A few moments of low evening sun yesterday made for a classic view of Strasburg Rail Road’s former Pennsylvania Railroad J-Tower.
In addition to this digital photo, I made a single color slide on Velvia 50 using my old F3 with 35mm lens. I’ll be sending that out for processing soon.
Tracking the Light Posts Details on Railroad Photography!
Amtrak Keystone 656 was due eastbound on its way from Harrisburg.
I set up at the old Pennsylvania Railroad freight house, now maintained by Lancaster Chapter NRHS that includes a trackside deck well-suited for watching trains.
I aimed to include this historic building in my composition.
As the train came into view, I exposed a burst of images, then turned to make a going away view and was pleasantly surprised to see the Phase VII painted former Metroliner cab control car at the back of the train.
The 1960s-era Metroliner cars are some of the last vestiges of the Pennsylvania Railroad still on the role in Pennsylvania.
Tracking the Light Examines Railroad Photography!
During midday, Amtrak 42 and 43—the eastward and westward Pennsylvanians—pass Lancaster within a few minutes of each other. Unlike the electric Keystone services these trains are diesel-hauled.
Shelley Lane abuts the railroad and makes for classic location to rollby trains.
I made these views with a 24-70mm lens set to its 24mm wide angle wtih a 1/2000th of second shutter speed as train 43 worked west in early afternoon with a classic P42 Genesis diesel leading.
I think, it would have been neat to stand here 60 years earlier to catch a Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 passing at speed with tuscan red passenger cars in tow.
One of these day’s I hope to time a rolling meet here. So far, I’ve come very close.
Tracking the Light Posts explores railroad photography.
Some photos preserve an instant. Such is the case with this photo that I made of Strasburg 89 at Esbenshade Road. By selecting the smallest aperture (f22), I captured the sunburst effect of the setting sun. Careful attention to the drivers enable me to catch them ‘rods down’ as the engine passed my position. The wafting engine exhaust leads the eye from the locomotive to the setting sun. The juxtoposition of components contributed to this successful composition.
If you time it just right, Lititz Springs Park in Lititz, Pa., can be a nice place to catch a train. At other times it’s a nice place to watch the ducks.
We arrived around noon, just as Norfolk Southern’s H23 local was pulling down from a switching move. The track ends less than a quarter mile east of here on the former Reading Company’s Reading & Columbia line.
Tracking the Light is Brian Solomon’s blog on railroad photography.
This is my first Tracking the Light post since September 11, 2025.
On that day, I learned that my father had passed.
Although, I’ve continued to make photographs, I didn’t have within me the words to post here. I couldn’t write knowing that my dad wouldn’t be reading my words. Since the beginning, he had always read my posts.
I’m hoping more posts will follow.
Tracking the Light is Brian Solomon’s blog on photography.
When I find a winning combination of time and place there’s a certain satisfaction in repeating the exercise and watching my results improve with each new variation.
I’ve made dozens of trips to Columbia, Pa., which is an historically fascinating place with several railroad lines converging upon it.
In daylight, it is visually challenged, and from my experience too often devoid of railroad activity.
In the evening it comes alive.
Finally over the last few weeks, Kris and I have caught trains moving through the Columbia after dark.
A few days ago, I display some successful images of Norfolk Southern on the move.
On Sunday, a full moon made for opportunity. Kris had suggested that we take another turn at Columbia, and we arrived in time to catch H19 running light engine from Lancaster, followed by a 632 loaded coal train.
My view of H19 passing the station was from essentially the same place as where I’d caught the same train a few nights previously. However, I composed my photo to included not just the train and old PRR station, but mural on the wall to the left, plus our car with Kris making a nocturnal video. For me what really adds drama is the moon rising with a cotton candy sky.
Exposed using my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom.
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Upon on our arrival a wisp of smoke lingered; we’d just missed Strasburg’s evening train departing Leaman Place.
I drove to Cherry Hill Road. The angle of the setting sun perfectly illuminated the track between rows of corn.
Number 90 began to accelerate as it approached the grade crossing, and the train passed me as if it were moving in slow motion. I aimed to catch the power of the engine.
I exposed this series of photos using my Nikon Z7-II.
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Sun, fluffy clouds and a blue sky made for nice conditions to roll by Strasburg’s No.90 with the afternoon excursion.
Some scenes are too good to pass up!
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More than 30 years ago, I photographed a trolley bus in San Francisco completely wrapped with advertising for ‘Crystal Pepsi,’ a then-new dye free soda.
It was the first time I recall seeing a wrapped transit vehicle, and thus the novelty of capturing it on film.
