Archive for the 'general info' Category

 ”An artist’s duty is to reflect the times.”

                                                              - Nina Simone

I hear from my friends how things have changed and “its just not like it used to be”.   Having photographed trains regularly for over 20 years I completely agree.   Does the fact that things aren’t like they used to be lessen my motivation to photograph and document what’s going on today?  No, not at all.  Sure, I am saddened my favorite subject of the past no longer exists, but since I still enjoy trains and railroad photography so I adapt and find a new interest.  Those basic motivations keep me out there reflecting the times.

Recently I went about town for some photo taking opportunities and managed to grab a few decent shots of a Portland & Western freight rolling on through Union Station downtown. It’s been gorgeous the last few days and I just figured that at least a few trains ought to be photographed.

I just thought I’d say hello…graphically…

Wow, so far, in two days, I’ve seen 3 Acelas, 8 New Jersey Transit LRTs, 6 Air Trains, 13 New Jersey Commuter Trains, 6 PATH Trains, 4 Metro Subway Trains, and 4 Regional Amtrak Trains.  All that and only 2 Freight trains!

Yes, you might have guessed I’m over here in the North East Corridor riding around aimlessly.  I’ve also remembered, unlike the last several trips, to actually bring the camera!  So far I have a few pictures that have come out fairly decent.  So below you’ll find those, until again, happy train hunting.

Oh yeah, and if anybody thought that trains ran on time over here, they don’t.  Almost every train I’ve been on has been 5-15 minutes late.  Not bad by the standards of the rest of the country, but by no means upholding the mythic timeliness that I’ve heard of.

At just before midnight eastern time, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2008.   May you achieve all your personal goals and may you find the door to opportunity open everywhere you look!

This year I was not motivated to fight the crowds to see the 700 arrive in Vancouver or ride behind the Daylight at the Holiday Express. Why, I can’t say, maybe I’m steamed out? I did want to make sure my youngest daughter was able to get her Daylight fix so I got over my lack of motivation and headed for Oaks Park. On the way we ran into the 700 simmering away at East Portland and stopped to enjoy it. We moved on to Oaks arriving around 9:20. We spent some time wandering around the Daylight taking in the sights, sounds, and smells as the volunteers readied for the 10:00 departure.

On our way out I spent some time wandering through the concessions tent and eventually settled on some items that I just had to have. While my purchase of these items isn’t individually going to build a home for the steam engines it certainly was another incremental contribution to the larger cause. Based on what I saw of ridership and the people milling around the tent lots of incremental contributions were being made!

I’m very happy to see these Christmas runs continue. It seems they have generated interest in the community and I feel it is this community interest and support that will ensure a future home for the steam we all enjoy. Despite my ambivalence this year it seems the rest of the community is on board and supporting the ORHF’s cause. Do you?

“Excuse me, what does it burn?”. Just like he has many times before Doyle McCormack carefully explains not only what the Daylight burns but the history and operation of steam locomotives. As president of the ORHF Doyle is always working to raise awareness of the ORHF’s mission.

Well, it was finally time. In the middle of downtown San Francisco I decided Joleen and I were going to get our Digital SLR Finally. Already we’ve blazed through about 600 pictures figuring out various things about the camera. San Francisco being an awesome place to do just that.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be pulling some of our “ok” newbie pictures out of the lot and posting them online. Of course at this stage of learning about the camera I like about everything that comes out of the thing. I also will definitely have some street running light rail shots of the MUNI LRVs coming up. Unfortunately I haven’t shot much heavy rail yet, lacking the opportunity.

Within the first day of shooting I already have had warnings and interrogations about what I’m taking pictures of. America’s paranoia is definitely two things; lame and absurd. My friend Mike and I had a conversation with a member of San Francisco’s SWAT Team that patrols the corridors of the BART System. Mainly after being reprimanded for taking a picture or three of the platform. Maybe I’ll post those just to be hard headed.

Anyway, beyond the interesting experiences, fun learning lessons, and the rip roaring fun of San Francisco I must finish this entry for now and am looking forward to many great pictures and future postings of said pictures in this space!

