{"id":43309,"date":"2026-01-08T06:17:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T11:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=43309"},"modified":"2026-01-08T07:48:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:48:04","slug":"peachbottom-by-the-light-of-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/peachbottom-by-the-light-of-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Peach Bottom by the Light of the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kris suggested we take an evening drive to see if we could find a freight on the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent months, we’ve explored Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch, and based on the times we’ve caught eastward trains on the move, I thought Peach Bottom, Pa., might offer a good place to roll a train by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moon was nearly full and relatively high in the sky when we arrived. I parked near the public boat launch near the Susquehanna River, shut the car off, and listened . . . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Do you hear that? We have a freight coming!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I set up my 3Pod tripod and attached my Nikon Z6-III with 1.4 50mm and made a few test photos as the distant roar became louder and more pronounced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Test photo: Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch as seen by moonlight along the eastern shore of the Susquehanna River at Peachbottom. Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 lens, ISO 100.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a few minutes, we saw the headlight of the approaching train. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My camera was set at f1.4, at 1\/60th of second with ISO64000, and I made some trailing views. This appeared to be one of the Consol Energy unit coal trains and featured a mid-train DPU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I focused on the grade crossing to make a photo of a former Conrail coal hopper. I think that it’s pretty neat that after all these years, Conrail-painted hoppers survive in service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got home, I processed the NEF RAW files with DxO PureRaw to remove noise and correct lens defects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Norfolk Southern unit coal train on Port Road Branch by the light of the moon; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 lens, 1\/60th of a second, ISO 64,000, NEF Raw file processed using PureRaw.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Norfolk Southern unit coal train on Port Road Branch by the light of the moon; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 lens, 4 seconds, ISO 400, NEF Raw file processed using PureRaw.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Norfolk Southern unit coal train passing Peachbottom on the Port Road Branch; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 lens, 1\/80th of a second, ISO 64,000, NEF Raw file processed using PureRaw.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tracking the Light explores railroad night photography!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Do you hear that? We have a freight coming!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","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":[6060,10,6108,48],"tags":[5423,8449,5383,8484],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260103-NS_coal_train_at_night_Peachbottom_PA_DSC_0633.jpg?fit=2048%2C1204","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-bgx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43309"}],"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=43309"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43347,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43309\/revisions\/43347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}