
This is one of my favorite Burlington Northern images. Tom Danneman, TSH and I were photographing Powder River coal operations in May 1995.
We caught this empty train working west of Edgemont with nearly new SD70MACs. Burlington Northern had only a few months left before consummation of merger with Santa Fe.
Three Burlington Northern SD70MACs lead coal empties west of Edgemont, South Dakota on May 26, 1995. Three SD70MACs were standard Powder River coal train power. This photo was run large as an opening spread in my book Modern Locomotives: High-Power Diesels, 1966-2000, a title published by Motorbooks in 2002.
Shortly before the train arrived into view some thin clouds softened the sun. While this effect tends to spoil a photo, especially those made on Kodachrome, in this rare case, I think it actually made for a better image.
I feel that the slightly subdued contrast works well with the foreground grasses, the framed tree, and the dark paint on the locomotives.
I exposed this on Kodachrome 25 using my Nikon F3T with 35mm perspective control lens mounted on my Bogen 3021 tripod.
General Electric delivered Conrail’s ten C32-8s in 1984. These were a group of unusual pre-production DASH-8 locomotives, and earned the nickname ‘camels’ owing to their humpback appearance.
I’ve always liked these distinctive locomotives and I had ample opportunities to photograph them on Conrail’s Boston & Albany route in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Exposed on Kodak black & white film using a Rolleiflex Model T with 75mm Zeiss Tessar lens.
In March 1988, I was skipping class at Rochester Institute of Technology and photographing along the former Erie Railroad in New York’s Canisteo Valley.
In the afternoon, light rain had changed to snow. I was set up by the semaphores at milepost 308 west of Rathbone, New York and caught Conrail’s westward doublestack train TV301 roaring through the valley with nearly two miles of train in tow.
In the lead was C32-8 6617, an old favorite from my travels on B&A. I find it hard to believe that this locomotive was less than four years old at the time.
The old Union & Switch Signal Style S semaphores were decommissioned in January 1994.
This has been an interesting week for locomotives working Irish Rail’s IWT Liner (International Warehousing & Transport container train Dublin to Ballina). Most of the time a standard green and sliver class 201 leads the train. But over the last week, a variety of differently painted locomotives have had this assignment.
At 1:51pm on Saturday, February 28, 2015, Enterprise locomotive 206 wearing fresh paint approaches Islandbridge Junction near Hueston Station in Dublin. Exposed with a Fuji X-T1.Enterprise locomotive 206 wearing fresh paint approaches Islandbridge Junction near Hueston Station in Dublin. Exposed with a Fuji X-T1.
I exposed these photos a little while ago in Dublin using my Fuji X-T1 camera.
I exposed this unusual angle of a RENFE high-speed AVE train at the modern Cordoba Station in September 2001.
Cordoba, Spain. The reflection of the station skylight on the front of the train adds crucial highlights to the image.
The train was paused. The challenge was using my Rolleiflex Model T to look over the railing and down on the train.
The Rollei is a twin-lens reflex. Normally to compose an image you look down into the camera through a mirror and lens arrangement which projects on an interior screen.
If holding the camera at waist-level and looking down doesn’t suit the situation, there’s also a field-finder—which is just a window the helps you gauge the rough limits of the image area.
Neither of these tools were of any use to me when facing railing about six feet tall and my subject below me.
So, I held the camera above me and looked up into to it. Composing a scene in reverse (as is always the case when looking in the Rollei) is difficult enough, but doing this while craning my neck was especially tricky.
I made one exposure and a moment later the train accelerated away toward Seville.
Thursday, February 26, 2015: Today Enterprise 8209 wearing a new livery (or rather what appears to be about half of the new Enterprise livery) worked Irish Rail’s Dublin (North Wall) to Ballina IWT Liner.
Irish Rail operates container trains for International Warehousing & Transport most weekdays, however it is unusual to find this locomotive working the train. The 201 Class are General Motors-built locomotives technically similar to the F59PHI used in North America.