So cheers, I’m stoked to finally have joined the Digital SLR crowd!

If you’re seeing this post, you’re seeing Dogcaught on the new server. There’s a few outstanding issues, including getting the sidebar gallery thumbnails to properly display the photos as well as a couple other things, but for the most part the site is up and running.

If you find any problems, please leave a comment on this post.

Some software upgrades this evening took a bit longer than anticipated, so the server move is being postponed until late tomorrow night. Expect periodic disruptions throughout the rest of the weekend.

There will be some site downtime this weekend.   I will be moving Dogcaught.com to a new server beginning at 19:00 on Friday evening.  Once I begin the move, you may see error messages on the site or find it inaccessible until it comes up on the new server.  I figure the actual site move shouldn’t take longer than an hour, but updating the nameservers (so that when you type dogcaught.com in your browser it ends up at the right server) can take 24-48 hours to propagate throughout the internet.

In short, this would be a great weekend to get out and railfan instead of sitting at your computer and reading this site

I will make a post once things are up on the new server.

Apparently even the newest Canon DSLR can’t fix everything, such as the very faded and quite peeling paint on BNSF 834.  I like the angle of this photo (shot last weekend from the Kittridge Road overpass near Willbridge) but the subject could sure use an upgrade.  And yes, since you’re wondering, the train does have the same amount of locomotives as it does container platforms…

As promised!

Just for some context, I work 4 10 hr days on my current job I’m wrapping up. This last week I went on site, which is in Tacoma, but stayed in Seattle and utilized the reverse commute Sounder Train to get to and from work.

I stayed at a hotel close to the King Street Station called Pioneer Hotel (owned by Best Western, but it is a nice boutique style hotel built in 1914). From there I’d rise in the morning and walk the dozen blocks to King Street Station. Once I arrived in Tacoma I’d take the streetcar to downtown Tacoma where I’d go to work. Transit rocks, and definitely commuter rail!

For a point by point of all the commuting rail action, just select the direction and trip below.

Day 1 - Monday 24th

• A Week of Sounder Commuting
• Cascades #1008

Day 2 - Tuesday 25th

• Sounder #1501 - Trip One on Tuesday
• Sounder #1510 - Tuesday North Bound
• Sounder #1510 Becomes Express #594

Day 3 - Wednesday 26th

• Sounder #1501 - Wednesday’s Trip Number One
• Sounder #1510 North Bound for the First Time

Day 4 - Thursday 27th

• Sounder #1501 - Thursday Morning’s Declining Exuberance
• Sounder #1510 - Thursday North Bound

Day 5 - Friday 28th

• Cascades #1001 - Departing to Tacoma

Supposedly, per the Oregonian, one of the Talgo sets will be back today!!!!

I don’t have the information on which time slot the set returning will fill, but whichever one it does, it’ll be nice to have that 45 minutes back on the trip to Seattle!

Thank you Amtrak & WSDOT for getting this straightened out quick like!

The Sound Transit Sounder Commuter Train will be starting a new frequency heading in a new direction next week. The Sounder will have a reverse commute heading from Seattle to Tacoma in the morning and a trip back from Tacoma in the evening.

Next week I’ll be traveling to Seattle to do some work. While there I will be using the reverse Sounder frequency addition to travel from downtown Seattle to Tacoma. I’m expecting it will go very smoothly. I’m going to keep a log of my trips at Transit Sleuth and then will be publishing them in consolidated format here in Dogcaught in about a week.

Full Report Due: Saturday the 29th of 2007

Hello All, Adron here writing up my first entry for Dogcaught. Some of you might be familiar from my Transit Sleuth Blog. I’ll be covering a range of topics in writing for Dogcaught; rail trips, rail projects, a bit of news, and hopefully soon some pictures to add soon.

So I’m going to start right off with an upcoming trip to Tacoma to check out Tacoma Rail. The port will be open on Saturday the 15th for the Maritime Festival. Several people will be taking the Amtrak Cascades #1000 north bound and heading back on #1009. This sounds like an interesting trip as I’ll get the lowdown on the railroad that serves the Port of Tacoma. I’m sure I’ll be able to find out some information about that railroad’s interaction with BNSF and Union Pacific also. If anyone will be heading that way this coming weekend, keep an eye peeled and we could share some snack bar conversation.

