Saturday, we stopped in at White River Junction, Vermont where we found resplendent Vermont Rail System GP38-3 number 206 catching the late winter sun.
This classic locomotive began its career as Southern Railway 2741, and originally featured a high short hood. Last year, VRS had it repainted into its red and white livery.
I made this selection of photos using my Lumix LX7.
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Last night, I continued my sort of slides from 1997 and 1998, two very productive years for me photographically.
On August 26, 2022, I posted: “http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/2022/08/26/something-random-and-familiar/”
This described how Mike Gardner and I had chased a Vermont Rail System’s Florence Turn—a local freight that ran from Rutland, Vermont to a quarry at its namesake. The significance of the post was the locomotive: Clarendon & Pittsford GP38 203. This was former Maine Central 255, and is now Conway Scenic Railroad 255.
Last night, I found another never opened box of Fujichromes exposed of 203 on that same chase.
I’d exposed the slides, then sent them out for processing, but boarded a flight for London Heathrow before they returned. One thing led to another and I didn’t get home until August 1998, and before I had time to look at the slides, I was off to Colorado and New Mexico for a month, and from there into yet another adventure.
Now, almost 25 years after I exposed these photos, I’m finally looking at them! Pity, I can’t find my notes from the day. However, during the course of my job at North Conway, NH I walked past old 255 yesterday morning!
Below is yet another view of old Maine Central 255 that I located and scanned last night; this one exposed more than 40 years ago in October 1982 at Greenfield, Massachusetts.
See:
http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/2021/12/29/255-from-the-wisps-of-time/
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I’d been meaning to get some photos of Conway Scenic Railroad’s former Maine Central GP38 255 working New Hampshire’s Conway Branch in red paint.
The railroad acquired this pure Maine Central GP38 from the Vermont Rail System last autumn, and in recent weeks it has been the regular locomotive for the Valley Train, which makes three Conway trips.
The plan is have this locomotive painted in a neo-Maine Central scheme, similar to its sister GP38, number 252, which also serves Conway Scenic, so time may be getting short to get good photos of it in the red scheme.
These photos were exposed with my Nikon Z6 digital camera, but I also made a exposures on Ektachrome slide film for posterity.
I wonder, will the posterity even care about a red GP38 on the Conway Branch?
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In February2020, I posted a view of a southward Vermont Rail System freight from the Barnet Road bridge in Barnet, Vermont. (see: http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/2020/02/10/barnet-road-barnet-vermont/?preview_id=28651&preview_nonce=ef26649382&preview=true&_thumbnail_id=28652)
Today, I’m offering a view of a northward train from the same over bridge.
I made this when following the train with Kris Sabbatino earlier this month.
Although looking toward the sun, I was happy to catch a train from this view point. Since VRS only operates 2-3 northward trains per week, I’m not in a position to be overly choosy about the light.
Exposed using a Nikon Z6 digital camera with 24-70mm lens, image processed using Adobe Lightroom.
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Two weeks ago on our northward journey, Kris Sabbatino and I paused at Wells River to photograph the Vermont Rail System freight that we had been shadowing.
Over the years I’ve photographed the former Boston & Maine routes around Well River on various occasions several times, but until this most recent trip, I never managed to catch a train in motion on this infamous span.
Infamous because, back in 1984, this bridge had been damaged and effectively shut the line to traffic until it was repaired.
Exposed using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens.
Tracking the Light is a Daily Blog on Railway Photography.
Red diesels in the snow can make for classic photographs. This combination is much nicer than black diesels in the mud,
Kris Sabbatino and I were on our way north when we paused for a sandwich at Newbury, Vermont.
After a while, we could hear the whistle of the northward Vermont Rail System freight on its way from White River Junction to Newport.
I made these photos using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens.
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