Tag Archives: Voyageur Press

photography

New Book: Field Guide to Trains, Locomotives and Rolling Stock.

2 Comments

This afternoon (June 6, 2016) received my author’s advance copy of Field Guide to Trains, Locomotives and Rolling Stock published by Voyageur Press.

The book will be soon available from the publisher, as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, among other select bookstores and vendors.

In this compact 208-page soft-cover volume, I’ve covered a lot of ground by including not just modern mainline freight and passenger locomotives, but also historic engines, railroad rolling stock, as well as a sampling of light rail and heavy rail rapid transit cars.

Breda Light Rail cars glide along on a former Santa Fe Railway right of way in Los Angeles, California. This is the opening spread to the section on Rail Transit that covers chapters on Light Rail Vehicles and Heavy Rail Rapid Transit cars. I exposed this view in 2008 using my Canon EOS 3 and Fujichrome slide film. Many of the most recent images in the book were made digitally.
Breda Light Rail cars glide along on a former Santa Fe Railway right of way in Los Angeles, California. This photo is the opening spread for the section on Rail Transit that covers chapters on Light Rail Vehicles and Heavy Rail Rapid Transit cars. I exposed this image in Spring  2008 using my Canon EOS 3 and Fujichrome slide film. Many of the most recent images in the book were made digitally.

The high-quality photo reproduction impressed me.

I’ve dedicated the book to my friends Dan and Mary Howard.

In addition to my own photos, and those of my father’s and Dan’s, I’ve also included the work of contributing photographers including: Timothy Doherty, Chris Guss, Scott Lothes, Jack May, Tom Kline, Jim Shaughnessy, Patrick Yough, and Walter E. Zullig. The cover photo was supplied by Shutterstock.

This is the title page of my new book. My father exposed this classic view of Alco Road Switchers near 16th Street in Chicago on a trip there in June 1961. While most of the photos in the book are contemporary color views, I thought I'd spice up the content with a handful of historic photos. This one was made using a Rolleiflex Model T on black & white negative film. I've always like the semaphores at the far left.
This is the title page of my new book. My father, Richard Jay Solomon, exposed this classic view of Alco Road Switchers near 16th Street in Chicago on a trip there in June 1961. While most of the photos in the book are contemporary color views, I thought I’d spice up the content with a handful of historic photos. This one was made using a Rolleiflex Model T on black & white negative film. I’ve always like the semaphores at the far left. (Pardon the fold, I’ve scanned this directly from the book.)

In addition to basic technical descriptions, in my writing I’ve tried to put the different types of equipment in historical and developmental context, while illustrating the subjects using a variety of photographic styles. Many of the images are contemporary, but I’ve also included a few oldies from my father’s collection.

Thanks to everyone at Voyageur Press for their help in producing this fine looking book including my editor Todd Berger, project manager Alyssa Bluhm, art director James Kegley, and layout artist Amy Sly.

Special thanks to Steve Roth for helping to promote this book and for sending me my author’s advance copy!

Brian Solomon’s Tracking the Light is updated Every Day.

photography

Streamliners Reviewed in Classic Trains!

1 Comment

Robert S. McGonigal has reviewed my book Streamliners—Locomotives and Trains in the Age of Speed and Style in the current issue (Spring 2016) of Classic Trains.

I’m flattered to read that he considers me, ‘the most prolific book author of our era.’

Brian Solomon_581821

Don’t wait! Pick up the magazine (always filled with great articles and fascinating photographs), and don’t forget to order your copy of Streamliners today.

The book is available from Voyageur Press and on sale at Amazon as well as local outlets!

http://www.amazon.com/Streamliners-Locomotives-Trains-Speed-Style/dp/0760347476

Tracking the Light posts every day!

 

photography

TRACKING THE LIGHT SPECIAL: New Book, Majesty of Big Steam

Leave a comment

A little while ago, Fed Ex delivered my author’s advance copy of my latest book: Majesty of Big Steam, published by Voyageur Press.

