Random Ramblings - A Bad Place For Trees

Union Pacific; Tobin, Calif.; March 12, 2007

Ah, yes. Green trees add to a nice scenic photo. Trees between you and your subject can be distracting, but as long as the trees are behind the train, everything is good. or is it?

Sometimes you have bad tree placement that makes it appear the tree is attached to the train. In the photo above, taken along the former Western Pacific in California's Feather River Canyon, you have to wonder how that tree got tied to the cab and how did it make it through the bridge.

Perhaps even more bizarre is the train below on the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City pulling a National Railway Historical Society convention trip. You can tell by the way the tree mounted on the slug unit is bending in the wind that the train is traveling very fast. We won't mention the extra light attached to the cab roof of the lead locomotive...

Cedar Rapids & Iowa City; Oakdale, Iowa; June 22, 2012

So the next time you're out shooting, remember that trees in front of the train aren't the only problem.

Random Ramblings -- Flat Tires

Amtrak; Afton Canyon, California; September 1992

Railroad photography often involves using roads that are less than optimum to access good locations. Usually on long trips, I'll rent an SUV to help getting into some places, but even then you often don't know if you'll wind up with an SUV with tires suited for off-roading or soccer mom tires (and telling the rental car person you need good tires to get into remote locations is not a good idea). So, yeah, I've had my share of flat tires -- all with rental cars -- when out shooting. And a high percentage of these have come along the former Los Angeles & Salt Lake, now a part of Union Pacific.

We'll start with the shot above. We had driven into Afton Canyon, sort of near Barstow, Calif., in September 1992. The line was not terribly busy, but we knew Amtrak's now-defunct Desert Wind would make an appearance at some point. We had driven to just about the farthest point you can get when a tire gave out (and we really didn't have an SUV -- it was a mini-van). This meant a lot of rocky/dirt road driving on the doughnut to get out. We may have seen a freight or two (Afton Canyon is much busier now, but I haven't been back) and the Amtrak train. We did make it back to Barstow to get the tire fixed, but as it turns out a punctured tire would be the least of the worries for that mini-van before we turned in back in.

Fast forward 14 years and now we're on the LA&SL near Caliente, Nev., on February 13, 2006. We drove down the access road beyond town and climbed a hill for the shot below. Once up there, we noticed a tire looking mighty low. Well, first things first -- it wasn't going to help anything to miss the shot, so we waited for the train to make an appearance. Once again, it was onto a doughnut for an interesting ride over a road full of hazards, but we made it back to a repair shop in Caliente. While the tire was fixed, we had lunch within sight of the tracks but no trains came by. Upon returning to the shop, we retrieved the SUV, pulled out and headed to the station in town where we were rewarded almost immediately by a train. Turns out we didn't miss a thing.

Union Pacific; Caliente, Nev.; February 13, 2006

Random Ramblings - When Runbys Were Runbys

Union Pacific 8444; Narrows, Colo.; July 16, 1982

A staple of the railroad excursion is the photo runby, where passengers are unloaded from the train (often at a scenic location), the train is backed up and then makes a furious run forwards past the passengers as cameras click away. No Class I railroad was better at the photo runby as Union Pacific. Operating in the wide open spaces of Colorado and Wyoming, there was plenty of room for 200 or more people to unload and get photos of the train with no other photographers in the shot. UP's trips over Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyo., were legen -- wait for it -- dary!

The 1982 convention of the National Railway Historical Society was held in Denver, Colo., and one trip operated during the event was a steam excursion from the Mile High City to Sterling. The trip was powered by UP 4-8-4 No. 8444 (originally numbered 844 and since returned to that number). The steam crew really knew how to put on the show; being an oil-burner, it was easy to get a black plume of smoke out of the stack for the benefit of the cameras. But perhaps no runby was quite as spectacular as the one at Narrows (above). This remains the largest plume of smoke I have ever seen come out of a locomotive during a photo runby. You can probably go back to Narrows now and still smell the oil in the air. There are still steam-powered rail excursions and there are still photo runbys, but nothing quite like this.

Random Ramblings -- Merle Haggard's Boxcar House

Merle Haggard's boxcar home; Oildale, Calif.; March 7, 2014

 Not only is Merle Haggard proud to be an Okie From Muskogee, but he's also a proud railfan and model railroader. A lot of that was influenced by where he grew up along the Santa Fe tracks in Oildale, Calif., on the fringes of Bakersfield. The line that is still used by oil tank trains passed within a few feet of the Haggard home, and its influence can be heard in the song "Oil Tanker Train" on Merle's latest album Working In Tennessee. In that song, Merle relates the joy he felt when his father bought him a model oil train for Christmas.