Other than a vague allusion to the title, my above story has almost nothing to do with the photos in this post.
As a follow up from Sunday’s TTL: The second train Kris and I saw at Columbia, Pa., on Friday evening was Norfolk Southern’s H19 turn heading west off the branch from Lancaster. Kris recommened the parking lot by the old Pennsylvania Railroad station on Front Street. The station is now an ice cream stand.
At the COLA interlocking, NS H19 had a red-over-red-over-green aspect, ‘Slow Clear’ to pass through the interlocking and enter the Port Road Branch.
In the lead was NS SD40E 6322.
Unlike the Kodachrome slides of the Muni bus, I made these photos digitally at ISO 25,600 which allowed me a 1/60 of second shutter speed. I processed the NEF RAW files using PureRaw to eliminate the granular effects of pixelization and correct for lens defects.
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Friday night Kris suggested we go out exploring to find more freights on the move.
So with my 3Pod tripod and N7-II at the ready, we drove to the Susquehanna River at Columbia, Pa. On the way we heard the Enola-Lancaster turn key up Norfolk Southern’s River Line desk dispatcher. This train was looking for permission to return west to Enola, but needed to hold east of Columbia for a 596 unit coal train to clear the interlocking at Cola.
We had a few minutes to look for suitable locations, and at the last minute I settled on the westward home-signals at COLA on the Port Road (located off River Road in Columbia, Pa.)
The moon was nearly full.
I quickly set up my tripod and made this sequence of images as the loaded 596 coal train glided eastbound. In the lead was NS GE 4870, and similar to the train we saw last week, this had a two unit mid-train DPU and well over 200 cars.
All files exposed in NEF RAW format and converted to DNG format using PureRaw for import into Lightroom for cosmetic adjustment.
As soon as 596 had cleared COLA we repositioned to catch NS H19 coming off the branch from Lancaster. All of this was very exciting! Stay tuned for more photos . . .
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Six years ago, I traveled with the RPSI to Killarney, Co. Kerry behind Great Northern 4-4-0 No. 85.
In the evening the train was stabled in the sidings at Killarney station where I made some photos using my old Lumix LX7.
A beautiful sunset made for a cosmic silhouette. Exposure in these situations is always a challenge. In this case, I exposed for the sky, allowing the train to go dark. Since I used the RAW format, the camera captured plenty of data in the shadow areas that was easily recovered in post processing.
Last night, I re-processed the camera’s RW2 (RAW) file using DxO PureRaw to correct for lens defects and demosiac the file among other improvements. This outputs as a DNG file that I imported into Lightroom for cosmetic adjustment.
Below are two scaled versions of the same image. The top is the output directly from the RW2 without PureRaw or Lightroom changes. The bottom is following conversion and cosmetic adjustment.
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September 5, 2015.
We were driving around Germany’s Mosel Valley looking for vistas with the railroad.
In a vineyard above the village of Hatzenport, we paused to take in this view. About every two hours a pair of Class 151 electrics would come along leading a loaded coal train.
Our timing was good and I made this view of the heavy train snaking through the village using my FujiFilm XT1.
Below are three variations of the same file.
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On occasion I’ll make some heavy adjustments to photo to create a vision, an interpretation, and perhaps something more than just a straight unfettered image of reality.
Working from an RAF RAW file I exposed of the railway bridge and famous Dom in Köln in September 2016, I made series of alterations to compose a fantasy image.
First step was to convert the image to a DNG file using PureRaw. Next I imported the DNG into Adobe Lightroom and made a series of modifications, including some heavy exposure, color, and contrast adjustment to the sky. I then lowered overall contrast, made broad use of the ‘clarity’ slider, and boosted saturation.
Notice all the pad locks, thousands of the them, attached to the bridge in the final result.
While I made some major changes to color, contrast and exposure, I didn’t add any elements to the photo. This is just one image exposed using a FujiFilm XT1.
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Three views from the Köln tram subway exposed on my visit ten years ago.
An uneventful passage during a journey through Germany.
Yet, sometimes this U-bahn finds its way into a dream.
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September 2, 2015—ten years ago—my friends and I crossed the Rhein on foot at Köln, Germany by using the walkway on the massive six-track railway bridge over the river .
From the big bridge, I made this sequence of photos looking up-river featuring an approaching container ship and trams crossing a distance bridge.
Interestingly, 45 years earlier, my father made Kodachrome slides of trams on that distant bridge. At that time both the bridge and the trams were new.
