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| Yardmaster’s office and view, Thurmond, WVA (click to enlarge) Nikon D700; 24-70mm f/2.8 lens @ 28mm; various shutter speeds @ f/11; ISO 200 (4 merged images) |
There was a town along the banks of the New River in West Virginia by the name of Thurmond. In the late years of the 19th century and for the first third of the 20th century, it was a boom town with huge amounts of revenue being generated from nearby coal mines. Fifteen trains a day came through Thurmond and its banks, it was said, were the wealthiest in all of West Virginia. But the good times didn't last.
With the advent of diesel locomotives, phasing out of coal fired steam locomotives, less coal being locally mined and the Great Depression of the 1930s, Thurmond's days were numbered. Eventually, the town collapsed, the businesses all closed and the people moved away. Thurmond, for all intents and purposes, became a ghost town.
The National Park Service, understanding the cultural and historic significance of this once vibrant town, took over the railroad station, refurbished it into a visitor's center and also now about twenty other buildings within what's left of Thurmond. The image at the top of this post was made, handheld, from a number of bracketed images from inside the old railroad station looking into what was the main street (right up against the tracks on the right and in front of the brick building) of the abandoned 'downtown' area.
Being a railroad aficionado I had the pleasure of visiting Thurmond a few times over the past decades. It isn't easy to reach. There is one way in and one way out over a narrow paved road through the West Virginia hollows (I think there may also be a dirt or gravel road that goes out the opposite side of the town but unsure where or how far it goes?) The road follows a creek with some nice waterfalls for those who like landscape photography. But, to me, it is worth the trip. On my first trip there, I was photographing with my Pentax 6X7 gear and later trips with Nikon film and digital gear. The place seems more fitting for black and white photography than color and I used both in the film days.
If you are interested, here is the National Park Service website page about Thurmond. The article is not long and it is worth the read of you have interest in history or railroads.
Here are some additional images I made in Thurmond during my trips there.
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| The building was used to keep one of the little 'speeders,' a hand pumped small vehicle to ferry a couple of maintenance workers to nearby areas of the tracks. Steam locomotives would pull up under the water spout to take on water so it could continue its journey. The large cement structure you see in a couple of the images was the coaling tower where coal was stored to refuel the steam locomotives. (click to enlarge) Pentax 6X7; 90mm f/2.8 lens; Tri-X film; Exposure not recorded |
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| On this visit the post office was still open. The Postmaster posed for me. (click to enlarge) Pentax 6X7; 90mm f/2.8 lens; Tri-X film; Exposure not recorded |
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| "Downtown" Thurmond, West Virginia. (click to enlarge) Same camera, lens and film as above. |
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| The main street of Thurmond. (click to enlarge) Same camera, lens and film as above. |
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| Period baggage in the station museum. (click to enlarge) Nikon D700; 24-70mm f/2.8 lens @ 60mm; 0.8 sec. @ f/8; ISO 200 |
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| An early 1980s photo of a Chessie System (predecessor of the now CSX Railroad) coal train running through Thurmond. (click to enlarge) Nikon film camera; Kodachrome 64 film (poor digital scan of the slide, unfortunately) |
These small, almost completely abandoned towns around America are really fascinating. If you can find people who still live in the area, pick their brains for history, stories and facts about what's left. I find it very interesting.
Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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Read the caption again and answered my own question. What software did you use to merge and exposure spread for the 4 images?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the question. ISO was 200. Aperture was a constant f/11. Shutter speed for the outside was 1/200th sec. The shutter speed for the interior was 1/3 sec. The two other exposures were 1/50th sec. and 1/13th sec. I merged them in Lightroom Classic and then edited the final image as I normally would. The exposures are basically two stops apart. I think I could have done the same thing with three exposures but I used four to be safe. Also, the interior image I used was slightly underexposed on purpose. if I would have used a brighter interior exposure, the huge difference between the inside and the bright light outside would have caused flare around the window frame which would bleed over into the interior. Slight under exposure of the brightest interior frame kept the blooming/flare around the window’s edge to a minimum. Hope this is helpful.
DeleteDennis:
DeleteLove the color shots. I am a sucker for nostalgia-like photos (which probably means I am really old)!
Trains and their environs, in particular, are a fascinating subject.
Thanks, Jeff.
DeleteEmilia and I took the "other" gravel road out once and only once. It leads down a slope to a few houses that were once a coal camp called Thayer. Very much a "do I hear banjoes" kind of place and we could sense eyes in the windows watching us as we got turned around and headed back up the hill.
ReplyDeleteMike, thanks for the info. Sounds like a place I don’t need to explore.
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