#Thorndike | Tracking the Light

Here’s another one from the ‘3rds’ file.

I’d been chasing the Mass-Central freight and caught it here winding along the Ware River at Thorndike, Massachusetts. Condensation from the factory added atmosphere, and partially obscured former Conrail GP9 7015 that was leading the train that day.

Until a few days ago this image was lost to the mists of time, languishing among ‘BAD’ slides.

It was a Kodachrome 25 exposed using my father’s Leica M3 with f2 Summicron, probably in January 1987.

Although a color slide, there’s very little color in this scene.

I scanned it last night using a Nikon Super Coolscan5000.

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On the previous day, CSX B740 had interchanged a healthy cut of cars for Mass-Central at Palmer, Massachusetts. So I surmised that this would be a good time to catch Mass-Central working both of its GP38-2s together.

Paul Goewey and I arrived in Palmer early, and once we were sure Mass-Central was ready to head north up their line toward Ware (old Boston & Albany Ware River Branch), we began scoping photo locations.

Although brisk and cold, the sun was clear and bright and there was a good amount of snow on the ground.

We set up at the Main Street Crossing along the valley’s namesake river. We didn’t have to wait long before we heard the train coming up the line.