Tag Archives: Wisconsin and Southern Railroad

photography

DAILY POST: Wisconsin & Southern at Avalon.

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August 20, 2011.

 Avalon is at the heart of Arthurian myth. And, as it happens, it’s also on Wisconsin & Southern’s former Milwaukee Road Line between Janesville and Chicago!

No knights in armor here, nor Merlin, nor Lady of the Lake; just a matched set of SD40-2s in clean paint leading a long freight and tall late season grasses blowing gently in the wind.

A few hours earlier I’d met up John Gruber at the Janesville Roundhouse and we spent a pleasant afternoon photographing this freight. We had a fair wait at Avalon before the train came into view.

Exposed with a Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens. ISO 200.
Exposed with a Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens. ISO 200.

This photo is among my favorite from the day. I used a long lens to compress the locomotives while setting the grass in the foreground out of focus. I also made a closer view on Fujichrome film.

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photography

Wisconsin & Southern at Lake Monona, June 18, 2013

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In the last final minutes of the day’s sunlight.

John Gruber and I went over to Madison’s Lake Monona anticipating Wisconsin & Southern’s (WSOR) road freight heading to Janesville.  I’m working against a deadline, so I brought the laptop with me to read, write and edit, while waiting for the train thus making dual use of my time. John said, ‘You’re putting me to shame!’ All he brought was a camera.

After a 40 minute wait, we heard a horn sounding for a crossing. But it wasn’t coming Madison as we expected. This wasn’t the southward train, but the northward run! So 20 minutes from sundown a pair of SD40-2s crawled across the causeway. It was here that Bill Middleton made some iconic photos more than 60 years ago. John remembered, “His first published picture in Trains; it featured the Dakota 400 crossing the bay.”

Wisconsin & Southern at Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin & Southern SD40-2 4010 eases across Lake Monona with a freight for Madison. Exposed with my Canon 7D fitted with 28-135mm lens. ISO 200.
Wisconsin State Capitol building with freight train.
Wisconsin & Southern SD40-2 4010 catches the glint crossing Lake Monona in Madison. Exposed with my Canon 7D fitted with 28-135mm lens. ISO 200.

I exposed a few slides with my Canon EOS 3, and a flurry of digital images with my EOS 7D. Then we drove over to WSOR’s Madison yard, where we found another freight ready to leave. I made a few photos with my Lumix LX-3 in the fading light.

 

Wisconsin & Southern's Madison Terminal. Lumix LX-3 exposed at f3.5 1/13 second.
Wisconsin & Southern’s Madison Terminal. Lumix LX-3 exposed at f3.5 1/13 second.
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