Not only did Haggard live near the tracks, but his house was actually a converted refrigerator car that his father, James, rebuilt into a house during the depression. He added a pop-out dining area and other modifications have been made throughout the years. Today, the house sits under a tangle of vines, although still occupied.

A timely article in the New York Times on February 24, 2014, documented the history of Hag's home, coming out just before I headed west to California for Winterail. Since I was heading from Los Angeles up to Stockton via the Central Valley, a stop in Oildale became a priority. While the Times article didn't give the exact location of the house, an internet search did give an approximate intersection, and using that and the tracks as a guide (along with a photo in the Times article) I soon found the house. You really have to look to see the refrigerator car -- its the lengthwise section parallel to the street. A front entrance has been added, somewhat masking the car. Being a country music lover (Cash, Willie, Jones, Hag and Waylon) this was indeed a highlight of my trip.

So what will become of Hag's Boxcar? The Kern County Museum is raising funds to buy it, move it and restore it to the way James Haggard modified it. The current owner will get a new house on the same footprint as the boxcar. Yes, it will be looking better than ever, but I still wanted to get a photo of it sitting in its original place where the first thing Hag remembered knowin' was a lonesome whistle blowin' and a young one's dream of growing up to ride...

Random Ramblings -- Lurgan Line Luck

Norfolk Southern; Boiling Springs, Penn.; February 11, 2014

In a previous post we visited the Maryland Midland Railway on February 11, 2014, and had a run of good luck -- we caught locomotives in old and new paint schemes on two different trains. But that wasn't the complete story of the day. The good luck continued into the evening.

At the conclusion of the Maryland Midland chase my brother Bruce and I headed up into Pennsylvania to Norfolk Southern's Lurgan line, which heads southwest out of Harrisburg. Our goal was to get a night shot of a southbound train crossing the through truss bridge over Yellow Breeches Creek near Boiling Springs. The creek makes a horseshoe just east of town while the tracks go straight, and southbounds/westbounds cross a deck bridge and the through truss bridge in quick succession.

The line can be viewed on ATCS Monitor (a computer program that lets you see a simulated dispatcher's display of the railroad) and once we arrived at Boiling Springs we checked that. Alas, only an eastbound was coming. Looking for other targets, we called up heritage units.com to see if any of Norfolk Southern's heritage units would be in the Harrisburg area. The only thing showing was the Norfolk Southern business train led by FP7 No. 4270 -- on the Lurgan line heading east! Our eastbound train was the business train!

We quickly relocated to the eastern deck bridge for the shot and were soon rewarded by the sound of horns. A few minutes later, we snapped our photo and put the cherry on top of what was an extraordinarily lucky day.

Random Ramblings -- The Day I Ran a Conrail Train

Random Ramblings is a semi-regular feature mulling over an esoteric photo or two.

Conrail; Beesley's Point, N.J.; December 27, 1992

The holiday rush of 1992 was winding down, and I was beginning to get the urge to do some photography. The second day after Christmas, December 27, was bright and sunny and I headed over to Winslow Junction, N.J., to see what equipment the Southern Railway of New Jersey had sitting around.

At Winslow Junction there are three lines. The former Central Railroad of New Jersey is at ground level, making its way from Red Bank to Bridgeton. Two other lines, both former Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, run perpendicular to the CNJ and parallel to each other on elevated routes a few hundred feet apart; both cross the CNJ on bridges. The southernmost bridge was being used by Conrail to access the coal-fired power plant in Beesley's Point near Ocean City. The northern bridge was (and still is) New Jersey Transit's line between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.

While photographing the dead power on the SRNJ, I heard a Conrail train blow for a nearby grade crossing. I quickly set up for an over-under shot of the train with SRNJ stuff beneath. I was surprised to see the trailing unit on the southbound coal train, however -- Conrail SD40-2 No. 6373, which had been painted in a commemorative scheme for the U.S. Cycling Federation Olympic Trials and National Championships held in Altoona, Penn., earlier that year (Altoona was home to Conrail's primary locomotive repair shop).

Knowing that the USCF unit would be leading the train back (and would look really good on the timber trestle near Petersburg, N.J., I decided to give chase. At the long storage track near Dorothy the crew dropped all the hopper cars and continued south with just the light engines. I kept the chase going, though, since I wanted to keep track of them for the return trip. At the last grade crossing before the power plant at Beesley's Point, however, the locomotives came to a stop and the conductor came over to me. "Give me a ride to Wawa," he said, "and we'll let you run the engines." Well, that was too good to turn down, so I took him to the nearby convenience store so he could get some coffee and food.

