{"id":11494,"date":"2015-06-29T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T10:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=11494"},"modified":"2015-06-29T10:33:07","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T14:33:07","slug":"middlefield-june-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/middlefield-june-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Middlefield, June 2015."},"content":{"rendered":"

Years ago, the former Boston & Albany \u2018West End\u2019 was among my favorite places to photograph. The cosmic qualities of the railroad\u2019s east slope of Washington Hill seemed to offer unlimited vantage points.<\/p>\n

This can be a serene place, especially in the early morning.<\/p>\n

\"B&A's<\/a>
B&A’s Washington Hill grade (1212 line relocation) near milepost 130.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On one of the longest days of the year, I made my way trackside, and revisited places that I haven\u2019t been to in several years.<\/p>\n

At Middlefield, I met fellow railroad photographer Don Pasquarelli and we compared experiences.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking east.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"In<\/a>
In the pre-dawn glow, I watched CSX Q293 change crews at Palmer. More than two hours later it was climbing toward Washington Summit. Fujifilm X-T1 photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These days, the old B&A route is not as busy as I recalled it from Conrail days in the 1990s. Back then a traffic swell had the railroad alive with trains in the morning. Based on my old photo notes, I\u2019d expect to see as many as ten trains between dawn and lunch time.<\/p>\n

By contrast, on this June morning we saw five moves over the railroad, which was two more than I expected. But today\u2019s trains are only part of the story. For me, the B&A West End is now more about the place than about what passes through it.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The sound of the lead SD70MAC’s dynamic brakes preceded the passage of CSX Q022 by several minutes. Exposed with my Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"On<\/a>
On the westend it helps to know your locations. Over the years I’ve learned that in the long days of summer, there’s nice light on this tangent in the morning. It also helps to have goat-like agility to get into position ahead of the train.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Hours<\/a>
Hours pass between trains. Shortly before the noon-hour, CSX Q-264 came east with more than a mile of autoracks in tow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"CSX_Q264_traling_at_Middlefield_DSCF0916\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Years ago, the former Boston & Albany \u2018West End\u2019 was among my favorite places to photograph. The cosmic qualities of the railroad\u2019s east slope of Washington Hill seemed to offer unlimited vantage points. This can be a serene place, especially in the early morning. On one of the longest days of the year, I made … Continue reading Middlefield, June 2015.<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[10],"tags":[41,35,783],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/CSX_Q293_wb_at_mp130_near_Middlefield_MA_tele_DSCF0839.jpg?fit=740%2C493","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-2Zo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11494"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11494"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11604,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11494\/revisions\/11604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}