Working on the Railroad--Never Easy

Brakeman Oiling Engine 463 while the engine takes on water at Cumbres Pass.

My galleries and portfolios if images live here.  Please take a moment and check them out.  Thank you.

Continuing with highlighting images of individuals, usually in their environment and/or working, this is one of my favorites.  Here is the backstory.

One of my favorite subjects in photography is railroads, especially steam engines, steam engines pulling trains and the individuals who make all that happen.  If you have ever been around a steam railroad operation, you will clearly see how dirty the jobs are.

Several years ago, a couple of friends and I took a trip out to New Mexico and Colorado to explore current and past narrow-gauge railroads.  One of my friends is a prolific, well-known author specializing in narrow-gauge railroading.  One of our stops was Chama, New Mexico, the home to the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.  This line was originally constructed by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway in 1880-1881.  It is a 3 ft. gauge, as opposed to a standard gauge railroad of today, in which the tracks are 4 ft. 8 1/2 inches apart.

At the time we were there, the railroad was running a special train in that instead of touristy passenger cars making up the entirety of the train, the first several cars would be period freight cars, which would make the train look authentic to its early times.  This was done for photographic and historical reasons.

We didn't ride the train, but we "chased" it along its tracks between Chama, New Mexico and Antonito, Colorado.  Our goal was to photograph the train in places where only the engines and freight cars were visible, furthering the concept of timeless images.

The image at the top of this post was made on Cumbres Pass where the train stopped for maintenance before proceeding downgrade to Antonito.  A combination of steam and lack of a lack of any wind to move it out of the area created the perception of fog.  I found it delightful!

I always try to put myself in positions to take advantage of unexpected conditions and opportunities for good images.  That takes planning, situational awareness and lots of luck.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook


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