Archive for March, 2009

I’m lucky to have a wife who is a talented decorator. Tammy also respects my interest in trains and about 10 years ago she decided the family room would be decorated in a railroad theme. Soon it became known as the train room. She chose decorations from my collection of railroad artifacts including a station sign to act as a valence, several historic prints from around Vancouver as a focal point over the fire place, and some art from J. Craig Thorpe to represent some of my favorite train themes.

During our recent flooring project the train room was disassembled and stored so we could repaint. While Tammy considered what would go back she saw me playing with a triptych in Lightroom. She casually asked if there were three photos we could create an on the wall triptych with. I said sure and went about created a collection in Lightroom to give her my selects. Looking at the results we brainstormed various themes including tunnels, steam, and scenes from the Northwest.

Tammy settled on a steam theme and as of tonight three of my photos consisting of details from the CW 10 and the SP&S 700 now hang in the ‘gallery’ section in the train room. I guess this qualifies as my first ‘gallery’ exhibition and I’m thrilled! Here is one of the photos she used:

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, photo, photography, decorating, gallery, cw 10

A while ago I posted possibly my last SD40-2 photo. It just happened to be a UP SD40-2 so I thought I’d better give the BNSF a chance so here’s the last BNSF Santa Fe SD40-2 I photographed.

BNSF 6723 leads the M-PASINB west at Towal, WA on October 26, 2008. Is this the last BNSF SD40-2 I’ll photograph?

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, SD40-2, EMD, towal, washington

Last week while in Old Town I spotted a pair of TriMet’s new Siemans Avanto light rail vehicles. They were on a test run, acting as a blue line train. The photo isn’t the greatest (windshield glare, anyone?) but this was the first time I’d seen a pair of these units on a test run in the daytime.

I didn’t see a manifest train today. I saw: 3 grain, one Z, one bare table, one herder, and 2 Amtraks.

To be fair I left as the M-PTFI was departing Lake Yard and the M-PTLPAS was lining out at 39th St. So, the regulars were there, they were just a bit behind.

BNSF 799 awaits it next assignment on the tail track in Vancouver

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, photo, photography, bnsf, economy, washington

According to Trains news wire Amtrak has released a new photography policy. The new policy states that only photographers with tickets may photograph from station platforms. According to the article this comes in the wake of the photographer who was harassed in New York’s Penn Station and is to establish a uniform policy system wide.

So what does this mean for Vancouver where so many people photograph? Well strictly speaking its off limits to photographers without tickets. Does this make sense for a platform like Vancouver? I don’t believe so because there is really no way for Amtrak to enforce the policy. Sure, the agent can run people off if they are out on the platform, but honestly do they have the time?

Does this policy make sense in Penn Station, 30th Street, or any of the major stations where platform access is strictly controlled? I think so because Amtrak has monitored entrances to these locations and can easily verify the passengers ticket status. Additionally with the volume of trains that visit these stations moving and controlling people is very important so allowing unticketed passengers to remain on the platform may cause confusion or even a safety issue (have you seen how small the platforms are in Penn Station?)

What about all the platforms at stations without an agent? How would those be monitored? Where does the platform stop and start? Sadly I think this policy raises more questions than it answers. One thing is for sure the policy is clear so if you don’t have a ticket and you are on a platform be prepared to be asked to leave. Now will you get run out of Bingen Wishram or Essex…hard to say?

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, photo, photography, amtrak, photo, policy