On January 19, 2019, TRAINS Magazine’s Brian Schmidt and I visited the old Milwaukee Road Depot at Brookfield, Wisconsin to photograph a westward CP Rail freight.
It was cloudy and snowing lightly.
Working with my Nikon F3 and 50mm lens, I exposed these views on Ilford FP4 black & white film.
I processed the film using multi-stage development in Ilford ID11 mixed 1-1 with water, then toned the negatives for 7 minutes in a selenium solution to boost highlights.
I exposed this Kodachrome 25 slide at the west portal of Tunnel 41 in a heavy snow squall. Lighting was low, so I used my f1.8 105mm Nikkor telephoto at its maximum aperture.
Southern Pacific bought the photo from me and in the early 1990s used a cropped version on the cover of the company magazine (the Southern Pacific Bulletin).
Unfortunately the original image received rough treatment during pre-press and was returned to me with scratches and dust imbedded in the emulsion.
A westward SP freight exits the wooden snowsheds protecting the west portal of tunnel 41 ‘The Big Hole’ on California’s Donner Pass.
Working with Lightroom, I’ve partially restored the image digitally.
