{"id":2726,"date":"2013-06-08T07:10:19","date_gmt":"2013-06-08T11:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=2726"},"modified":"2013-06-06T23:15:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T03:15:02","slug":"pelham-bay-park-december-1982","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/pelham-bay-park-december-1982\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelham Bay Park, December 1982."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Amtrak AEM7 Crosses The Hutchinson River<\/a> in The Bronx<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Coop<\/a>
Amtrak’s Bascule drawbridge over the Hutchinson River in December 1982. Leica 3A with 50mm Summitar Lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Between 1973 and 1985, my paternal grandparents lived at Co-op City<\/a> in The Bronx, New York City<\/a>. They had a great view of Amtrak\u2019s former New Haven Railroad line from New Rochelle to the Hell Gate Bridge<\/a>, which carried all of Amtrak\u2019s Boston-New York trains. Until about 1980, this route also hosted infrequent freights.<\/p>\n

When I was younger, I’d keenly watch for trains from my grandparents 19th<\/sup> floor terrace, all the while hoping to see Amtrak\u2019s aged former Pennsylvania GG1<\/a> electrics. By 1982, all of Amtrak\u2019s GG1s had been retired.<\/p>\n

I made this morning view of a Penn-Station bound Amtrak train approaching the bascule drawbridge over the Hutchinson River led by an AEM7 electric. The scene itself wasn\u2019t remarkable at the time, but I\u2019m glad I made the effort to put it on film. It fascinates me now and brings me back to another time. Although details, such as how to effectively work with backlighting eluded me, I managed to get my exposure pretty close anyway.<\/p>\n

I was 16 at the time. I used my Leica 3A with f2.0 50mm Summitar\u2014the camera I carried with me everywhere. A couple of years ago, I located some of my long-lost early negatives and made a project of scanning them. The miracle of modern scanning technology coupled with post-processing allowed me to finally make something of photos I\u2019d made before I was technically competent to make decent prints.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post; “the view from grandma’s terrace.”<\/p>\n

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