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Thursday, February 16th, 2006 by Aaron HockleySigns of a railcar parked for a few weeks in the Northwest:
Signs of a railcar parked for a few weeks in the Northwest:
Exciting news on several fronts for those of you with an interest in the Disneyland Railroad. Read more at The Disney Blog
Something different today, since the railroad wouldn’t cooperate. A photo from under the viaduct at 6th Street:
I’d heard a rumor there was a CN unit leading an M-PASINB sitting at 8th street and figured it was a good time to go to lunch and get a roster shot, if nothing else. As I pulled down 11th street I saw the train pulling north through the yard. Oh well, I figured I missed this one due to bad luck. As I parked at the depot, I heard radio traffic indicating he was preparing to make a setout at the B yard. There was still hope, so I hopped over to Fruit Valley Road and went north. Depending on where he ended up, I had a couple ideas of where I might pull off a shot.
First I drove up to see where the power had stopped… it was out on the fill just south of the Rye junction. I drove back south and found 69th street, pulled off and drove over to the bluff above the tracks. I’d never been here before, and I’m not sure why. From my vantage point I was probably 15 feet or so above the top of the train. My plan was to wait for the train to back into the yard, get my shot, and move on. As I waited and the train was backing, a northbound UP train came by, which cluttered up the other track, leading to this, my first attempt:
As I mumbled about bad luck, I figured I would wait for a bit, since he had backed in, was now making his cut, and would then pull forward. Surely when he pulled forward I could get a cleaner shot. Well, eventually he pulled forward (and stop calling me Shirley!) but as his head end just started to become visible, I heard power behind me, and ended up with a southbound UP stack train on the other track. Sometimes it sucks when the railroad is busy. I guess I’ll deal with what I have, and I hastily recomposed my shot to get the meet:
Mildly pleased, but still a bit grumpy I hadn’t gotten a clean shot of the PASINB, I hung out a bit longer, for he would need to back up to the rear end of his train which was still on the main. The third time was the charm, and I got something like what I’d originally planned:
Perhaps my luck wasn’t so bad after all.
Shot today at Vancouver, WA - artistified in Photoshop CS:
I set out after work with the intention of shooting the westbound Z train in the golden light out on the east side of Vancouver this afternoon. I’d heard it had a clean Power Bar ES44 on the point so I figured that would make a nice shot. After waiting quite a while I finally got a train… it wasn’t the Z train, but the Camas Turn, running long-hood forward on the return trip to Vancouver.
Eventually the Z train showed up but it was late enough that the combination of headlight flare and shadows managed to hose the shot.
On an unrelated note, I just thought I’d say I love the battery life on the Canon BP511. The last time I charged my camera’s batteries was before the Mt. Rainier Scenic Steam Spectactular in mid-January, and tonight I finally got the low battery indicator. Guess it’s time for the monthly charge.
I couldn’t really get excited about taking any pictures this morning until the S-TCPBPA came down to the center with EMDX 9045 on the point. I drove over to 8th Street and got my typical 300mm tele as it came through the signals entering CTC. As a bonus, it’s one of the cleanest Oakways I’ve seen in a while…
Yesterday instead of only chasing trains after work I spent a bit of time taking a few other photographs, including one I threw up for review on RailroadPhotoEssays.com where the comments can be harsh but I respect everyone’s opinions. One of the shots I took was a shot of the I-5 Interstate Bridge between Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR, which I took from close to the bridge, looking south, and then desaturated to black/white. I got some positive comments from folks who often dislike my railroad images.
http://www.railroadphotoessays.com/forum/showthread.php?t=357 - anyone can view the image, membership not required
A few minutes earlier and I would’ve had some detail in the foreground on the left… close, but no cigar. Shot tonight on my way home from work… Z-CHCPTL at MP 18 on the Fallbridge Sub.
Since I haven’t yet hit the lottery or found someone who wants to throw free camera gear my way, I’m always interested in ways that I can have a few extra dollars to spend towards glass and other assorted photography items. A while ago I signed up (skeptically) for a site which claimed to pay me to take online surveys about assorted topics. I must say I’ve been pleasantly surprised… I’m not getting rich, but they send me a few surveys per month, and the pay generally ranges around a dollar a minute or so… they might send a short survey which takes five minutes and they’ll pay me five dollars, or (like today) a longer one which paid $20.
If you’re interested in potentially earning a few extra dollars, follow this link and sign up. I’ll be totally honest, they pay for referrals, so if you sign up with that link, I get a dollar each time you take a survey. Consider it a little contribution towards keeping this website running (except that it won’t cost you anything). Of course, once you sign up, you can refer folks as well.
