On the morning of May 21, 2013, I made these photos of New England Central’s southward 608 passing Stafford, Connecticut.
It was a brilliant clear morning and I was working with my Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens.
Which do you like better? The telephoto view or the standard three-quarter ‘normal’ perspective?
Both were made from the same vantage point using the same lens-camera combination.
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August 23, 2016, I made this bright morning view of a short southward New England Central freight at Stafford Springs, Connecticut.
The attraction was the single GP38 wearing the classing blue and gold paint in rich morning sun.
Over the years, I’d photographed trains in Stafford Springs (Stafford on the railroad) from many angles. On this morning, I was pleased to get this view without any automobiles in the way of the train, and feature the row of brick buildings behind the tracks.
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On this day two years ago, I photographed New England Central GP38s in the classic blue & gold paint leading the southward 608 at Stafford Springs, Connecticut (Stafford on the railroad).
Working with the FujiFilm RAW file from my XT1, I first converted the photo to a DNG file using Iridient X-Transformer, then imported that file into Adobe Lightroom for adjustment.
To make for a more pleasing image, I reduced contrast, lightened shadows, and lowered the intensity of the highlights.
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Yesterday I processed a month’s worth of black & white film; two carefully-exposed rolls of 35mm Ilford HP5.
Among the first images on the first roll were these three photographs at Stafford Springs, Connecticut on November 26, 2019.
I often work with multiple cameras, and previously on Tracking the Light, I posted a digital color view of New England Central 608 working northward at this same location.
My process is a specialized two-stage development formula aimed to maximize detail and tonal range.
Incidentally, Scott Hartley reminded me that Central Vermont/New England Central has referred to this location simply as ‘Stafford,’ a fact that dates back to New London Northern days.
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South of Stafford, Connecticut, the former Central Vermont Railway runs along Plains Road, before crossing it to continue its path along the Willimantic River.
This is a favorite morning location for me, but a week ago Tuesday I opted to catch the southward 608 in the last rays of winter sun.
These are 12mm wide-angle views exposed with the FujiFilm XT1 and 12mm lens.
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New England Central began operations on the former Central Vermont Railway in Febraury 1995 using a dozen freshly painted secondhand GP38s.
More than 23 years later, and two changes of ownership, and New England Central still has a handful of these old GP38s working in the same paint scheme.
Last week, a matched pair of these engines was working the Willimantic-Palmer freight, job 608.
I made an effort to catch these venerable diesels on the roll.
