I went with Andy's shot as well - reminded me of the former street running in Watertown, NY (albeit not with UP power). Passenger trains had to run over that route to reach the long-gone NYC station downtown.
Freight customers on that line (by then a dead end) included New York Air Brake.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Even though I'm a twice-a-day Metra rider, I went with Andy Townsend's photo in Rockford. It looks a lot like former interurban trackage, what with the street running and power lines.
I went with Paul's because I have always had such a fascination with street running. It was always a rarity here in the UK the towns came first and railways were a later addition. In the US it was the other way around. The first time I went to Oakland CA, it almost blew my mind!
Kevin's photo of weed choked track is also a wonderful evocative capture of a bygone age.
Well done photographers and well done TRAINS!!
Gerry
Paul did a great job of getting the reflection of the NS locomotive on the side of the stainless steel Metra coaches in his photograph.
To Mr. Burris: congrats on the best photo I've seen yet in these competitions.
I call real, non 'clever-clever' (ie professionally staged) images of our real life experiences like your photo "organic." When you took your pic you were no doubt not thinking about f-stop, speeds etc, but "these guys probably won't be coming around here much any more."
I had the same experience with Lehigh Valley crews driving S2's for the last time through my home town in the early 70's. I wish I could have afforded a camera. I was a frequent guest of the crews those last few months, at age 12 I had my first coffee on a LV caboose that stopped for an hour or more each day in the last weeks of the operations of the local branch. (Honeoye Falls, New York)
The best photos I ever took were on 110 film, through a camera shaped like Mickey Mouse's head, with a 1/4 inch plastic lens in the nose. I got a pic of our small town mayor flipping me the bird as he walked away after I asked him if I could simply take his picture. He thought the Mickey Mouse-head camera was a joke. It wasn't, it took great pics through that minuscule plastic lens.
Unfortunately I acquired it about a year after LV abandoned the local line.
I did get a ton of date nails out of the local tracks though.
Lots of great photographs to select from once again!
Darren (BLHS & CRRM Lifetime Member)
Delaware and Hudson Virtual Museum (DHVM), Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures)
My Blog
How lucky for Paul Hoffman that he hails from Naperville! Even though my hometown didn't boast a water tower like that, the tank gives this shot the hometown feel for me. And if you come from a town like that, you need to include the heavy mainline action that's so much a part of it (Naperville only has two of the busiest outlying stations on the entire Metra system!).
I'd also like to give a shout-out to Mr.Burris for his interesting shot. That one, more than any of the others, gave me the feel of my home town. I developed friendships with the crew members of the local trains that the Grand Trunk Western used to run into the town, and consequently, while helping them throw switches, etc., often got a view of their caboose similar to this one (and not too much earlier!).
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
I went with Andy's shot bc it said 'hometown' to me, with it's train running down the middle of the street and the USPS drop-box on the side there. It's the one that jumped right out at me the first time through, which none of the others did, although they are all nice shots.
Nance-CCABW/LEI
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” --Will Rogers
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right! --unknown
Like Henry6, I went with Paul's photo, but for slightly different reasons. Mainly, Paul's image was the only one where you could tell exactly where and which town the photo was taken.
Not to take away from the other shots, which were all good (Drew's was my second choice, but only because I recognize the location; and Alex's shot is so clear it looks almost like a model railroad); it's just that none of the other shots conveyed "hometown" to me. I'd bet that the other submissions all had ties to the photographer, but I felt that the theme needed to be better expressed in the photos, which should be able to speak for themselves.
Paul Hoffman's. His was the only one that included a passenger train, a commuter train at that; what says home more than the commuter train that takes you there each night. A locomotive, a caboose, even a single track or a track with siding don't make it a hometown picture. Paul's really doesn't either but better than the others. Where is the hometown grade crossing, the depot, the teamtrack and freight house, the kids waving at the familiar engineer or conductor, the warmth and romance of home? None showed it. Didn't have to be a picture of antiquity, either, just a town, a train and some town and train people.
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