Trackside with Erik and Mike, Vol. 51: May 8, 2006

[Bergie]

The latest installment of Trackside with Erik and Mike is now live within the Railroading section on the Trains.com home page. Please read this week's column first then vote for your favorite photo below.

[DrummingTrainfan]

Now where the heck on that home page is the article? I must be blind or something because I can't find any link to the article, just the little box "photo of the day" near the bottom of the page [D)][D)]

Why don't you provide a link anymore like you used to, Bergie? Just curious..

[Noah Hofrichter]

I went with Mike's photo. It was tough, but when I blew both of them up, I liked Mike's just a little better. The lighting was better, and I liked the angle of a long train flowing back out of the picture. I also liked the exauhst streaming out of the locomotives, and the general scenery was better. I liked Erik's too, but I've seen to many shots of CN units from almost the 3/4 roster shot angle. Mike's just had much more appeal to me.

Noah

[PBenham]

Pssssst.. I flipped a coin on this one. [}:)] Both appealed to me, but the slight elevation and the SD50 or 60F won the day for Mike, along with a heads coming up, on my semi-official Pennsylvania quarter. So Mike gets the vote! But Erik, your shot is fine, too.

[Rocket Man]

Both interesting shots. The lighting was better in Mike's... the color was better in Erik's. The open door bugged me though. If someone was incidentally waving out the door or something it would have been better in my opinion. I like the capture of the length of the train in Mike's too.

[Anonymous]

I like Erik's picture better but with "little door" open on the front of the engine just "spolied" it for me.

[gemotor]

This time it's Erik's photo. See, Erik, I got the spelling right this time. Erik's shot was just superb - great color, crisp. Underline that, crisp. Great depth of field, and nicely composed. Mike, I wonder about your lens. Both of you shot at f6.3, but Mike's photo was way soft, and rendered an otherwise nice composition lifeless. Evening light like that ought to have some highlights somewhere, but look at the ballast. Nothing. Maybe it's the humid Wisconsin sky.

[UPTRAIN]

I voted for Erik. Nothing like a little short local with neat power and with the door open. They do that here a lot on the Ultimate Power...er...Union Pacific.

[wildbill]

I voted for mikes shot this time. The open door bothered me too. Too much of a neat freak I guess. I like to have things buttoned down. Bergies shot was very good but I just liked the way Mike had the train coming sort of out of the landscape. By the way, what is the second unit in Mikes shot? From this angle its hard to identify.

[Anonymous]

I have to say that Mike's photo is better, simply because the open door on the lead locomotive in Erik's photo is distracting. The yellow stripe is also more prominent, and eye catching. :-)

[Anonymous]

I voted for Mike's photo. I like the scenery and the fact that a lot of the train is shown. Well-composed, the train is at just the right angle, no complaints.

Erik's photo is great, too, but I don't really like that open door, even though it does make it a memorable picture.

[Anonymous]

as pathfinder said
I like Erik's picture better but with "little door" open on the front of the engine just "spolied" it for me.

CN paint is available from most suppliers. The CN SIG interest group has lots more info on CN..... ranks right up there with BNSF, ATSF in interest. Check them out at
http://cnlines.ca/

[Anonymous]

I also voted for Erik's pic.

[kicksvette]

A wedgie of a long train or a wedgie of a short train?

Went with the short train. Erik's shot puts more of the train in the picture and makes it look like a train shot. Mike's is more of a scenic shot that happens to have a train in it. Erik's is also a crisper picture. I can read the reporting number on the end of the hi-cube. Mike's seems to have a soft overall focus. Erik's also manages to show some fresh spring weed growth between the rails on the siding to add interest. And the open door gives some uniqueness not usually seen when I vist the local high speed triple track.

[ddillaby]

My vote went to Mike. While color saturation in Erik's photo was excellent, because I suspect he was using a telephoto or zoom lens, everything is foreshortened and the entire train looks like it was squashed from back to front if you look at it carefully.