Back at the train, the crew told me about a dirt pullover along the tracks where I could leave my car. I met them there, and they promptly put me into the engineer's seat of the lead locomotive, SD40-2 No. 6461. I ran the two units into the power plant where the conductor jumped off to get some paperwork. While he was doing that, the engineer and I switched ends and switched locomotives -- I was now running the Conrail USCF unit! I ran it back to my car and got off, then the engineer changed ends again and ran back into the plant to get his conductor and the outbound train. After about an hour the train emerged from the plant (lead photo above) and the return chase was on.

I went directly to Petersburg and set up for the shot I wanted and nailed it (below). With teh sun rapidly setting into the December sky, I packed it in and headed home. Not only did I get to photograph the elusive USCF Conrail unit, though -- I got to run it.

Conrail; Petersburg, N.J.; December 27, 1992

Random Ramblings -- More Than Trains

Virginia Museum of Transportation; July 13, 2013

Right now I am working hard to catch up on my website and get it current -- the main gallery now has photos into mid-August. Once I get caught up, the blog posts should become a little more current. In the   meantime, here is some stuff that's just getting onto the site.

The railroad environment is more than just trains. The people that make it function and use the railroads are just as important, but they often escape the lens of the rail photographer. I get it -- some of us are just not comfortable shooting people as they go about their jobs. However, great opportunities can often present themselves at museums and tourist railroads, be it candid shots from a casual visit or staged shots as part of a photography event. We have here three photos from a Lerro Productions photo shoot at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke from mid-July. Three steam locomotives (all of which do not operate) were brought to "life" using smoke bombs and lighting. And museum volunteers and others dressed in period garb to add to the scenes. Norfolk & Western steam ruled the rails of the south during World War II, and many railroad employees were off fighting in the war. To fill in stateside, women were often employed in factories and at railroad shops, with "Rosie the Riveter" being their symbol. In the photo above we get a glimpse of what that might have looked like. (Our "Rosies" are [L-R] Stephanie Lucas, "Wizzy" Strom and Katie Slider of VMT.)

Virginia Museum of Transportation; July 13, 2013

Of course, without customers -- freight and passenger -- the railroads would have no reason to exist. Our next shot shows a platform scene as passengers await the arrival of a N&W train powered by Class J 4-8-4 No. 611. (Actors include Norman Altizer and Russell Chu [standing] from VMT, Ron and Susan Vanderpool from the Antique Automobile Club of America, and Shannon Meiss and Jessica Simmons).

Virginia Museum of Transportation; July 12, 2013

Even the quieter scenes are worth recreating. Here we have a porter taking a quick break before his passengers arrive. Outside the window of his car is N&W Class A 2-6-6-4 No. 1218. (Charles Hardy of VMT is the porter).

Random Ramblings -- Smoke Break

CSX Transportation; Bridgeport, N.J.; May 4, 2013

On the evening of May 4, 2013, I was in southern New Jersey and found out a CSX train of empty ethanol tank cars would be leaving Pureland Industrial Park near Bridgeport that evening. I had wanted to get a night shot of a train crossing the old swing bridge just north of Bridgeport, so this looked like a good opportunity. I was joined by my brother Bruce and Mike Burkhart, and we found the train and the power on the trackage of SMS Rail Services in the industrial park and chatted briefly with the crew. We told them we'd be set up for a night shot at the bridge (which is technically on Conrail Shared Assets). 

Soon the train came out of the industrial park and headed north. As we werre ready to fire the flashes, the train came to a stop (in perfect position for our shot! -- see above) and the conductor came out of the nose door of the locomotive. He came over to us and asked if any of us had cigarettes. As it turns out, we're all cigar smokers, so we had plenty of lighters, but no cigarettes. However, we told him we'd run to a nearby convenience store, pick up a pack of his favorite brand, and meet him at the former station up the line in Woodbury. We had wanted to shoot the Woodbury station as well, and this would guarantee us the train wouldn't get past us there -- he'd need to wait for his cigarettes!

Well, as it turned out we got to Woodbury well ahead of the train, even though it was less tha na 20 mile drive up there. As the train approached, the conductor once again came out of the nose door. We got our shot (below), he got his cigarettes and we headed our separate ways. Not a bad way to spend an evening!