Thanks to my editor Todd Berger for getting this to me!

I’ve dedicated this luxurious volume to memory of my friend John E. Pickett who passed away as the book was nearing completion. It features many of his photographs, as well as images by a host of other talented photographers.

John Gruber authored sidebars.

Special thanks to Pat Yough who helped with the cover image and opened many doors during the book’s production. I exposed the cover photo using Pat’s FujiFilm  X-T1, and this adventure was one among the experiences that helped convince me that I needed to invest in the Fuji camera.

Brian Solomon book Cover005

This new book will soon be available for purchase.

See: http://www.amazon.com/The-Majesty-Steam-Brian-Solomon/dp/0760348928

Tracking the Light posts daily!

photography

The Twilight of Steam Reviewed in Classic TRAINS

Leave a comment
Jpeg of the Classic Trains review.
Jpeg of the Classic Trains review.

Rob McGonigal has reviewed my book The Twilight of Steam in his magazine Classic Trains. He gives special kudos to John E. Pickett’s excellent photography, while mentioning many of the contributing photographers including George C. Corey, John Gruber, Jim Shaughnessy, Ron Wright, and my late friend Robert A. Buck.

If you haven’t seen the book, check it out! I think it is my finest effort to date. All black & white and superbly reproduced. I’d examined thousands of period black & white photos and selected a choice few for inclusion. Not to be overlooked are the skilled efforts of Fred Matthews, Gordon Roth, Bill Vigrass, and Phil Weibler, who were all in the enviable position of being there when steam worked the rails.

One of the premises for the book is that the majority of the photographs were made when steam was still in regular revenue service. While there’s a few views of special trips, all the photos were made in the steam era. I’ve let a few diesels in too, albeit often off in the distance.

It’s available from Voyageur Press.

Thanks for the great review Rob!

 

Uncategorized

TRACKING THE LIGHT SPECIAL POST: Radio Interview with KSEN AM

Leave a comment

The Jerry Puffer Show Interviews Brian Solomon.

Radio host, Jerry Puffer at KSEN 1150 AM (Shelby, Montana) will broadcast the interview on Wednesday June 18, 2014 in the 4:30 pm slot (4:30 pm Mountain Time/6:30pm standard time/11:30pm in Dublin and London). You can tune in via the internet.

On the KSEN webpage use the ‘Listen Live’ feature. See: http://ksenam.com/jerry-puffer/

or ksenam.com.

Brian spoke with Jerry for about 25 minutes, and discussed railroads, photography and Ireland, as well as his new book The Twilight of Steam, and Tracking the Light!

For anyone who wants to tune in, Jerry said that Brian will probably come on at about 4:36 pm mountain time (after introductory commentary, and other events).

Check it out!

Don’t forget, 6:30pm Eastern Standard Time Wednesday June 18th, Brian Solomon will be speaking on the Jerry Puffer Show KSEN 1150 AM!

Brian’s book, The Twilight of Steam was published by Voyageur Press.

http://www.voyageurpress.com/

Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.

Please share Tracking the Light!

http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/

 

Related articles
photography

Brian Solomon’s The Twilight of Steam on Sale Now!

Leave a comment

A Celebration of Steam from the Steam Era.

Russel_Buck_with_Twilight_of_Steam_2_P1040624

Russell Buck, son of late photographer Robert A. Buck, holds a preview copy of Brian Solomon’s The Twilight of Steam. This book features photography and stories from some of the great steam photographers.

The book can be viewed at Palmer Hobbies on 1428 Main Street in Palmer, Massachusetts. Phone: 413-436-5318. Open Tuesday to Saturday.

The Twilight of Steam is available from Voyageur Press. Click here for details.

'Some of dad's photos'—Russell Buck.
‘Some of dad’s photos’—Russell Buck.

I’ll be revealing more about the book over the next few days! Stay tuned.

Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.

Please share Tracking the Light!

http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/

 

Related articles
Uncategorized

Brian Solomon’s Latest Book: The Twilight of Steam

Leave a comment

Iconic Railroad Photographs from Great Photographers.

 Tomorrow, June 15, 2014, my latest book titled The Twilight of Steam officially goes on sale.

This was my big book project for 2013, and I spent much of last summer researching and writing it. Yet, the real stars of the book are the contributing photographers and their outstanding work.

PRR’s four-track Middle Division (Harrisburg to Altoona, Pennsylvania) was a favorite for photographers because of its accessibility, splendid scenery and a continuous parade of freight and passenger trains. PRR’s big boiler M1 Mountains were a standard mainline freight power from the mid-1920s until the diesels took over. The M1 shared the boiler used by the I1s 2-10-0 ‘Hippo’, where the I1s was intended for slow-speed drag freight work, the M1 was designed for relatively fast mainline running. These were good looking locomotives and made for great photos. Photo by John E. Pickett
PRR’s four-track Middle Division (Harrisburg to Altoona, Pennsylvania) was a favorite for photographers because of its accessibility, splendid scenery and a continuous parade of freight and passenger trains. PRR’s big boiler M1 Mountains were a standard mainline freight power from the mid-1920s until the diesels took over. The M1 shared the boiler used by the I1s 2-10-0 ‘Hippo’, where the I1s was intended for slow-speed drag freight work, the M1 was designed for relatively fast mainline running. These were good looking locomotives and made for great photos. Photo by John E. Pickett

Over the years, I’ve been privileged to interview and work with some of the most accomplished railway photographers in North America. Significantly, TheTwilight of Steam focuses on evocative images exposed toward the era of revenue steam operations.

These were exposed when steam locomotives were still active, and not of excursion services after the end of the era. In many instances, I’ve included photos with steam and first generation diesels working together or side by side.

For this book, I’ve adapted my Tracking the Light concepts. In addition to simply writing about the locomotives, where possible I’ve included stories about the photographer’s techniques and experiences. I included details about their cameras and films.

Many of the photographers were very young when they began making dramatic railway images, and that is a great part of the story.

The Twilight of Steam was published by Voyageur Press and will be available from June 15, 2014.

I’ll be revealing more about the book over the next few days! Stay tuned.

Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.

Please share Tracking the Light!

http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/

 

photography

Metro-North’s Westport Connecticut Drawbridge, November 2002.

Leave a comment

 

 

Metro-North Bridge 44.32.

Officially this known as Metro-North Bridge 44.32, this spans Saugatuck River an includes consists of a pair of parallel Scherzer rolling bascule lifts that date to about 1904–1905. I featured this bridge with a photo by Patrick Yough in my 2007 book Railroad Bridges published by Voyageur Press.
Officially known as Metro-North Bridge 44.32, this spans Saugatuck River and includes a pair of parallel Scherzer rolling bascule lifts built circa 1904–1905. I featured this bridge with a photo by Patrick Yough in my 2007 book Railroad Bridges published by Voyageur Press.

I made this unusual view of Metro-North’s former New Haven Railroad Westport Drawbridge using my Contax G2 rangefinder with a 16mm Hologon lens. When kept perfectly level this lens allows for non-converging perspective of vertical lines, however off-level it produces extreme vertical convergence.

The antique electrification on this movable span was an ideal subject to explore this lens’s peculiar perspective. My vantage point was from a public walkway easily accessed from the westbound platform MN’s Westport Station. I’d first photographed this drawbridge in November 1985 using my dad’s old Rollei Model T with black & white film. Bright sunlight and low fair-weather clouds add depth and contrast.

Working with Westinghouse, New Haven Railroad had pioneered high-voltage alternating current overhead electrification for mainline use in the early years of the 20th century.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
photography

Locomotive Geometry Part 4; Chicago Metra’s F40C

Leave a comment

 

Passenger Six-Motor.

