Tag Archives: Western New York & Pennsylvania

Tracking the Light’s Classic Chrome Archive: Alcos on Keating Summit

In February 2010, I was traveling with Chris Guss and Pat Yough when I exposed this Fujichrome slide of Western New York & Pennsylvania’s Driftwood Turn (known as ‘the DFT’) on its northward ascent of the former Pennsylvania Railroad grade over Keating Summit.

Alco diesels in Run-8! Exposed on Fujichrome using a Canon EOS-3 with 28mm lens. February 6, 2010.
Alco diesels in Run-8! Exposed on Fujichrome using a Canon EOS-3 with 28mm lens. February 6, 2010.

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Locomotive Geometry: Alco C-430

Finding an interesting locomotive is always an opportunity for photography. Finding a rare locomotive in crisp October sunshine is a great opportunity!

In October 2008, Pat Yough, Tim Doherty and I found Western New York & Pennsylvania Alco C-430 number 430 at the Olean Yard in Allegany, New York.

I think this locomotive has had more owners than I’ve had automobiles. It began as one of ten C-430s on New York Central, giving that railroad more of this rare model than all the other buyers of the type put together.

The C-430 is an attractive machine and I used the sunshine to good advantage. Here are a few of the studies I made of 430 on that bright morning.

Exposed on Fujichrome with a Canon EOS-3 with 100-400mm zoom lens.
Exposed on Fujichrome with a Canon EOS-3 with 100-400mm zoom lens.
WNY&PA_430_Allegheny_Yard_Olean_NY_11Oct2008_Brian_Solomon_193240
430 retains its classification lamps, a vestige of train-order rules that no longer have relevance to operations.

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WNY&PA_430_Allegheny_Yard_Olean_NY_11Oct2008_Brian_Solomon_193239

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Former Erie Railroad Mainline, West of Union City, Pennsylvania, October 8, 2009

Four Years Ago Today.

Western New York & Pennsylvania Alco diesels.
I exposed this image after sunrise just west of Union City, Pennsylvania. I was working with a pair of Canon EOS-3s. This photo was made with the EOS-3  loaded with Fujichrome Velvia 100 and fitted with a 24mm lens.

On the morning of October 8, 2009, I made a project of photographing Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad’s westward freight HNME (Hornell to Meadville) that was working along the former Erie Railroad mainline in northwestern Pennsylvania.

I started before dawn near Niobe Junction and followed the train to its terminus at the former Erie yard in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

Speed restrictions on the line made for ample opportunities to photograph the freight as the sun brightened the sky.

See Tracking the Light post from December 11, 2012, Erie October Morning, for more images of this train exposed on October 8, 2009.

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See my Dublin Page for images of Dublin’s Open House Event in October 2013.

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Erie October Morning

Western New York & Pennsylvania HNME growls westward toward Columbus, Pennsylvania, shortly before sunrise on October 8, 2009. This was one of several locations where Erie maintained separate alignments for eastward and westward tracks. Conrail abandoned one of the lines in the 1980s, and today only one track remains.

Since the mid-1980s, I’ve made a project out of the former Erie Railroad. (See posts:  Curiously Seeking Erie Semaphores and Erie Semaphores Revisited). For more than two decades, I’ve examined the old Erie route on film, exploring its lines across its old network. While the Erie has been gone for more than half a century, the context of this historic property lends continuity to my photography, despite a variety of different modern operators. In addition to photos of moving trains, I’ve documented structures, bridges, as well as both active and abandoned lines. I spent a week in October 2009 photographing along the Erie between Hornell, New York, and central Ohio. On the morning of October 8, 2009, I followed Western New York & Pennsylvania’s westward freight HNME (Hornell to Meadville) from Niobe Junction to its terminus at the former Erie yard in Meadville, Pennsylvania. It passed Niobe Junction at 6:45 am, and my first photos that day were made in the early twilight. Speed restrictions on the line made for ample opportunities to photograph the freight as the sun brightened the sky. Changeable October conditions lent for a cosmic mix of low light and ground fog. Working with my Canon EOS 3s and color slide film I produced a variety of satisfying images that fit in well with my greater body of Erie photography.

Alco's in the fog.
At 8:14 am, Western New York & Pennsylvania M-636 637 (a former Quebec Cartier locomotive) and C-430 430 lead 17 cars west of Union City, Pennsylvania. Ground fog make for a stunning morning silhouette. This image appeared on page 70 of my book Vintage Diesel Power published by Voyageur Press in 2010.

Visit: Voyageur Press/Quayside Publishing for my latest railway books.