CSX Transportation; Woodbury, N.J.; May 4, 2013

Random Ramblings -- I Hate Cords!

Back in July 2010 I had just purchased four Alien Bees strobes for doing synchronized night photography of moving trains. The Bees arrived just before I headed out from New Jersey to Milwaukee, where I was giving a presentation to the National Model Railroad Association. I had purchased only one battery to power the Bees, which meant I had a ton of extension cords so I could spread the lights around.

After working locations in Ohio on the way out, I had dropped down into Illinois on the return trip, heading for the Illinois Railway Museum. One target I wanted to get was the large coaling tower that still straddled the former Chicago & North Western at Nelson. I pulled into Nelson later than I wanted to on July 16, at about 10:00 p.m., and started setting up the strobes. Unfortunately, my extension cords had become hopelessly tangled, and when a westbound train rolled through at about 10:30, I was still trying to get cords straightened out. Not to worry, though -- this is a fairly busy main line and there would be another westbound shortly. Or not.

Midnight came and went without any trains at all. I was beginning to think about calling it quits when an eastbound train (the wrong direction) came by. Still thinking about calling it quits, I snapped the last car on the train to get some idea of what my shot would look like if a train came from the proper direction -- and it was really good. Okay, that decides it -- I have to wait it out.

Finally at about 2:00 a.m. a westbound finally showed up. Click! Success.

Union Pacific; Nelson, Ill.; July 16 (technically 17), 2010

While tearing down, an eastbound coal train wandered by. It had a Distributed Power Unit (DPU, a locomotive attached to the back of the train for added power) on the rear. I was well into putting away my lights, but I broke out the tripod and took a going-away shot of the train under the coaling tower.

Union Pacific; Nelson, Ill.; July 17, 2010

My extension cords misadventures cost me about four hours of sleep that night. Needless to say, I went out and purchased a second battery which, with judicious light placement, has cut down on my extension cord needs by about 80%. Still, the results were worth the lack of sleep. But I still hate cords.

Random Ramblings - To Wedge Or Not To Wedge

Burlington Northern & Santa Fe; Prewitt, New Mexico; September 30, 1999

In 1999 I was in New Mexico following the former Santa Fe transcontinental main line across the desert (at the time of the trip it was known as the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe, and since has become simply BNSF Railway). I was with a group of friends, and it soon became apparent that we had different shooting goals. They wanted to wait by the tracks and shoot every train that came by in the standard three-quarter wedge shot, then move when there was a break in the action. The problem is, the Santa Fe is one hopping railroad, and breaks in the action are few and far between. Meanwhile, we were in the heart of The Mother Road country, along historic Route 66, and I wanted to pull back from the tracks a bit and get some iconic Route 66 imagery into the scene. It became readily apparent that sticking with them was going to result in getting a dozen trains in the exact same location from the exact same wedgie angle. But they are friends, so I decided to hang with them.

Finally there was a break in the action and we decided to move. I was in my own car and pulled away first, looking for a new angle. Their driver was slower, and soon some cars separated us. Finally, I saw a shot I wanted and pulled off the interstate -- but they missed me turning! In this time before cell phones I had no way to get ahold of them, and a futile attempt to get back on the interstate to catch them didn't work (okay, maybe I didn't try all that hard). But suddenly I was alone and free to make my own decisions. I set up at the Tomahawk Bar in Prewitt for a shot (something none of the rest would have even considered) and captured several more away-from-the-tracks angles along Route 66. I didn't catch up with the gang again until we hit our reserved motel later that evening. 

They caught about 30 trains during the day from about three locations. I caught far fewer, but quantity isn't the name of the game. On this day, I was in a non-wedge zone.

Random Ramblings - Here Comes Thomas!

There was nothing quite like the glory days of Michigan steam in the 21st century -- yes, the 21st century -- when two Berkshire locomotives from the Lima Locomotive Works were stomping through the state. From 2007-2009, Michigan's own Berkshire, Pere Marquette No. 1225 based out of Owosso, would be joined on and off by Nickel Plate Road No. 765, visiting from Fort Wayne, Ind. Photo charters by both Lerro Productions and Historic Transport Preservation, plus Train Festival 2009, all made Michigan a grand place for steam.

Nickel Plate Road 765; Carland, Mich.

