Joe, there's at least one C40-8 standard cab in service between Selkirk and Boston in intermodel service, usually on Q114 and its' WB counterpart. See 2nd unit in this video You should go to North Station at rush hour...you can stand right near the two yellow lift bridges and see three-train meets! South Station is busier but there's no *safe* spot to watch from. (are my videos making you jealous yet?)
And yes, the Merritt Parkway is a fun road!
EDIT: You got your new page, Noah! Post away!
Ok, then that's the one I saw, I guess.And yes, I am jealous. But I am NOT a morning person, so evening rush would me much better for me
If you ever go to NY or anything, at least once take I-84, instead of the Merritt (not like you'd be missing that much train action or anything), so you can see teh Waterbury Depot. This thing is really cool!
And you said Selkirk, and that reminded me: CSX ALREADY lost one of the new 46As, even though they moved it ONCE... 4630 was in Port Newark, which is really close to the MMC. So what do they do? They send it all the way up to Selkirk... And then all the way back down to South Kearny... Watch, next, they'll send it up to Canada (Hey, Alex, maybe you could use it with you new MLs ), then to Mexico, before actually getting to the MMC.AND, 4629 ended up on the ground. No, not just one wheel, or even an entire truck. All 8 wheels, on the ground in Port Newark. Good job...
And, we have 1 Multilevel waiting for delivery! 7676 was spotted on the end of a trash train (some ML-haters find that hilarious...) into NJ a few days ago, which leaves only 7677 left!
And now, finally, here's my 2010 railfanning new year resolutions:1. Get a new (and way better) camera, since the old one took an epic dump and doesn't work at all.2. Try and get out railfanning more, maybe even some more riding(as time and money allow)3. Try some new locations- Bound Brook (With NJT RVL, NS Lehigh Line, and CSX Trenton Line trains, all running together) and Princeton Junction (with 125 MPH Acelas!)
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
CSX may not seem to make sense, but there's definetely a reason behind it all. Remember, they sent the first Metro-North M-8 cars for the New Haven Line via Selkirk too, and those made it to New Haven, eventually.
Uh, I'm not so sure about that...
Cause there's definately a reason that they lost 1001 in Minnesota for a month. Suuuuure, if you say so...
Yeah, but Newark to the MMC is barely a few miles. All the way to Selkirk? I'm not so sure about that...
Well Tyler, if you insist...
I headed out on Tuesday for my last railfanning adventure of 2009. One of the primary goals of the trip was to find and chase the UP’s Jefferson Junction job, but options such as heading to see if we could catch something on the WSOR around Horicon or shoot trains on the UP Adams Subdivision were also considered. We finally just decided to head east and see what the day would bring.Our first stop was the CP yard in Portage, just to see if anything was around. The whole way over the scanner had been awfully quiet, but that changed when we reached the yard, where we found a rather fantastic consist of two SOO GP40s split by a bandit MP15. Not only that, but as we headed around the north side of the yard to get a better look, the train began moving. Based upon the consist of 8 tanks with an empty centerbeam as an idler car, we determined it had to be an M&P job. Jackpot! The M&P (officially G63) is a job which works a branch line between Portage and Madison, WI. A consist like this required at least a little bit of a chase.The sun wasn’t yet up, but we headed to Portage Junction to wait for the train to leave the yard (where we also found a rather nice trio of ICE units tied down on the siding with what appeared to be a 487 train). In a few short minutes the crew called the Dispatcher looking for a warrant on the M&P sub, and they quickly received it. They were racing the sunrise as to whether or not we’d have any light on the train here at this first location, and in the end I guess you’d call it a tie:If only the dispatcher had held him two more minutes...We did another shot by the Columbia Power plant south of town. Unfortunately being so early the light wasn’t very good at this location yet: lots of shadows. The next run by was much better lit, a few miles south of town at what I believe is the county B crossing. It’s one of the better barn shots on this line:We managed a half dozen more runbys at some of the better locations on the M&P, but I’ll just share the best shots. A crossing just north of Poynette:South of Poynette (one of my favorites):Climbing the ruling grade on the M&P sub north of Arlington, but with three engines and nine cars it was no problem today!Passing Goose Pond south of Arlington:One final run by a little bit further along:While there are lots more neat angles on the M&P, we were still hoping to catch the Jefferson Junction job, so we decided to leave the G63 and motor east. The Jefferson Junction (or JJ) job works a UP branchline from Fort Atkinson, WI to Clyman Junction, WI. It’s all that’s left of the CNW’s original charter line that ran from Janesville to Fon Du Lac, WI at one point. The job works a few days a week, going on duty at JJ and running up to Clyman Junction and back. Clyman is where the railroad joins the UP’s “main line,” between Chicago, Milwaukee, and the Twin Cities known as the UP’s Adams Line. Past experience had put the JJ up to Clyman Junction about 9:30, and we arrived only a little there after. However, all signs pointed to the train as not having arrived Clyman yet. While driving over we heard a main line UP eastbound getting a warrant to leave Adams. Radio traffic indicated he was about 45 minutes away from Clyman and that he would be meeting the westbound local, LPA53, at Rock, the first siding west of Milwaukee. If we hadn’t yet seen the JJ, at least we had some Adams line trains to shoot! The first thing to show up was the eastbound, and we bagged him passing under the concrete coaling tower still in place at Clyman Junction:We headed east with the intention of catching the meeting going