Irish Rail’s IWT Liner passes Platform 10 near Heuston Station. Fuji X-T1 photo.Irish Rail’s IWT Liner at Islandbridge Junction near Heuston Station on February 26, 2015. Fuji X-T1 photo.A classic roster view: Irish Rail’s IWT Liner at Islandbridge Junction near Heuston Station on February 26, 2015. Fuji X-T1 photo in ‘Velvia’ mode. (And yes, yes, I made one in ‘Provia’ mode too. And a slide.)
Yesterday, I featured locomotive 206 working the Ballina to Dublin IWT Liner which featured a more complete variation of the new paint scheme. At least today, I had the sun, fickle as it may be!
I was lucky because the train was blocked at Islandbridge Junction, giving me an opportunity to expose a few colour slides and then hoof it up the road for another angle.
The IWT works up the ‘gullet’ on its way west. Fuji X-T1 photo.
I like catchy titles, although I’ve recognized that today you get better response by advertising content as clearly and succinctly as possible.
Allusive titles no longer grab audiences as they did in earlier times. If Joyce wrote his famed novel Ulysses today, his publishers might changed the title to A Day’s Walk Around Dublin.
Speaking of walking around Dublin. Monday February 16, 2015 was a bright sunny day—really the first properly sunny day since I arrived back. Although more writing obligations landed in my ‘in-box’ that morning, I decided to take the time for a walk up through Kilmainham to the LUAS Red Line at Suir Road.
The specially painted ‘Sky’ tram crosses the LUAS bridge over the Grand Canal at Suir Road. Exposed with a Fuji Film X-T1 digital camera; ISO 400.
Here the tracks climb out of the old canal-bed that extends from the old Harbour near the Guinness Brewery and cross the surviving leg of the Grand Canal on a modern bridge and then run along its south bank for a mile or so on the way towards Tallagh.
Approaching the platforms at Suir Road. Fuji Film X-T1 digital camera; ISO 400.
I’d been wanting to make a bright sunlit photo of the specially adorned ‘Sky’ tram that has been roaming the Red Line since before I got back. Advertising liveries rarely last more than a couple of months on the LUAS system and this was as good as an excuse as any to play with my Fuji X-T1.
I didn’t have to wait long before the tram in question came gliding along the canal
What cryptic allusion might Bloom have uttered upon seeing a Sky tram crossing the canal?
In this photo, I like the visual play on ‘Sky’. Really now would this have worked on a dull day? Fuji Film X-T1 digital camera; ISO 400.Telephoto close up at Suir Road. Fuji Film X-T1 digital camera; ISO 400.Trams in Dublin don’t dally long; motors humming, this one accelerates away towards its next station stop. Fuji Film X-T1 digital camera; ISO 400.
It was the evening of June 15, 2004, and I was out along the old Burlington C&I line at Chana, west of Rochelle, Illinois. The sunset was this amazing tapestry of color, like a Turner oil painting. I had a few minutes to make the most it.
I had several Nikons loaded with different types of Fujichrome and my old Rolleiflex. I made this view with a Nikon F3 and my Nikkor 180mm telephoto.
The old General Railway Signal searchlight signal with its classic finial and the code lines beyond made for good silhouette subjects. I blasted through about a half a roll of film before the color faded. I’ve found you have to make the most of these cosmic moments when they happen.
Often there’ll be a great sunset, but I won’t be in a position to use the light for anything constructive, and so I’ll just have to gaze at it with regrets. Seeing a missed opportunity in a sunset; that’s one of the downsides of being a photographer.
In January 2009, Tim Doherty, Denis McCabe and I made photos at a suburban branch station called Praha-Ruzyne, situated west of Prague’s historic center and near the Vaclav Havel (international) Airport. A wire operated semaphore caught my interest.
This scene presents a lesson in composition. It was a visually interesting but stark environment to make photographs.
The Czech capital is a fascinating city with some of Europe’s finest architecture. Unfortunately, none of this is present at Praha-Ruzyne, which is characterized by urban development stemming from the country’s austere period of Soviet-influence.
I opted to work in silhouette and exposed this color slide for the highlight areas of the sky while allowing shadow areas to go black and be virtually free from distracting detail.
Photograph made using a Canon EOS 3 with 100mm lens and Fujichrome slide film.