I will be finishing up my search and purchase of a new digital SLR in the coming weeks. Within the next few weeks I’m hoping to also make another long distance rail trip, with the newly purchased camera it should be a great trip.

So stay tuned, I’ll have more rail ramblings coming to Dogcaught in the near future.

I’m excited to add another contributor to Dogcaught.  You should be seeing the first post from Adron Hall shortly.  Adron is a lifelong rail enthusiast and brings a great deal of knowledge of transportation and transit policy and politics.  He’s also an aspiring photographer and I’ve recently had some chats with him about photography equipment.  I look forward to his writing, and eventually his photos as another voice here on this site.

Welcome aboard!

At lunch today while I was snooping around the web and looking at rail excursions in the northwest. I happened along one site that is advertising excursions in the northwest and around the world. I clicked one excursion of particular interest and the banner image caught my eye. “That looks like one of my photos“, I thought to myself. After verifying with another person I determined it and another were certainly my photos.

I’m flattered that this website thought my photos were a good tool to sell their product. In fact I thought their treatment of them was pretty good. That’s where my compliments stop. Unfortunately they blatantly stole these images from dogcaught.com without permission. Its too bad they did that because I might have been able to dig up some quality images that would suit their needs better. I’m even quite certain we could have come to a price agreement that was amenable to both parties. Hey, I like train rides as much as the next railfan :-).

After a phone call the images were removed, so despite their earlier indiscretion they were good about fixing the issue. That said I still wonder about the other images on the site. Since I have no information about the others I won’t suggest anything else is wrong. I will say they have lost my trust though.

We have copyright laws in the U.S. to protect original works. All I ask is that anyone wanting to use an original work contact the copyright holder to negotiate use. For the most part in the amateur arena that is a simple process that involves a few emails and phone calls. So even if an image appears in a Google image search someone, somewhere, took it. If you want to use it ask for permission.

As I am currently preparing for a weekend photography trip, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to post some of my checklist and see what other folks do to prepare. Here are the things I consider and prepare when venturing out to take photos:

1. Charge things. Camera, radio, cell phone, and any other electronic gadgets.
2. If spending the night, pack those chargers into the duffel bag / suitcase.
3. Find radio frequencies. Look up the radio frequencies for any rail lines in the area and be sure those frequencies are available on my radio. It’s nice to have a radio that can store all of the AAR channels so you don’t have to worry about reprogramming things when you go to a new area.
4. Prepare your information.  Maps, timetables, lineups, or other material that will help you spend more time shooting and less time wondering.
5. Pack for the weather. Not really railfanning-specific, but smart nonetheless. You’ll want to have appropriate clothing.
6. Bring along your paperwork for hotel confirmations, airline e-tickets, etc.
7. Clean camera equipment. Any sensor dust that needs to be removed? How are your lenses looking? It’s a lot easier to clean things in a calm room at home than on the road.
8. Pack food for lunches.  There’s no sense in interrupting your photography to drive to town and eat some fast food.  Pack some nonperishable items that can be eaten trackside throughout the day.

What do you think? Are there other things you do to prepare? Please leave a comment and share…

As some of you know who have followed my photography, I have been branching out into more general photography and not just trains over the last year or so. I’m still taking railroad photos but have also started a new web project to share some of the things I’ve learned as I’ve grown as a photographer.

I call it Photoschooled.

The topics include general photography information, ideas on how to improve your photos, and digital image management including organization and online photo websites. Bookmark the site, subscribe to the RSS feed, and comment on what you see.

The SP&S 700 folks, Oregon Pacific Railroad, and Oaks Park are presenting a “Summer Steam Special” this year in Portland on July 12-14.  The event will offer both public (and private party) rides behind the SP&S 700 or one of OPR’s diesels.  For more information head over to their website, but it should be a few days of fun.

Oh… did I forget to mention they’re offering cab rides?

[tag]sp&s 700, sps700, oakspark, portland, pdx, trains, railroad, steamtrains, prpa[/tags]