{"id":5648,"date":"2014-02-14T05:33:03","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T10:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=5648"},"modified":"2014-02-14T08:32:09","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T13:32:09","slug":"daily-post-westward-freight-in-wink-of-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/daily-post-westward-freight-in-wink-of-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Post: Westward Freight in Wink of Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

CSX Q427 Claws Upgrade at Chester, Massachusetts.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For me the old Boston & Albany West end is hallowed ground. This was the first true mountain mainline in the modern sense. The line was surveyed in the mid 1830s and by 1839 trains were working over Washington Summit.<\/p>\n

Over the last 30 years I\u2019ve made countless trips to photograph this line and it remains one of my favorites. Yet, I rarely come up here in the winter.<\/p>\n

On Friday, February 7, 2014, my father and I went up to Huntington to catch Amtrak\u2019s westward Lake Shore Limited, train 449. Not far behind was CSX\u2019s Q427.<\/p>\n

This freight runs daily between Portland, Maine and Selkirk, New York via Ayer and Worcester, Massachusetts. This day it had a pair of General Electric Evolution-Series diesels of the type that have come to characterize modern freight operations on the Boston & Albany route.<\/p>\n

Since the train wasn\u2019t making great speed, we pursued it on Route 20, stopping to make photos at opportune locations. At CP 123 (where the line goes from single track to two-main track) Q427 met an eastward freight holding at the signal. We continued upgrade ahead of the train.<\/p>\n

I remembered that there\u2019s a gap in the hills at Chester which allows for a window of sun on the line that lasts late in the day. So we zipped ahead of the train.<\/p>\n

\"Working<\/a>
Working with my Canon EOS 7D and 200mm lens, I exposed a series of vertical images of CSX Q427 (Portland to Selkirk) as it passed through a window of afternoon sun.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The dappled light on the trees and the dark shadowed hillside beyond made for a dramatic painterly back drop, while tree shadows on the foreground snow minimized the effects of glare and provided texture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Chester, Pop set up his tripod to make a hi-resolution video of the train climbing. I positioned myself with my Canon EOS 7D with a telephoto lens to make use of the window of sun against a dark background.<\/p>\n

As the train grew closer I also exposed more conventional views with my Lumix LX3. The heavy train took more than two minutes to pass.<\/p>\n

\"Lumix<\/a>
Lumix LX3 photo showing the whole scene.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u00a0Tomorrow: step back 30 years with a visit to West Springfield.<\/p>\n

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