Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Just Thought I Would Throw Up A Few Recent Railroad Images Made With My Fujifilm X-T2

Southbound CSX freight train at the signals at the north end of Collier Yard, in Petersburg, VA (click to enlarge)
Slow moving and in direct autumn sun.
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 33mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/11; ISO 200
Quite a few of the regular readers of this blog are railroad aficionados.  Its been a while since I have posted any railroad images so I thought I would throw up a few I made from a short photographic outing from last Saturday using my Fujifilm X-T2.  I was fortunate to see several trains, both freight and passenger, and photographed each one as it passed.  If you don't care for railroads, please bear with me.  Railroads and trains are a bit special for me.  If you want to know why, read on.  But I'll be back to other types of photography next post.

 I've been involved with railroads since I was about 8-10 years old.  I grew up on a small town where we were fortunate to have three railroads running through our city.  The largest was the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR).  Then there was the Erie-Lackawanna (E-L) Railroad and finally, the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P and LE).  Big, impressive, powerful, noisy; a dream for a kid in the 1950s!  

 Also, like most kids my age and at that time, I had a model railroad at home.  I still have it packed away.  A yellow Union Pacific locomotive with several freight cars from Lionel.
Same RR, same location, only northbound (click to enlarge)
Fast moving and backlit; always a challenge.
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 53mm; 1/600th sec. @ f/8; ISO 800
Back then, it was not unusual for my friends and I to hang around the E-L railroad yard down near the river.  We were fascinated with the comings and goings in switch yard.  In fact, on occasion, an engineer of a switch engine would invite us up into the engine with him and we would ride for a few hours as he went about his business of moving railroad cars around.  True.  As the switch yard had an locomotive repair facility, at the edge of the yard there were always piles of old engine parts.  Of course, we would scavenge things and drag them home.  I remember bringing old locomotive valves home and my mother vehemently objecting to leaving them in the kitchen!  

 Additionally, the daily southbound E-L passenger train would sometimes stop at the north end of the yard and wait for a northbound freight train to clear the downtown so it could proceed to the passenger station.  I can remember, on several occasions, being invited up into an EMD E-unit locomotive.  The engineer would teach us what all the controls did and how he ran the train.  We were mesmerized by all of this.
Again, same location.  Amtrak Carolinian southbound (click to enlarge)
About 79 mph and in direct sun.
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 41mm; 1/2000th sec. @ f/8; ISO 800
In reference to the Pennsylvania Railroad, the tracks had about a 1% grade near our home so the trains slowed considerably as they headed north.  Crazy kids that we were, we actually hopped the trains and rode for a mile or two before stepping off and walking back toward our neighborhood.  (Since the junior high school was downtown and we lived a couple of miles north, we would sometimes hop trains on the way home from school as well!)  As I said, crazy but that was normal activity for us "back in the day."  It was a different time, parents weren't so "sue happy" if something went wrong and kids would be out all day with their parents really having no idea where they were or what they were doing.  Totally different now.  
Same location.  This was two locomotives and two box cars.  Slow moving with a "Lookout."
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 55mm; 1/800th sec. @ f/11; ISO 400
One time, when the conductor in a caboose of a stopped PRR train spotted us and suspected we were going to try to hop the train, he called us over.  We thought we were in BIG trouble!  But, he actually taught us how to properly and safely get on and off a moving train.  Told us never to step on the rail, but step over the rail to avoid slipping on the smooth steel.  I clearly remember him saying that he couldn't stop us but if we were determined to hop trains, he at least wanted us to know how to be as safe as possible!
The Norfolk Southern RR tracks pass under the very north end of Collier Yard.  When sitting in just the right place,
one can see in all four directions to spot oncoming trains. This was an eastbound coal train heading to Norfolk.  There
the coal will be dumped into ships and transported overseas. The train was moving about 40 mph. (click to enlarge)
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 39mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/8; ISO 400
Imagine any of these activities happening today.  Never in a million years.  But my friends and I grew up around the railroad and we fell in love with all things trains and railroads, which remains with me to this very day.  How couldn't we with those types of experiences?  It was a wonderful time to be a kid.
On Norfolk Southern's mainline at Ivor, Virginia.  Terribly backlit.  Train was moving about 50 mph (click to enlarge)
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 27mm; 1/2000th sec. @ f/8; ISO 800
Often times even today, you can find me just sitting by the tracks in my car waiting for a train to pass.  There is a certain familiarity and comfort doing that.  Meditative.  Goes back to my childhood.  When a train does pass, I still waive to the engineer and conductor!  Sometimes it is okay to act like a kid, even in your mid-60s—and forever!
This was my last image of the day.  Amtrak's Palmetto northbound on the CSX mainline in Dinwiddie County, Virginia
at the Butler Branch Road crossing.  The train was traveling about 79 mph and was 3/4 backlit. (click to enlarge)
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 17mm; 1/2000th sec. @ f/8; ISO 800
I call these outings "Shutter Therapy."  Sometimes it just feels good to get out with my camera, wander and delve into my childhood memories through photography.  It was a good day in my book!

 Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

 Dennis A. Mook 

 All content on this blog is © 2013-2017 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.
at

7 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 25, 2017 at 2:45 PM

    Good background story Dennis! It reminds me of my childhood. Though we didn't have a rail yard, we also had 3 lines running through town and still do today (CSX, Norfolk Southern and Indiana-Ohio). I remember when they would have to stop, blocking us from walking to school, and parents freaking out when we would crawl underneath. I also remember some cold pizza from getting stuck at a crossing.

    There were also rumors/stories that during his year-long robbery campaign, John Dillinger avoided my town's banks because you could not, and still cannot leave the downtown without crossing a railroad track.

    Regards, Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Wandering LensmanOctober 25, 2017 at 4:16 PM

      Jim, funny you should mention Dillinger. He visited my hometown in western PA several times and, as the story goes, would not rob a bank because of tracks at both ends of town. However, he did rob a bank in the town next to ours and took a young bank employee hostage. That bank employee was the father of one of my friends in high school. Additionally, I had an uncle that was somewhat of a scalawag and he used to tell us boys stories when we were kids, of his card playing with Dillinger and other escapades with Dillinger when he was in the area. Knowing my uncle, I have every reasons to believe the stories were true!

      Thanks for the comment and the reminder.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousOctober 26, 2017 at 8:35 PM

      Hi Dennis
      Ah! Lionel train set! Still have my Lionel train set from either 1965 or 66. In the original box with all original parts with the exception of one piece of wire that runs from the generator to the track. Take it down ever few years and runs as well as the Christmas morning I received it. Always taken care of by me and my most prized procession from my childhood.
      Thanks for the post.
      Blaine

      Delete
    3. The Wandering LensmanOctober 26, 2017 at 10:08 PM

      Blaine, sometimes it’s nice to revisit those items that gave us so much pleasure when we were children! Thanks for the comment.

      Delete
    4. AnonymousOctober 27, 2017 at 11:17 AM

      Dennis, I like it. I saw a story that his robbery "mentor" was from my hometown of Leipsic, Ohio, and they occasionally hid out in a house outside the town, or at the town hotel.

      Who knew you and I would have a Dillinger connection, such as it is?
      Regards, Jim

      Delete
  2. rogerbOctober 26, 2017 at 4:27 PM

    Hi Dennis:
    I always enjoy your posts.
    What focus method on the XT2 are you using for the fast moving trains?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Wandering LensmanOctober 26, 2017 at 8:32 PM

      Roger, from many years of missing the precise photo I wanted to capture by trying to take multiple images using a motor drive, and sometimes with two cameras on side-by-side tripods in the old film days, now I just compose, flip the camera to manual focus, focus on the spot where I want the locomotive to be in the composition, then just wait for the train. I may have only one image, but it is sharp and exactly the image I had wanted.

      Delete