For these photos, I worked with my FujiFilm XT1 fitted with a 18-135mm Fujinon Zoom. I’ve always liked the geometric repetition of shapes in these images.
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Nice light at Amos Herr Park in Landisville.
I wasn’t expecting anything unusual.
I aimed to frame up the eastward Keystone in the gap between the trees.
The train rolled through at speed.
At the back was the elusive 9635 wearing new Phase VII paint!
I made a hastily series of photos as this newly painted relic rolled by!
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As the days get shorter, the window of light is closing on Bird-in-Hand as a choice afternoon/evening location.
Kris and I had gone for ice cream in Leola, and on our way home we diverted to Bird-in-Hand to roll by Amtrak Keystone 656, where I’d envisioned a trailing view of the train.
After a remarkably short wait, the rails began to sing. I gazed west in anticipation and spotted . . . a blue locomotive in the lead!
It was Amtrak ACS-64 621 advertising Crayola Crayons! (Again).
I wasn’t expecting that! You never know what surprise will come around the bend.
I’d set my Nikon Z7-II for a 1/2500th of second, and I needed the shutter speed to stop the action.
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I know its been lurking out there for a few weeks. And I thought a bit of patience might reward me with a prize.
Send to me Amtrak 9635!
Here’s the back story: Amtrak had painted former Pennsylvania Railroad Metroliner cab control car 9635 in the latest Phase VII paint, and I find it fascinating that one of the oldest active cars in the fleet received the newest paint. It reminds me of when Conrail painted GG1 4800, built in 1934, in Conrail blue (after briefly dressing it in bi-centennial paint). I believe it was the only GG1 to receive Conrail blue paint. In 1981, I saw it at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (and photographed it on black & white film). As a result, I was eager to see 9635 in its fresh dress. (Just in case something happens.)
A few weeks ago my friend Dan Cupper caught it near Harrisburg, and I’ve been hoping to see it ever since.
Tuesday evening, I had about an hour and half free, and I intercepted four Keystones: two west and two east. I made the most of each but no 9635.
Not a problem, I still made the most of each passing train. But the quest continues!
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Kris suggested we make a foray to look for a freight train. So, we were driving around in the darkness near Columbia. During our last few visits to the Port Road Branch we’ve found Norfolk Southern trains on the move between 9:30 and 10:30pm.
I investigated a few places to make night photos near Marietta. Not one to my liking. And then I thought I heard a distant whistle.
Sometimes its best to go with what you know. So we drove back to the intermediate signals at Washington Boro, Pa. These offer a sense of place, provide added railroad interest, and give us a clear signal (literally and metaphorically) that a train is coming.
“Yellow-over-Green”—Approach Medium. Our train was lined.
I set up my 3Pod tripod and made a few test photos. Off in the distance I could hear the roar of heavy freight cars rolling along the Susquehanna.
For almost 20 minutes we listened to the train gradually getting closer. Sometimes there was a whistle for a crossing, but mostly just the clattering of heavy freight cars. I knew this was going to be a huge train.
Finally, the headlights came into view. The headend roared by the signals at about 20mph. It was a symbol 594 (of the 25th), a Natural Resources (former Consol Energy) Bailey Mine to Baltimore unit coal train. I counted more than 100 cars, and then a two unit DPU, which included the Virginian heritage unit in the tradtional navy and yellow paint. By the time the last coal car cleared, I’d counted a total of 212 cars!
These photos were made with my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom. Iso set to 25000. NEF RAW files were processed using PureRaw to demosiac and correct for lens defect and finally create a DNG file. I then processed this file using Lightroom to lighten shadows, correct color balance, and a variety of other small adjustments.
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On this day in 2017, I photographed Irish Rail 074, wearing the black & silver freight livery, leading a down IWT Liner from Dublin’s North Wall.
This view is on the short stretch Irish Rail quad track near Stacumni Bridge on the the Cork Line. The accepted spelling of this classic location varies an it is often spelled as ‘Stacumny’ in modern media.
I was working with my FujiFilm XT1 fitted with a Fujinon 90mm prime telephoto.
Recently, I converted the original RAF RAW file into DNG format using PureRaw and made a series of small adjustements in Lightroom to improve the appearance of the photo. [Scaled and compressed for internet presentation.]
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A little telephoto once in a while is fun.
Too much telephoto all the time tends to tire.
I went through a phase in the mid-1990s when I had a Nikon N90s and a Nikkor AF 80-200mm, that made telephoto views too easy. Sometimes looking back at that period, I wished I’d backed off a bit more often.
These days my telephoto use is descretionary and selective.