The grain elevator at Carland made for a favorite photo prop on many charters, and not unexpectedly we were once again at Carland on October 10, 2009, for a charter sponsored by Historic Transport Preservation with the 765. While there, a mother and her young son happened to pull up to watch the runbys. The kid was obviously a budding railfan, decked out in complete Thomas the Tank Engine garb. Well, we just had to get the kid into a photo. Mom was dressed in 21st century clothing, but we asked her if her son would mind posing with two of our "actors" during a photo runby. She said it wouldn't be a problem, so Kelly Lynch of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society took the lad by the hand and posed him in front of the photo line. Christopher Pitzen knelt down next to the kid.

Now 765 is a loud locomotive, especially during photo runbys when smoke and noise are a part of the show. With a grade crossing just behind the photo line (and the need for 765 to whistle loud for the crossing) I was positive the kid would bolt for his mom halfway through the runby. Christopher, however, pointed down the track and kept telling the kid "Here comes Thomas! Here comes Thomas!" The noise was incredible, the ground shook -- and the kid held his ground. As the locomotive blasted (and "blasted" doesn't begin to convey the experience) past, the kid turned his head and followed the engine with his eyes, smiling a huge smile. That's an experience that will stick with you for a long, long time.

Random Ramblings -- Thanks, Cranky!

MBTA; Suffolk Downs, Boston, Mass.; January 25, 2009

First off, I can't believe this was almost four years ago. Mike Burkhart and I were in Boston to shoot streetcars and subways, and on January 25, 2009, we found our way on the Blue Line, the subway line operated by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority that runs from downtown out to Logan Airport and continues northeast into the suburbs beyond Revere Beach (despite being known as a "subway," a large portion of the line is above ground and actually runs on a former railroad right-of-way). The MBTA had a policy for many years that you needed to have a permit for photography, but under pressure from the ACLU and others in the post-9/11 world, that policy had been rescinded and the published photo policy now allows for noncommercial property without a permit. We had encountered a couple of employees during the weekend asking if we had a permit, but when we told them the permit policy had been abolished they left us alone.

We found our way onto the platform at Suffolk Downs on the Blue Line where we were set up for a shot of an inbound train. An outbound train pulled up on the platform next to us, putting the operator's window right next to us. Immediately the operator started giving us a load of bull about permits and how what we were doing was illegal. We weren't backing down or moving, however, since the inbound car was on its way. He had a schedule to maintain so he gave up his yapping and departed with his train. But thanks to the delay in jawing at us, we were able to get this really nice shot of two trains passing. Thanks, Cranky!

Random Ramblings - Connecticut Night

Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum; October 6, 2012

One of my favorite night photo sessions each year is held at the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum in Willimantic. And even though I've gone once a year for the last several years (and twice one year!) I still find some new angles to shoot, thanks to the efforts of scene coordinator Tom Nanos and the volunteers of the museum. This year (October 6 for those keeping score at home) we did station interior shots for the first time (above) with some pretty decent results.

The museum has a variety of equipment, and one of the favorite pieces for night photography is the former New Haven FL9. This year the classic EMD cab unit was posed at the museum's grade crossing and a flagman was positioned to protect the crossing. We were using synchronized flash for the shots, allowing for exposures of less than one second, but to get the lantern "swing" we opened the cameras for a few seconds while the flagman moved the lantern, then fired the flash.

Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum; October 6, 2012

As is usual, after the session we looked at our results and found a few things we'd like to do differently -- it's always a mix of improving old shots and finding new ones. The FL9 scene could use two small tweaks -- turning off the red class lights on the diesel and losing the flag (leaving the flagman with just a lantern). Still, it's a pretty cool shot. I look forward to the 2013 edition of the night session.

Random Ramblings -- Walking the High Line

The High Line; New York, N.Y.; September 14, 2012

I was going to start this by saying "let's get off the beaten path a bit," but in reality we're going to take a very well-worn path. This is the High Line, a linear park in New York City that is a huge success. The structure was built by the New York Central and opened in 1934 to access the city's industries along the west side of Manhattan (indeed, it's name during NYC days was the West Side Line) while eliminating street running and grade crossings, but all rail service ceased in 1980.

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The current park is about a mile long, extending from 30th Street (not very far from Penn Station) on down to Gansevoort Street. Along the way the line still passes through the second stories of old industrial buildings (notably those that were once a part of Bell Laboratories and Nabisco). During the changeover from abandoned rail line to city park, the right-of-way had to be stripped down to the concrete and steel. When it was reconstructed, it became something of a yuppie interpretation of a rail line. Rails were put back in place, albeit at the wrong gauge and spiked directly to the ties instead of using tie plates. Additionally, the rail was given an abandoned look by planting plants "inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the disused tracks" (to quote that source of all sources, Wikipedia). Along the way you'll encounter a "woodland," a "grassland," and even a "thicket." Nonetheless, the entire structure could have been simply made into a wide walkway instead of the walkway sharing the reminders of the railroad past, so we should be grateful for that. The park was opened in 2009 from the south end to 20th Street, then northward to 30th Street in 2011.