My challenge was placing the semaphore mast and blade in a position that makes it most prominent. I’ve balanced the composition by putting this signal diagonally opposite from the diesel railcar at lower right. The red lights on the back of the railcar immediately attract the eye, while the semaphore draws it back again.
In the middle is a lone figure crossing the line which both adds a prominent human element that offers a sense of scale, while imposing a poetic element of; ‘man versus his environment’.
The trackage arrangement makes for a complex pattern that reflects the light of the morning sky . On the hill above the train is a large building that hints at the greater urbanity of the scene. Without it, the image might be mistaken for a photo of a rural village.
Two specially difficulties were the array of vertical lighting masts which distract from the semaphore, and the railing along the line that visually interferes with the trackage, but adds a layer of depth.
The trees in the distance beyond the tracks are slightly diffused by morning haze and contribute to sense of depth—an especially important element in this silhouetted view, which would otherwise be flattened by the minimalism imposed by my choice of exposure.
How might this image compare with one at the same location exposed on a bright summer afternoon?
Between 2003 and 2008, Irish Rail converted most of its peripheral lines from traditional control using mechanical semaphore signals and electric train staff to a Mini-CTC (centralised traffic control) system with colour-light signaling.
In May 2005, the signals at Boyle on the Sligo Line reflected this pending transition. The new hardware was in place, but the old semaphores were still doing their job. By the end of the year the signal towers on the Sligo Line had been closed and the day of the semaphore was done.
Station sign at Boyle on Irish Rail’s Sligo Line.Looking up road (toward Dublin) at Boyle in May 2005.
It was an even zero degrees Fahrenheit (that’s about -18 Celsius) when I arrived at the top of State Line Tunnel. A heavy blanket of snow covered the ground and I could hear a heavy CSX eastward train climbing.
The twin-bore State Line Tunnel is the only true tunnel on the old Boston & Albany. The older of the two bores was abandoned in late 1988 when Conrail single-tracked the line.
Driving east on the New York State Thruway, I’d noted the eastward freight crossing ‘Bottleneck Bridge’ east of the interchange with Taconic State Parkway. I knew then, that if I didn’t dally, I could get to the top of State Line in time to roll the train by.
I recalled a chase many years ago with Bob Buck in the twilight hour. When we arrived at this favorite location, I insisted on making black & white photos with my old Leica and ignored Bob’s advice to, ‘Save your film for a sunny day.’
Back to the present. Despite the cold, I set up my Bogen tripod and attached my Lumix LX7. The train whistled for the grade crossing west of the tunnel. Not much time. I made a test shot at 8 seconds. Too dark. Switching to manual mode, I set the camera for 20 seconds. I made an exposure just as the headlights were illuminating the curve.
Lumix LX7 test photo; exposed at f2.2 for 8 seconds. This was too dark for my liking, so I increased the amount of time the shutter was open to 20 seconds.The lights of the eastward freight have begun to illuminate the curve. Lumix LX7 at f2.2 for 20 seconds.
The view of the train in the photo with the Lumix was blasted by the headlights and isn’t very effective.
However, I had my brand new Fuji X-T1, but I hadn’t the time to figure out how to set it for long time exposures, I did make a few hand-held views at ISO 1250.
My first railway photos with my new Fuji X-T1 mirror-less camera were made of the approaching train at State Line Tunnel. I exposed for the snow and made the photos hand held. Too dark for my liking, but it catches the drama of the moment.
Then I exposed a view with the Lumix of the freight cars rolling below me.
CSX’s east ward freight passes below me. The quality of light offered by the full moon mimics the characteristics of sunlight, albeit at a substantially lower luminosity.
This view of old 177 leading the weedspraying train over the disused Midland Great Western route at Moate is one of many colourful images to be presented.
The program will be given at the IRRS premises at Heuston Station in Dublin (opposite the entrance to the car park) and will begin at 7:30pm.
This will feature a variety of original colour slides projected in the traditional manner (that is, using a good ol’ fashioned slide projector!)
Irish rail ‘bo-bo’ 146 scuttles across the River Barrow at Monasterevin.Rail freight along the River Suir at Waterford. Scan from a Fujichrome slide.
