SD26 | Tracking the Light

I made this detailed telephoto view of Guilford Rail System’s former Santa Fe SD26 621 at East Deerfield yard.

The SD26 was a peculiar looking locomotive that featured a classic arched roof cab, slanted nose, with a humpbacked hood section and air reservoirs located on top.

Light and shade: By sculpting with low afternoon light, I was able to emphasize the SD26’s shapes while minimizing other elements of the scene. Notice the effects of reflections in the windows and off the cab nose.

Over the years, I made many photographs of these locomotives on the road. For me this unusual angle captures the distinctive shape of the SD26, two of which soldiered on in road-service into the mid-2000s.

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Former Santa Fe SD26s in the Lead.

I exposed this view on Kodachrome with my Leica M2 and 35mm Summicron. My notes indicate that this was at an overhead bridge at the beginning of grade separation near an interlocking called ‘Snyders.’ It’s been 25 years since I made the photo, so I question my memory as to correct name for location, but it was several miles timetable east of B&M’s Hudson River Bridge at Mechanicville. — I exposed this view on Kodachrome with my Leica M2 and 35mm Summicron. My notes indicate that this was at an overhead bridge at the beginning of grade separation near an interlocking called ‘Snyders.’ It’s been 25 years since I made the photo, so I question my memory as to correct name for the location, but it was several miles timetable east of B&M’s Hudson River Bridge at Mechanicville.

I’d been photographing the west-end of the old Boston & Maine all day. In the afternoon, I caught NADH (Nashua-Delaware & Hudson) rolling through Eaglebridge, New York with SD26 639 in the lead.

A westbound in evening light, what could be better than that? The light was perfect, so I followed it west to Mechanicville. There’s something special about the golden glow of a sunny afternoon in June that just makes a scene seem better. I get nostalgic for that sort of light.

Say, isn’t it June now?

Hmmmm . . .

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