TEEN RAILFAN PLACE- LETS TALK TRAINS !

[trainboyH16-44]

Oh, tpatrick, I suppose it's a lot easier than trians at times, with everything being so automated. Well, not as easy as lying back in run 8 as you fly across the prairies,but easy enough. At times.
Matthew

[Noah Hofrichter]

Alec, The problem with going to the Twin Cities is that it’s a four hour drive straight, no stopping for us. Make’s it hard to go there very often, especially with Gas prices as they are. And we’d get up there, spend a few hours and have to turn around and come home. So we usually only go up there when we’ve got more than two reasons too. But I would like to get up there, and head a little ways North to Rice Lake WI to see the Wisconsin Northern Railroad too sometime.

I was to Rochelle Once, about 2 or 3 years ago, and man was it a fun day. Just about every time we go to Chicago I ask my dad if we can go there again, but it’s an awful long ways from Chicago, and we usually never have enough time. I do want to go again.

Wesley, Good to know that Western Illinois looks pretty good right now. I think it will more depend on the weather as to where we go, but I’d really like to go to Dubuque and Illinois more than Central WI. And by the Way, Welcome!!! As for your question, I do have a scanner (Well, my parents own it, but I’m the only one that ever uses it). I find it a necessary part of railfanning for me, as in the little Wisconsin town I live in, with only three trains a week through here (and those are locals), the scanner is one of the few ways I know when the local gets here. As far as cost, we went to our local radio shack and got a hand held one for around 100 dollars. It has 200 channels, and works fairly well, I’m happy with it. I like a handheld type well too, as you can take it outside the house and the car, and can hang it on your belt to listen to while standing and watching the trains.

Say, I have to ask, what Kind of Nikon do you have? Do you like it? I’m debating getting a new camera sometime soon, and so I’ve been trying to dissect what all the different kinds are like. I’m just curious why you like Nikon the best.

Well guys, I’m going to get going, I think I’ve over stayed my welcome here already. Plus it’s Saturday, and I want to get some work on the Layout and Module today. See ya later!!

Noah

[Anonymous]

Wesley, [#welcome]

This is a fun forum for teens, very laid back.

I have a scanner, bearcat 150, dont use it too much...

I have a sony cyber shot, but my dad lets me use his Nikon D70 for railfanning- what a beast[:D]

I am actually leaving for the rochele train park ritght now... hope there isn't a track gang...

[wctransfer]

Yes! Glad we got another one. Ya, tpatrick, i know that the job is bad if you want time off, but who says i want to work for a class 1? The regional that im going for has 2 days off is the norm while your lucky on a class one if you get 2. 6-1 is the norm down here. Welp, went railfanning again today. Check the rrpicturearchives link in my sig. New ones are WC on the Hill, and Northtown.

Alec

[trainboyH16-44]

Hey noah, you have 4 reasons to go there! UP, CN, BNSF, and my favorite, CP!
I don't have a scanner, but I use a pentax K1000 for railfanning with slide film. It's old and practically a cliche, but it gets the job done better than my mum's last two cameras!
Ah, saturday...now to organize my slides!
Matthew

[photogeek88]

As far as why I think Nikon is the best...it's kind of a Chevy/Ford thing; it's hard to explain, but personally for me most of the reason was cost and personal thoughts. When I bought my D70 back last December, it was one of the cheaper DSLRs but had the best megapixel rating. You can get a D70s body and mid-range zoom, which I find works great trackside, for I think about $8 or 900. Check www.bhphotovideo.com. I also use Nikon equipment at my school newspaper (a D50 and SB-300 flash,) and all of the newspaper guys in my town use Nikon, and reccomended it, especially because I've thought of going into journalism. Canon gets auwfully pricey; I picked up a pretty good 70-300 mm lens this summer for just over $125, and it's still autofocus; hard to find with those guys, with all their fanciness! But I'm still a bit of a traditionalist; I have a Pentax K1000 and ZX-M for film, and I must say the K1000 is one of the best cameras I've ever used. Digital is great, but slide film still rocks!

[tpatrick]

Noah, are looking into film or digital? Either way, you might want to click on www.popphoto.com and do some research. Check their forums, too. They have an excellent Reader Gallery where you can post photos and get some expert feedback. I am sure they would be very impressed with some of your train shots.

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, I just got back from an AWESOME day at rochelle.... I saw about 11 trains in 4 hours... got great shots!!![:D]

Love that D70[:D]

I am uploading some of my best shots onto railpictures.net, and hopefully they will be accepted...

Hope everyone had a great Saturday, and has a great Saturday nite[8D]

[trainboyH16-44]

Yeah, the K1000 rocks. I'm not sure if it's the camera, the lens, or the film, but my sky is never a deep, deep blue like it sometimes is on my mum's new pentax, which I never use due to it's many shortfalls. Well, never is an absolute, and occasionally there's a train there that I really want a pic of, and it's the only camera around. zoom sucks, veiwfinder is a bit different from the actual picture, but the colours are usually good.
Matthew

[Noah Hofrichter]

Tpatrick, I’m looking at Digital. Right now it’s just a dream, as I don’t have anywhere near the funds to get a Digital SLR camera from any manufacturer, but I am starting to look into what I want to get down the road. I was playing with the Cannon Digital Rebel yesterday at the local Wal-Mart just to see what it was like, and it looked awfully neat. And thanks for the link!! I may have to look into joining that forum.

Chris, I see you got a few photos on railpictures.net at least!! Nice shots!!

Well guys, I’m going to keep going. I’ve got a history timeline project due tomorrow that I’m only about half done on, and if I want to go see a movie this afternoon I’ve got to work on that. I’ll see you guys later.

Noah

[AC6000CW]

Hey guys. i was going through some old photos in my album and found 3 pictures. one was me on the gp18 and the other was csx u23b 5553 and sd50.in run 4 in bonfay fl.
on the camera deal i am looking into 3 camera manfuractures nikon,canon,and kodak for a real good fast action camera for train in run 8.

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, I just got a couple more shots added onto railpictures, so if you care click on the link in my signaturre to see tham...

[trainboyH16-44]

Great pics chris! Now to scan in a couple of my good ones and see if they'll accept them....
I especially like the BN one, and the one in west glacier that is the place where my favorite BNSF pic of all time is taken. Where exactly is it?
Wow man, you've really been around!
Matthew

[wctransfer]

Ya really. Out west, and in Wisconsin . Cool pics.

Alec

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys.. Luckily my parents love to travel, and my dad is also a railfan, which allows me to get around to more places than I would on my own. There are a few photo spots that are bike riding distance from my house, but they are just a commuter rr and not the best photo locations.

Matthew, I you said you were going to submit stuff to railpictures.net... great! Noah was nice enough to give me some advice, and I will pass it on to you, as well as some advice based on my own experience.

First off- don' t take their rejections seriously... I have hasd about twenty photos rejected and 8 accepted.. like i said, very perticular. So do not get discouraged, keep on submitting stuff! Sooner or later you WILL get in.

Rejections- they will tell you why it was rejected. If they say "bad cropping" try cropping on your photo editing software and then re submit it- usually works for me.

When submitting, avoid cloudy day shots. I once submitted a beautiful shot of a CN train piercing through some thick afternoon fog, and they said it was underexposed... GO FIGURE ! Try and make most of your submissions sunny day shots.

uhh what else... oh yeah, if they reject a photo and you can't figure out why, post it here or email it to me and I try and figure out why they rejected it and give yuo advice on what to do fom there.


Best of luck