Tag Archives: Western Massachusetts

photography

DAILY POST: Springfield, Massachusetts, April 2004

1 Comment

Old Pointless Arrow and the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Springfield, Massachusetts Union Station, where Boston & Maine, Boston & Albany and New Haven once shared common space. Today, its a local Amtrak hub. Exposed with a Contax G2 with 28mm Biogon lens.
Springfield, Massachusetts Union Station, where Boston & Maine, Boston & Albany and New Haven once shared common space. Today, its a local Amtrak hub. Exposed with a Contax G2 with 28mm Biogon lens.

Ah Springfield! Probably best known because of the Simpson’s cartoon set in a mythical city of that name. Could be Springfield, Massachusetts, or Illinois, any of a couple dozen other cities with this common name.

On April 5, 2004, I met Tim Doherty for lunch and we made a few photos in Springfield.

A visit to Union Station found a westward CSX freight with a Conrail blue General Electric DASH8-40CW rolling through.

Later, we went down to an footbridge near the Basketball Hall of Fame to catch Guilford Rail System’s elusive EDPL (East Deerfield to Plainville, Connecticut) freight.

In 1982, Boston & Maine bought several Connecticut-based former New Haven Railroad operations from Conrail, and EDPL was one the only remnants of that transaction. At the time, the freight ran once a week. Catching it was a matter of planning and good luck.

Westward CSX freight rolls through Springfield Station on April 5, 2004.
Westward CSX freight rolls through Springfield Station on April 5, 2004.
Guilford's weekly EDPL against a backdrop of the Springfield skyline on April 5, 2004.
Guilford’s weekly EDPL against a backdrop of the Springfield skyline on April 5, 2004.
This slightly closer view of the same train suffers (or benefits, depending on your perspective) from tree-branch shadows on on the front of the locomotives. Contax G2 photo.
This slightly closer view of the same train suffers (or benefits, depending on your perspective) from tree-branch shadows on on the front of the locomotives. Contax G2 photo.
Guilford's EDPL with Springfield's top tourist attraction (or one would assume); the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Guilford’s EDPL with Springfield’s top tourist attraction (or one would assume); the Basketball Hall of Fame.

I exposed these photos on Fujichrome Velvia 100F (RVP100F) color slide film using my Contax G2 rangefinder with a 28mm Biogon lens. The film was processed locally in Springfield at ComColor, which back then offered a 2-hour turn-around time for E6 films (processed and mounted).

In 2008, ComColor ceased processing E6 film. At the time, I was told my rolls were ‘the last run.’

Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.

Please spread the word and share Tracking the Light with anyone who may enjoy seeing it!

http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/

The Amherst Railway Society ‘BIG RAILROAD HOBBY SHOW‘ is on this weekend (January 25 and 26, 2014) at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

See: http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com/

Brian Solomon will cover the train show in Tracking the Light.

Enhanced by Zemanta