I had only a few minutes to frame up a photograph at the curve at the west end of gap. This place cries out for a telephoto, so I made this view with my Z7-II with 70-200mm zoom set at its maximum focal length (200mm).
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I made this time exposure of the signals at Washington Boro on Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch displaying ‘approach’ aspects.
I’ve included two versions, both from the original NEF RAW file.
The top image is scaled but otherwise without editing or alteration.
By contrast the bottom image was converted from the original NEF RAW file into a DNG file using DxO Pure Raw software (to reduce pixelization, vignetting and produce an image with greater clarity). After conversion, I imported the DNG file into Lightroom and made a host of cosmetic corrections aimed at improve the images.
My challenge here is in presentation. On my screen I see hundreds of tiny points of light. Unfortunately, the Word Press blogging platform compresses my files, which is these situations suppresses the cosmic effect of the stary sky.
Tracking the Light Works Under the Stars!
Not a typo.
Friday evening, Seamus-the-Dog, Kris, and I scoped out a view looking across fields of soy plants off of Esbenshade Road to catch Strasburg Rail Road’s returning 6pm excursion.
I made these views using my 70-200mm Nikon Z-Series telephoto zoom fitted to my Z6 mirrorless camera.
The light was perfect and the angle just to my liking.
While not a bad sequence of images, it’s only 95 percent in my book.
What’s wrong? In the process of framing the image to get the foreground and background just right, I wasn’t able to pose the locomotive ‘rods down’. I guest that’s just a ‘fail.’ We’ll have to try again sometime.
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Saturday night, Kris again suggested we head out to find a freight train on the move.
Since we scored a loaded coal train on Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch at Washington Boro, Pa. last week, I thought that would be a good place to start. As we arrived at the intersection of Rt999 and Water Street, I heard a whistle. We could see a distant headlight.
“Westbound!” Now that was good timing.
We drove west on Water Street toward Columbia, staying a good distance ahead of the train.
We pulled up near old Cola tower, where I had enought time to set the Nikon Z7-II to ‘M’ (manual), attach it to the tripod, level out the camera and frame up the scene, while setting the sensitivity to ISO4000 and adjusting the shutter speed.
Then the headlight came into view. It was a Norfolk Southern tank train, possibly an empty ethanol move? Kris counted 93 cars.
I made a sequence of images with the camera set at f4.5.
This selection was processed using DxO PureRaw to eliminate the effects of lens vignetting and reduce pixelization from the high ISO setting.
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I’m remided of the famous painting showing the race between Pennsylvania Railroad E6s Atlantic 460 and a mail plane, both carrying newsreels of Lindburg’s famous transatlantic flight.
Yesterday Kris, Seamus-the-Dog and I waited at Esbenshade Road for the Friday evening departure from Strasburg. I was positioned on the north side of the crossing. As the locomotive came into view working across the fields of soybean and corn, I spotted a small aircraft flying alongside the train.
Time waits for no one, and I had only moments to compose a photo of the race.
In 1927, the E6s Atlantic, a famously poweful and fast machine, made the best of the plane. Not so at Esbenshade. The buzzing light aircraft gain altitude and whizzed ahead of the plodding excursion.
I made these photos using my Nikon Z-series mirrorless cameras.
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Watching the progress of eastward and westward Keystone trains on the tracker, we opted to visit Christiana, Pa., to catch both moves.
Train 651 from Philadelphia kept losing time, so it was more than ten minutes between the passage of the two trains.
This gave me ample time to set up between shots.
Low afternoon sun provided opportunies for cross-lighting as we edge into autumn.
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On Friday August 8th, 2025, Kris, Seamus and I were on one of our evening drives.
It had been just over a year since I lost my old notebook. My finally entry had been on departing Downington on Amtrak’s eastward Keystone as we traveled toward Philadelphia. I’d noted the passenger count. I only noticed its absence long after our arrival in Philadelphia.
The day it went missing, I wrote to Amtrak, filled out a lost item form, and ultimately received an automated response that my ‘item’ was not located and the case was closed. To this day, what became of my notebook remains a mystery. I really hope that it one day makes its way back, as the notebook itself was a gift from Kris during our last trip to Ireland.
So, back to August 8, 2025; we paused at Amtrak/SEPTA’s Downingtown station just as eastward Keystone No. 658 was coming to a stop. I leapt into action and made these photos with my Nikon Z7-II.
As the train glided away, I sort of hoped that my missing notebook would magically materialize out of the ether.
Not a chance.
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August 20, 2016: Pan Am Railways operated the company office car train on the Fitchburg Line west toward Mechanicville, N.Y.
I made this view of the train passing through the crossovers at CP-AY in Ayer, Mass., before following the train west.
Yesterday, I reprocessed the original FujiFilm RAF RAW file using DxO PureRaw to see how this modern software could improve the image.
Below are some examples of the orignal file (scaled and saved as JPG) and after conversion to a DNG file.
The last image-pair is an adjusted variation of the DNG file intended to correct for exposure, contrast and color, while applying digital sharpening. Each photo is described in the captions.
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Yesterday, Kris and I went to see the new film Freakier Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, and we really enjoyed the story.
One of the scenes in the film features the First Street Bridge with a Los Angeles Metrorail Gold Line lightrail train, and I thought I’d review a few photos that I made there nine years ago using my old FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm lens.
To improve on the original Fuji RAF RAW files, I processed them using PureRAW to convert them to DNG format. Among other things, this corrects for lens imperfections and re-interprets the digital data that improves the appearance of the image.
Below are some examples: direct JPG conversions from the RAF files on top with the PureRaw conversions to DNG below. Each image is captioned appropriately.
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With fading dusk in the western sky and light levels falling fast, I bumped the sensativity of my N7-II to ISO 16000.
Amtrak Keystone 653 was due and the curves at Gap, Pa., gave me both a light and speed advantage. The glimmer of color in the sky provided enough of a glow to quelle the inky blackness of night while adding just a little contrast and texture to the shadows, and a nearby street lamp threw a little light on the foreground. The curve itself has a slow order that results in Amtrak trains slowing to a more manageable speed.
As 653 came into view, I made a series of pan photos. I’ve presented the best two here. These required conversion to DNG format using PureRaw, followed by adjustments to shadows and highlights in Lightroom.
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Last night Kris suggested we drive around to find a train on the move, so we went over to Washington Boro, Pa., on Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch to check the signals.
We were in luck! And as soon as I saw that these had been cleared for an eastward move, I set up my 3Pod tripod.
Manipulating the camera in the inky darkness is easier said than done. As the train whistle announced its approach, I struggled to find my desired setting. I couldn’t see the dial and I was fighting with the camera to get the shutter speed, ISO, and lens settings where I wanted them.
Ultimately, I selected a default setting where the camera automatically set the ISO to 25,600 and allowed me to adjust the aperature.
All very well, but unable to see what I was doing led me to select some ‘random’ mode in the darkness that only exposed photos as JPG, rather than my usual setting that exposes both JPG and NEF (RAW) files simultaneously.
As the coal cars rolled by at speed on continuous welded rail, I finally got the camera into ‘M’ (manual mode), which enabled me to set the ISO to 200, the shutter speed to 90 seconds, and the aperture to f4. Unfortunately the White Balance was set to a daylight setting rather than an automatic, so I needed to fix the White Balance in post-processing.
It was pretty cool to finally catch a train here in darkness.
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It’s that time of year again. The setting sun is at a nice angle for reflective glint at Jefferson Drive in Lancaster, Pa. With the smoke from Canadian wildfires continuing to tint the setting sun, I thought I’d try a 200mm view of Amtrak Keystone 658 on its eastward journey.
In post processing, I made a variety of minor adjustments to shadows, highlights, saturation and contrast to improve the overall appearance of the photo.
Below are two images in my sequence. Both received the same adjustments.
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What is in a title?
My hope is that it—the title— will capture your curiosity so that you will open the post and view the photo. Sometimes, I opt for the elusive, the subtle, or the vague. Other times, I simply spell it out.
On rare occasion, I’ll imply a contest.
This is not one of the latter.
There is no prize but the photo itself.
I exposed this image on a visit to the ÖBB bahnhof at Selzthal, Austria on January 7, 2012.
Dusk had fallen, and the snow was falling too.
My Lumix LX3 proved the perfect tool to capture the ‘blue hour’ (I’heure bleue in French; and no, neither jazz nor perfume)—that elusive moment between day and night, which is perhaps best experienced in falling snow in a distant nation far from worries present and past.
Tracking the Light is about Photography
Lately, it’s been really hot, so I thought it would be nice to look back to a day-almost 20 years ago-when I photographed a DB InterCity Express train on a frosty cold January morning at Jenbach, Austria.
Denis McCabe and I had traveled on this train from Innsburck. Upon stopping at Jenbach, I jumped out and walked to the headend to expose this Fujichrome slide using my Contax G2 rangefinder.
Later, we changed to a Zillertalbahn narrow gauge local and traveled through the hoar frost up the Ziller Valley.
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