And that’s the end of my little commercial diversion on here…
Yes, I think this might be the most poorly-composed shot I’ve made in the past five years. Sure, it’s in focus. This was the attempt to get a shot at a new location instead of an old standby. I got down here and only had about 10 seconds to compose this shot. I knew the tracks came down a steep grade around the curve and figured it would be a nice shot as the power came around the corner. I also figured that the lighting would be such that the nose would have some light, with the sides nicely lit.
I stopped my truck, hopped out, looked around, and unfortunately this was the best I could come up with:
Nose lighting? Hah! No lighting for you! And hey, if you’re a fan of poles and lines, I’ve got plenty, starting with that big thick one right up the middle of the second locomotive and through the swoosh. The lovely pole-ness of it is almost trumped by the second pole, the one growing out of the top of the cab of the lead unit. The wire running from that pole down to the corner of the nose is an added bonus. And did you hear about the BNSF’s new extended-range antennas? That’s one of them sticking out of the top of the back of the ES44DC. Given how bad this is, I won’t even mention the assorted foreground clutter. Sigh.
So there, have a good end-of-week chuckle at my expense. I can’t believe I pressed the shutter.
OK, not actual streetcars, but that’s the way traffic was moving today through Vancouver center. It’s a shame that I couldn’t go check out the shops during my lunch hour because the trains never stopped moving through the center. As I was headed that way I heard a dogcatch crew on an H-RRBVAW say they were ready to head into the yard… I caught the train at 11th street and wished it’s power had been reversed… it had the BNSF 5309 (C44-9W, Heritage II) and the BNSF 7765 (ES44DC, Power Bar).
I zipped over the depot parking lot to shoot a 3-window winged SD60M leading a SD40-2 on the MPSPD (UP 2332, UP 3143).
As he turned the corner onto the bridge, the northbound IG1SE came off the bridge with four EMDs and pulled up to a red block at the center. When he got the signal to pull north I shot this new angle which I’m semi-happy with, and will be happier with when I do it with some morning sunlight and slightly better cropping.
I’ve been known to take pictures of people enjoying trains. Here’s a photo taken by Bob Ulberg of me as I took that shot…
Then it was back over to 11th street to catch the G-MURINB, a 2×2 grain load with the BNSF 4568 (C44-9W, Heritage II), BNSF 5408 (C44-9W, Heritage II), BNSF 4168 (C44-9W, Heritage II), and BNSF 4991 (C44-9W, Heritage II).
As soon as he cleared, I noticed another set of bright headlights at 8th street, and another train started through. This time it turned left… it was an M-PASLYD with FURX 7262 (SD40-2, Cascade Green/Black) and BNSF 890 (B40-8W, Heritage II).
There was another train sitting down at 8th street… I planned to head up to the shops but figured I’d see what he had for power. I was intrigued by the rainbow of BNSF 1059 (C44-9W, Heritage I), BNSF 7782 (ES44DC, Power Bar), and CN 2621 (C44-9WL, Black/Red/White). I thought about doing a broadside as he crossed the diamonds at the center but instead decided to drive down and catch him coming down the hill towards the Port of Vancouver. I should’ve gone with the broadside. I ended up taking what might be the worst-composed shot I’ve taken in 5 years. I’ll post it later on it’s own for y’all to laugh at.
There were more trains, but I had run out of lunch hour and it was time to continue the work thing…
Today I received confirmation that I will be presenting a short multimedia slideshow titled “North Slope of Hood” at the Railfan & Railroad slideshow/party the night before Winterail. If you’re going to be in attendance say Hi to me, I’ll probably be wearing a dogcaught.com hat as I’m out and about and would love to meet some of my readers especially those that aren’t local.
This just popped into my head, not sure if it’s something I’d heard before or I just thought of it, but it seems accurate:
Shooting JPG is like taking your roll of film down and dropping it off at your local Wal-Mart for processing. They control the darkroom process and what you get back is mostly correct, most of the time.
Shooting RAW is like taking your roll of film home to your own private personal darkroom, where you control the entire process and can ensure the photos end up exactly as you want.
If you’re coming to GorgeRail and want to know about RAW, be sure to attend Paul Petersen’s Photoshop workshop at 12:30 on Saturday, where he’ll talk about RAW and how it fits into his imaging workflow.
Reflecting The Times:
Fast Trains:
Tracks in the Snow: