Midweek photos 3/18/15

Great pictures, Dan.  Makes me want to get out and do some serious railfanning and picture taking.

 

Art

North Shore #1948, an SW1500, in Point Township, heading back to Northumberland, PA, last week after it's Wednesday run to Berwick, PA. Most of the mixed freight are empties with a few gondolas of scrap metal.

Some units on switcher duty at Havlock yard in Lincoln Ne.

Considerable activity during the short time spent at Alliance, Ohio on Monday afternoon 3/16/15. 

 

 

First train was an Eastbound with a former UP SD90MAC trailing NS D9-C40W 9710.

 

 

 

 

The second train was another Eastbound that came off the Fort Wayne Line and went toward Bayard.

 

 

 

 

Then a work train, also off the Fort Wayne Line, headed by two GP38-2 engines came around the bend toward Bayard but went into the Mahoning siding.

 

 

 

While the work train was passing to my left, out on the main line to my right an empty intermodal went toward Cleveland.

 

 

 

 

Some very interesting cargo on the last few cars of the work train.

 

 

 

 

The empty intermodal train was followed by a tank train lead by a total of six engines including high hood engine number 5214.

 

 

 

 

Last photo is the two work train engines being repositioned to the other end of the train on the Mahoning siding.

 

 

Nice stuff!

Thanks for sharing

As many of you know I spent the weekend with the Pere Marquette 1225.  I have several hundered photos that I took over the weekend that will take me several weeks to process. I did post a few on another thread and I wont repost those here.  You can find that thread here.

 

Here is just a few more shots I took.

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn't all steam though.  Sunday me and my son did a little rail-fanning after church and caught this CN train in Mt Clemens.  

 

 

Beautiful work sir!

Old and new at the Pittsburgh Port Authority's South Hills Village Rail Center: PCC car 4001 mounted outside the office the Port Aithority's heritage paint LRV.

NS Erie Heritage Unti 1068 coming through Centralia, IL yesterday.

Berea, Ohio action on a chilly day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LLEX 1210 is being moved Eastbound on NS tracks.  The unit has been stationed at the Avon Lake Ford Assembly Plant.

 

 

 

 

 

The Berea Fd doing building inspections along the CSX tracks.  Probably making sure the buildings are fire proof with all the heavy oil being transported by (smirk).

 

 

 

 

And finally a Coast Guard helicopter flying over the CSX, NS tracks and over the Cleveland Hopkins airport waiting the arrival of Air Force 1's landing.

 

 

Isn't this interesting!

 

 

Great photos everyone.  Thanks for sharing them.

Really like that reflecting steam shot, above.  Looks like the weather is warming and everybody is out getting more shots.  As for me, I've lost about two hours of dark now, and am solidly in the Season of Mud.  Meh.  It's hard to stay inspired.  So, I only have one shot, but there's a story that goes with it!

 

D&I is still running night trains, although they could well flip to their summer schedule soon.  There is a shot I've always wanted to take of a classic farmhouse between the little town of Akron and the tiny village of Chatsworth, Iowa.  It looked liked a good place to catch a s/b train, and not too hard to do.  I've been putting it off for years though.  Looking for a spot to get a shot tonight, I realized I was running out of places and needed something new.  So, I pulled into the driveway of the farmhouse and knocked on the door.  An older couple answered.  I said something to the effect of,  "Howdy.  I'm a total stranger who lives an hour away in another state.  I was wondering if you'd mind if I set up a bunch of big flash in your yard and took a photo of the yellow train when it comes by in a couple of hours?"  They looked at each other, and the man said, "Well, sure.  I don't see why not."  Dang.  Should have asked months ago!  

 

I set up the flash and went back to Hawarden IA for my typical foamer supper--roller dog & a root beer from the gas station.  I got back right at dark.  The train was done with their switching job to the north and was beginning its slow trek towards me.  The couple saw me park, and came out of the house.  "Can we watch?  We won't get in your way."  Wow, I've never had company like that!  I told them sure.  It was fun to hear the train get closer and closer in the dark.  The wind had died down and the clouds had blown off to the east.  The stars were brilliant!  The train came with a mighty roar, I popped the flash, and the man said that was a very interesting experience!  I promised to drop them off a print next time I'm  down that way.  And with that I headed home.