On September 14 I headed out to the High Line with Otto Vondrak (associate editor of Railfan & Railroad magazine) and took a leisurely walk south from 30th Street. It was a pleasant day and we paused along the way for many photos (there were a lot of photographers out), got an ice cream from the lovely ice cream lady stationed under the  Standard Hotel and had some great tacos at the food court located inside what was once the Nabisco plant. There were indeed many sights to see. Surprisingly, we found a diamond (rail, not jewelry) hidden in the shrubs near the south end. To really appreciate the rail heritage of the line, a visit in early spring or late autumn would probably be best when the plants "inspired by the self-seeded landscape" are a bit more dead.

The High Line has been surprisingly successful, but perhaps not in the way the city envisioned. Instead of becoming an oasis for the residents of the neighborhoods, the High Line has attracted a huge tourist trade. Following the tourists into the neighborhoods were the trendy restaurants and boutiques, and some of the last blue collar businesses on the lower West Side have been pushed out of the area. 

The final train on the West Side Line was operated by Conrail in 1980. The train carried three cars of frozen turkeys. Best as I can figure, it was not a winter railfan trip.

(Note: I came up with the title for this entry on my own, then discovered while doing research that there is actually a book called Walking the High Line, a photographic essay by Joel Sternfeld that documented the abandoned line as it looked in 2000-2001. There was no intent to steal Mr. Sternfeld's title [although it should help my Google rankings]).

Random Ramblings - Susquehanna at Night

Author's note: This begins an occasional musing about a photo -- not necessarily a great photo, but one with a story behind it. Welcome to Random Ramblings.

NYS&W; Susquehanna, Penn.; August 30, 2012

A shot that I have always wanted to get was a night photo at the massive coaling tower that straddles the former Erie Railroad main line at Susquehanna, Penn. In recent times, a night photo is just about the only option available -- even though the line is now owned by Norfolk Southern, the only reliable traffic is a tri-weekly freight operated by the New York, Susquehanna & Western between Little Ferry, N.J., and Binghamton, N.Y. The train leaves Binghamton at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, passing beneath the coaling tower sometime around 10:00 p.m. The counterpart train leaves Little Ferry at about 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, getting beneath the coaling tower well past midnight.

Since I was heading up to the Adirondack Scenic Railroad in Old Forge, N.Y., for an event, I decided to do some night photography on the way, pausing at Susquehanna and also along the former Delaware & Hudson at Harpursville, N.Y., on the night of August 30, 2012. It had been a few years since I had been to Susquehanna, but I found the dirt road back to the coaling tower in the last light of the day, and by 8:00 I was set up waiting for the train.

At this point I only knew the departure time for the train -- 7:30 from Binghamton -- and since I wasn't that far out of Bingo I was ready for the train to get to me almost anytime after 8:00. But 8:00 came and went, then 8:30, then 9:00. I broke out my iPhone and started looking through old messages on the NYS&W Yahoo! group to try to see if there was any info on when the freight ran. Past messages said the train went through Callicoon, a bit farther to the east, usually around 10:15, but at 10:00 I was getting antsy. Maybe the train wasn't running tonight...

I composed a message to post to the group to see if anyone had any info on the train's departure, but just as I was ready to hit "send" I heard horns at 10:35. I got the strobes ready and lined up the shot. The train's lights came out from under the coaling tower, temporarily disorienting me (I lost the right edge of my frame) so I pushed the trigger. Poof! Everything lit up for one 400th of a second and it was done.

This shot has a few problems. First, the focus is soft. That needs to be corrected. Second, this is a cropped version of the photo -- I pushed the trigger too early when I panicked. Next time I'm going to put the camera on a tripod and watch the train directly (not through the viewfinder). Also, this was the first time I was using my new/used Nikon D7000, and this kind of shot is not the time to be experimenting with unfamiliar equipment.

Since there was a full moon, I spend some time getting some exposures of the coaling tower illuminated only by moonlight. Once again, the focus is soft.

A photographer friend, Pete Lerro, has given me hints for better night focusing, and I'm eager to get back and try these shots again. All it takes is giving up some sleep.

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