{"id":4732,"date":"2013-12-05T05:56:40","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T10:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=4732"},"modified":"2013-12-01T12:09:29","modified_gmt":"2013-12-01T17:09:29","slug":"daily-post-lehigh-valley-211-at-lincoln-park-rochester-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/daily-post-lehigh-valley-211-at-lincoln-park-rochester-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"DAILY POST: Lehigh Valley 211 at Lincoln Park, Rochester, New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Free Film, a Borrowed Camera and a Bit of Luck!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In November 1986, Kodak supplied me with a free roll of TMax 100 black & white film as part of a \u2018care package\u2019 of new products for students in the Photographic Illustration programs at the\u00a0Rochester Institute of Technology .<\/p>\n

\"Alco<\/a>
The combination of Kodak\u2019s recently released T-Max 100 \u2018T\u2019 grain black & white film and a Canon 50mm lens allowed for a very sharp image with exceptionally fine grain and broad tonality. I scanned this 35mm negative with my Epson V500 scanner.
Incidentally, at the left of the image is General Railway Signal\u2019s Rochester plant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The T-Max black & white films were brand new at the time. They were significant because they used a new \u2018T\u2019 grain that featured flat silver halide grains that were supposed to reduce the visual granularity in the film (and lower the film’s silver content).<\/p>\n

On this bright sunny morning, I went trackside in Rochester to expose my free film. I had Kodachrome 25 in my Leica M2, so I borrowed my roommate\u2019s Canon A1 for the film test.<\/p>\n

I photographed a variety of Conrail trains on the former New York Central Water Level Route. I made this image of Rochester & Southern\u2019s Belt Line local crossing the former Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh bridge over Water Level Route at Lincoln Park, west of downtown Rochester. (In 1986, Genesee & Wyoming’s Rochester & Southern assumed operation of the former BR&P 4th Sub-division from CSX’s Baltimore & Ohio.)<\/p>\n

Leading R&S\u2019s local was Alco RS-3m 211 leased from the recently formed Genesee Valley Transportation.<\/p>\n

The locomotive has a long and colorful history. It featured both a large steam generator and dynamic brakes (thus the high short-hood) and was one of only five RS-3s were built this way:\u00a0 four served Western Maryland, while this one went to the Pennsylvania Railroad but later was traded to the Lehigh Valley, becoming its 211. After 1976, Conrail replaced 211\u2019s original Alco-244 diesel with a recycled 12-cylinder EMD 567 engine.<\/p>\n

Since I made this image, the locomotive has been preserved and restored at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum<\/a> in Rush, New York.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This cropped detail gives a hint of the exceptionally fine grain afforded by T-Max 100 film.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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