 

It's very rare to get turned down when requesting to take a photo around here.  Usually the people bend over backwards for you.  I'm not sure why I hesitated so long to ask.  As I drove home I got to thinking of all the other cool shots I haven't taken yet.  Maybe I should just go ask, before things change and the opportunity is gone forever?

 

 

Kent in SD

Kent,

 

Another great photo, makes me want to try some night shots someday.  Illuminating the train and the house at the same time required a number of flash units didn't it?

 

Yes, but that number was surprisingly small.  I used four.  They are very powerful monolights though, the type used to light up football fields.  Only set to quarter power here though.  There are two lights aimed at the house (right & left corner,) and two aimed at the train (one to my left, one to my right.)   I use the big flash because they can illuminate a very big area, or throw light really far (at full power.)   The big flash get expensive, even buying used--flash is $350, battery pack $50, trigger $50, 13 ft. lightstand $100.  I have eight of these, but rarely use more than three at a time.

 

There's another way to go that is much cheaper and just as much fun.   The little 4AA flash (such as Nikon SB-25, Young Nuo, Vivitar 283, etc.) can be had for ~$50 each on ebay.  I have eight of the Nikon SB-25.  Add a light weight lightstand such as Raven RS-8 ($30) and a Young Nuo trigger ($25) and you can put together a very capable lighting system for about $300 to $400--less than the price of a medium quality lens.  You can do quite a bit with just three or four of the little 4AA flash, generally shooting ISO 800 and f4.  Here's a couple that used two to four flash.  This isn't hard, but it can be a little time consuming.  The little flash especially don't bother train crews at all--you usually set them 30-40 ft. way anyway.   Email me if you have "advanced" questions.  If you live within a day's drive of southeast South Dakota or Kansas City, you could even catch me some night.

 

 

Kent in SD

 

 

Kent,

 

I appreciate the invitation to join you on a photo expedition but I live in Ohio so it may be a while before I can take you up on the offer.

 

Email sent regarding flash equipment.

 

 

>>They are very powerful monolights though, the type used to light up football fields.  Only set to quarter power here though.  There are two lights aimed at the house (right & left corner,) and two aimed at the train (one to my left, one to my right.)   I use the big flash because they can illuminate a very big area, or throw light really far (at full power.) <<

 

Sorry, but to me these photos look like what they are:  Pictures taken at night with artificial lighting. 

Well, it is kinda hard to take night shots with natural lighting. 

 

There's only the artificial lighting from the spotlight by the depot...

... and "painting" the side of the locomotive with my tiny pocket flashlight.

 

Rusty

I love night photos. You can't really get anywhere near enough light unless you use some sort of artificial lights or sequenced flash units. These were all shot when I was in Huron, SD back in 1980. Used open shutter and four 5B flashbulbs for the outdoor shots. The original slides are much better than these scans.

 

Seems like the guy on the left made a pretty good photo or two using artificial lighting:

 

Rusty

 

 

Odds and ends from my trip cross country in JAN.

Raton station. It was about 30 degrees.....ice all over everything....stood long enough to take photo.....then back to my room!!!

 

Love the mood of this shot.

 Chicago yard. It was 2 below zero and the door at the front of our Amfleet coach had frozen open......cold day!

You can easily take photos at night using only moonlight, of stationary trains of course.  The problem is they come out looking like shots made on an overcast day.  Moonlight is of course nothing more than reflected sunlight.  What flash has done for me is to give  24 hours to chase trains instead of just ~10, so I can do it on my schedule.  Things seem to be a little more relaxed at night too.  I enjoy the quiet, and can hear the low rumble of a heavy train making its way towards me from miles away.  The steadily increasing glow of light miles down the tracks only adds to my excitement.  It's more than a photo, it's an experience.............

 

 

Kent in SD