Metra F40C number 611 in February 2003.
Metra F40C number 611 in February 2003.

Chicago suburban passenger railway, Metra operated the only fleet of Electro-Motive Division F40Cs a six-motor cowl-type passenger locomotive similar to Amtrak’s SDP40F, but equipped with HEP (headend power), and featured corrugated stainless-steel side paneling. The 5 EMD F40Cs, were acquired through Metra predecessor agency for service on Milwaukee Road. Numbered 600-614, the F40Cs were the last Metra heritage units in regular passenger service.

These were an unusual modern application of a six-motor diesel for passenger service. Since the mid-1970s, most passenger locomotives have been four-motor ‘B-B’ models.

They exhibit General Motors classic well-balanced utilitarian appearance, and are similar to other cowl models built from the late 1960s and mid-1970s.

EMD F40C
METRA F40C 614 works west at A2 tower on June 22, 2004.

These were among the locomotives I featured in my popular book EMD Locomotives published in 2006. Available from my publish Voyageur Press or at Amazon. I also discuss their history in my recent North American Locomotives.

EMD F40C.
A pan photo of Metra 606 catches the evening glint near Tower A5.

I like to offer special thanks to Marshall Beecher for providing location assistance in Chicago.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
photography

Locomotive Geometry Part 3; Canadian Pacific SD40-2s

Leave a comment
CP Rail SD40-2
Trailing view of Canadian Pacific‘s classic SD40-2s at Bevier Street Yard in Binghamton, New York. Exposed with a Nikon F3 fitted with f2.0 135mm lens. Fujichrome Provia 100F slide film.

General Motors Electro-Motive Division SD40-2 is classic North American locomotive design. This rugged, powerful, and reliable model was built in the thousands between 1972 and the early 1980s. Its essential boxy utilitarian form shares the same functional appearance common to most of EMD’s American road-freight locomotives built from 1963 until the general proliferation of Safety-Cab designs in the early 1990s. Canadian Pacific ordered large numbers of SD40 and SD40-2s from General Motors Canadian subsidiary and these were its dominant road locomotive for the better part of two decades. In the early 2000s, they remained standard on CP’s Delaware & Hudson lines in New York and Pennsylvania.

Canadian Pacific's classic 1970s 'Pac-Man' icon on the rear hood of SD40-2 5952. Exposed with a Nikon F3 fitted with f2.0 135mm lens. Fujichrome Astia 100F slide film.
Canadian Pacific’s classic 1970s ‘Pac-Man’ icon on the rear hood of SD40-2 5952. Exposed with a Nikon F3 fitted with f2.0 135mm lens. Fujichrome Astia 100F slide film.

On October 12, 2003, I made a series of photographs of Canadian Pacific SD40-2s on a southward/westward freight at Delaware & Hudson’s Bevier Street Yard in Binghamton, New York. Here the locomotives were paused in nice light giving ample opportunity to make photographs from different angles. I was working with a pair of Nikon F3s (one F3HP, one F3T), and a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with an unusual super wide-angle lens. Displayed here are a few of my results. The broadside Contax view at the bottom of the post was among the images featured in my recently published North American Locomotives by Voyageur Press.

CP Rail SD40-2
Canadian Pacific’s classic 1970s ‘Pac-Man’ icon on the rear hood of SD40-2 5952. Exposed with a Nikon F3 fitted with f1.8 105mm lens.
Broad side view of Canadian Pacific SD40-2 6007 at Bevier Street Yard in Binghamton, New York. Exposed with a Contax G2 rangefinder with 16mm Hologon lens. (This is a flat field design to obviate barrel distortion).
Broad side view of Canadian Pacific SD40-2 6007 at Bevier Street Yard in Binghamton, New York. Exposed with a Contax G2 rangefinder with 16mm Hologon lens. (This is a flat field design to obviate barrel distortion).
Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta