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Classic Chrome—February 18, 1988

In 1988, while I was attending the Rochester Institute of Technology, I shared a rented apartment in Scottsville, New York.

Among the benefits of the apartment was that it was in earshot of the former Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh line to Rochester, operated by Genesee & Wyoming start-up Rochester & Southern.

On the afternoon of February 18, 1988, the horn of the southward RS-1 (mixed through freight from Brooks Avenue Yard in Rochester to East Salamanca, New York) was sounding for a crossing. Track speed wasn’t very fast, so I had time to catch the train and follow it in the afternoon light.

Between Garbutt and P&L Junction, I made this view on Kodachrome 25 slide film of the leading locomotive, a former New York Central GP40.

A Kodachrome in Kodachrome light of a southward Rochester & Southern freight from Rochester, New York, the home of Kodak. A few days after exposure I sent the film to Kodak’s Rochester processing plant, which was returned to me later in the day.

This was among a group of slides that I rejected and sorted into a box labled ‘seconds and thirds’. I scanned it last week for presentation here.

Full frame Kodachrome slide, exposed using a Leica M2 with 50mm Summicron lens-February 18, 1988.

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Rochester & Southern—Example of a Multiple Pass Scan.

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This morning working with a Nikon Super Coolscan5000, I scanned this vintage Kodachrome 25 color slide.

This is a scaled version of the original scan without post processing color or contrast adjustment.

I used Hamrick’s VueScan software which allows me considerable control over the scanning process.

This has the ability to make a multiple pass scan that can obtain greater detail from highlight and shadow areas by scanning the same image several times and combining the scans.

It has a color setting specifically tailored to Kodachrome film and allows white balance fine-tuning.

VueScan work window for controlling color and exposure during scanning. Notice that I’ve used the Kodachrome profile.

VueScan Input control window where I have selected ‘Fine mode’, 3 samples, and multiple exposure features. I outputted the scan as Tif file at 4050dpi, then scaled in post processing for internet presentation.

This is a much enlarged section of the unadjusted raw scan (scaled for internet).

In post-processing, I used Lightroom to make fine adjustments to improve color balance and contrast before scaling for internet presentation.

I made the original photograph on April 19, 1989, showing a northward Rochester & Southern freight with former New York Central GP40s crossing a road at Scottsville, New York.

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