Three Railroads in Four Days

Over the weekend of October 16[sup]th[/sup]-19[sup]th[/sup], I had the opportunity to attend railroad photo charters held by two different charter operators on 3 different railroads. ; It was a great weekend with lots of photography combined with very little sleep (6 hours combined the first two nights). ; The weekend started Saturday afternoon at the Strasburg Railroad for a sunset and night shoot hosted by Lerro Productions with the N&W 475 382, recreating the Virginia Creeper on the N&W Abingdon Line. ; N&W 382 is significant to railroad photographers because O. Winston Link made the 382 famous with his documentation of the last days of steam on the N&W. ; Unfortunately, the 382 was scrapped, but a sister engine, N&W 475 lives on at Strasburg. ; Lerro Productions and the Strasburg shop staff put a lot of effort into adding cosmetic details to the 475 to make her look like her long lost sister. ; A few of those added details include a new number plate (cast aluminum and painted to look like brass), new number boards, spark arrestor, smoke stack handles and removable engine cab numbers. ; Hours of work went into fabricating and installing these and other parts and the railroad was willing to take a normally pristine locomotive and "weather" it with soot and oil to make her look like a hard working locomotive from years ago.

We shoot started with sunset at Fairview Farm:



After the sun was gone, we headed to Verdant View Farm for the first shots of the night session:



Next we headed over to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania for some shots on the turntable:



Then we headed back to the yard for some shots in the Engine House:





More tomorrow...

 

Michael,your B and W shots are terrific and fit the subject so well

 

Great shots Michael.

 

Love the 1st and 2nd! ; Great work!!

 

I like that first one in the engine house, nice work.

 

even if i had not known your railroad photography background, one look at these shows o winston's influence on you, great b&w interpretations, i'm not one to get all teary eyed over the death of steam, it was a technological advance that saved railroads from being killed completely by the interstates, but i do appreciate a good steam black & white

 

Thanks everyone!

 

The night shoot Saturday went well after the advertised ending time of 11:00pm which made the 6:00am start time Sunday morning roll around way too soon. ; We started with some pre-dawn shots out on the line and I wish I would have brought my tripod for that. ; The pre-dawn glow on the horizon would have made a great shot, but at 6400 ISO it was way too grainy. ; Before the sun broke over the hills, we started doing runbys. ; Since the light wasn't there yet I did the only thing that made sense, a pan:


1/8s, f11, 200 ISO handheld

Finally the sun broke over the horizon and rewarded us with some awesome glint light:



A couple of us climbed the spiral staircase in the Red Caboose Motel's silo for some silhouettes:



Next up was Long's Curve:



Then we headed back to the yard for some static shots:







Once we finished up in the yard it was time to drive to Orbisonia for the East Broad Top night session. ; More on that tomorrow...

 

michael, you are just bringing it on the railroads, i have got to find some way to join you on one of these photo charters sometime, i need some serious help with my train skills, and you could be the person to do it. i can do a wedgie roster with the best of them, but your action shots are so far past me, it's just plain embarrassing

 

just incredible Michael.

 

Very nice!

 

Michael, that second shot is magnificent!!! ; I would hang that in my office in a heartbeat!!

 

Thanks guys! ;

 

Like I said earlier, Lerro Productions hosted a night session at the East Broad Top Sunday night. ; Again, they put on an awesome show. ; We started in the station with some static shots:





We even did a couple of runbys in the station:



Next, we moved to the yard where some movie magic was used to make #17 & #18 look like the were operational:



They over did the smoke bombs on one shot, but fortunately I was in the right spot at the right time trying to get a shot of the recently restored M-3 Gas Motorcar:



Between shots, I noticed that the roundhouse door was open and thought it made a neat scene:



Next we moved to the turntable and roundhouse. ; They don't call it an "armstrong" turntable for nothing:



Once #15 was lined up with the stall, it was time to pull her inside for the night:





After a great shoot at the EBT, it was time for the drive to Cumberland for two days on the WMSR. ; More to come...

 

the only word I can think of is WOW

 

Awesome work!!!!

 

Awesome!!