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steam railroader portraits at Strasburg

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steam railroader portraits at Strasburg
Posted by mfmalk on Sunday, November 12, 2017 5:40 PM

http://www.losttracksoftime.com/p47324941

 

Follow the above link to a few of my current-day railroaders portrait photographs captured at the Strasburg Railroad last weekend.
Not character actors or models, these are a small portion of the very talented men and women who make Strasburg one of the premier steam operations and mechanical departments in the country.
 
The featured locomotive is Norfolk & Western #475, dressed up as #382 for the Lerro Productions charter.
N&W #382, scrapped long ago, was the motive power of the Virginia Creeper from the Abington Branch made famous by O. Winston Link.
 
Enjoy,
Matthew

 

 

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Posted by seppburgh2 on Sunday, November 12, 2017 8:09 PM

Nicely done!  You captured the spirit of steam railroading.

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Posted by zugmann on Monday, November 13, 2017 2:21 PM

Did they just get a bonus and all buy new bibs?  Mine are dirtier than that - and I'm just a freight guy.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by Firelock76 on Monday, November 13, 2017 6:10 PM

Great portraits Matthew, all of them!

My favorite is Jenny in her "Rosie the Riveter" outfit.  That young lady's done her homework, it's spot-on, from the bandanna to the herringbone twill overalls.

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 4:03 AM

zugmann
Did they just get a bonus and all buy new bibs?

Precisely the problem I had seeing these.  I was reminded of one of those stories of Hollywood where a star supposed to play a farm wife was put in custom-tailored costume plaid shirt and jeans for thousands of dollars (and those were Bretton Woods $35-an-ounce-of-gold dollars) instead of just finding worn or at least off-the-shelf clothes that sorta fit ... as a real farm wife would have worn.  All these people look not as if they came from work but are wearing costumes or attending a steampunk cosplay convention - even after one day’s wear around working steam and subsequent washing they would not be so perfectly clean and straight looking.  And if candidly shot on the job in ‘30s fashion their complexions wouldn’t be so scrubbed and neat — these look as posed and trim as school pictures.

At least the Trevithick Day girl had some smudging applied to her face to ‘get the feel’ a bit better...

This isn’t a nitpick (or really any kind of complaint against the Strasburg people, who really walk the walk as well as any historic railroaders did), just a note on believable verisimilitude.

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Posted by Miningman on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 7:59 AM

McDonaldized railroading ... never seen Miners like that either.

Oh I've been pose-in' on the railroad.

Oh well, it's nice. 

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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 9:08 AM

Now don't take it the wrong way - the guys and gals at Strasburg are real railroaders.  I just chuckled at the super clean (and new) bibs.  The same crap we give guys here when they get shiny and clean clothes. Kind of a tradition.  I'll just place these photos in the same category as the "headlight polishing" one.

Overmod
All these people look not as if they came from work but are wearing costumes or attending a steampunk cosplay convention

Nah, they'd need lots of gears superglued to their hats for that.  Or huge goggles. Or a fursuit. 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by Ulrich on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 4:43 PM

Going to have to find the time to visit soon.. haven't seen live steam since N&W 611 came to Buffalo in 1993. 

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Posted by mfmalk on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 5:03 PM

Did I state in my original post that I was trying to accurately and/or historically recreate portraits from the 1930's? Or did I say they were portraits of current day railroaders?

 

FYI: image #2 is of the steam locomotive engineer that day, images #3 & #6 are of the mechanics on lunch break from performing heavy repairs on Great Western 90, #5 was the train's conductor.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 5:17 PM

Hey, if a true artist like Matthew was going to show up one day to take your picture, wouldn't you want to look your best? 

Who wants to be immortalized looking like they crawled out from behind a dumpster?

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Posted by Miningman on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 5:23 PM

Hey , I resemble that remark! 

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 7:08 PM

Shuts me up.

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Posted by Penny Trains on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 7:24 PM

Yes, they're not quite as "out on the line" as the OWL's photos were, so you don't get the grime, but come on, they're spectacular photos!  And I agree, you don't usually show up for a portrait wearing rags.  Wink

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 9:03 PM

Firelock76
Who wants to be immortalized looking like they crawled out from behind a dumpster?

Raises hand.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 9:04 PM

mfmalk
FYI: image #2 is of the steam locomotive engineer that day, images #3 & #6 are of the mechanics on lunch break from performing heavy repairs on Great Western 90, #5 was the train's conductor.

I'm still going to make fun of the clean bibs. 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 10:24 AM

Portrates are fine.  But even better are pictures at the actual work stations at work.  Something you might consider for the future.

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