down at Rock. However, thanks to a few wrong turns we ended up heading back and set up to await the arrival of the westbound local at a town a little of the west of Rock called Lebanon, WI. The local had indicated to the dispatcher a stop here would be their only work for the day.We waited outside of town for a while, and after a few minutes the meet went off and the local arrived with quite a surprise: 5 engines, including three SD40s leading the train! It seems amazing that I would get excited over a trio of SD40s on the Adams line, as a few years ago that was the consist of almost every train here. However, now they’ve been placed in storage and demoted just like everywhere else, and it’s the widecabs that dominate. A quick hike into a field and up a hill netted me this shot, one of my favorite from the day:They had work to do in Lebanon, so we headed into town to see what was up. They apparently had a car to drop off at the local coop, to my knowledge the only customer in town:The crew was worried about the crossing having ice in the flange way, so they made one trip down the siding with the light engines to break a path and then spotted the car:While they tied back onto the train we headed west again to find another location to shoot them. Chasing on the Adams line is darn near impossible, so getting two runbys of a train was somewhat of an accomplishment. However, the light wasn’t working with us, and so I decided to get creative and try a pan shot of the lead snoot-nose SD40-2. Sadly, I might not get this chance many more times:We bid adieu to the local and his eleven cars, but now we had a dilemma: where to go next. There was no sign that a JJ job was really running this day, and both Horicon (and the WSOR) and the CP main line were about equal distance away, but we were torn on what we wanted to do. After much deliberation we finally decided to check out Horicon: even if there weren’t any moving trains there was a hobby shop there! The only thing to be found in Horicon was a storage line that included a former Green Bay and Western ALCo and the WSOR executive E units sitting next to the depot for the winter:After a stop at Butch’s Train Shop (which left my wallet a little lighter) we headed back west. We had to cross the CP to get home, and as we were on our way we heard a cluster starting to form between a delayed Amtrak 8 and two freights. We decided to stop off in the little town of Doylestown, WI and see what would happen. Unfortunately, we failed to get enough warning for what would happen next: Amtrak 8, the eastbound Empire Builder, snuck up behind us. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, (as it’s just Amtrak, and it’s always the same, right?) but as I jumped out of the car for a going away grab shot (the only thing I had time for), this met my eyes:Yep, of course, the one day they tack a BNSF engine (and a warbonnet no less!) on the point of Amtrak, I’m not in the place to shoot it! Grrr!Oh well, I wasn’t going to let it ruin an otherwise good day. The sun was sinking fast, but we stuck around to see if we could catch either of the two freights. 199 went though next, but my shot of him is nothing special. 231 would have been through shortly thereafter, but the dispatcher was having trouble with a power switch and so to our dismay he sat while the sun sank behind some trees (and it was only 3:45!). But since we were this close we waited around, and I went a little “artsy” for the last shot of the day:That’s the old Doylestown depot in the background. It’s been moved from where it once sat next to the tracks and now appears to serve as someone’s garage.It had turned out to be a really good day, though a relatively odd one. I never expected to go out and find a bandit MP15, a trio of SD40-2s on the Adams line, and a BNSF unit on Amtrak. It was a good way to close out 2009!Enjoy!Noah
I really like that first shot of Goose Pond, Noah! Those red barns on the top of the hill, not to mention a seriously awesome consist... And that pan shot of the UP SD40-2 - wow! Looks like you had a good last trip of the season! Thanks for sharing.
i have gatherd some of my favorite shots of 2009
No particular order
Noah, I agree, that pan shot of the Snoot is sick! I know that if I tried that, it would be so awful...
Brent, I really like that shot of the coal drag at sunset (or is it sunrise?)!
Well, here's My Favorites of '09I can honestly say that over the last year, my photography skills have increased greatly. Here's where I was last year, and here's where I am this year.Sure, in between, there were some pretty bad shots (worse than the one from last year...), but I suppose it's all part of learning, so that's fine with me!
As always, great pictures Noah! What a catch with the MP15 on the M&P branch, I would have never thought that one of those would end up on there! Great catch with the trio of SD40-2s! The pan turned out very well! Pan shots and Wide Angle shots of snoot nose SD40-2s are my favorites. Also, great catch with the War Bonnet leading the number 8! Recently it seems like Amtrak is borrowing a lot of BNSF power...
Brent, many of those pictures look quite farmiliar. 2009 was a pretty great year.
Joe, nice pictures!
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
Thanks for the comments guys, they are much appreciated.
Joe, pan shots are easier than you'd think, though I've found they do take a little practice. My main problem is keeping vertically steady as I pan along, as my hands tend to shake quite a bit. I shoot between 1/40 and 1/80 or so with a fast train, so even though the blur isn't as good it helps eliminate the risk I'll screw it up with vertical shake. I always start panning the engine ahead of where I actually want to take the picture so I'm in a fluid motion, and then snap off three to four shots in rapid succession. Usually at least one of them will turn out. Of course, this isn't always the case, as in an instance a few weeks ago where I screwed up a pan of a SOO SD60.
Give it a try sometime: you might be surprised at the results!
Your '09 favorites are pretty nice too.
Jordan, just curious, in the new sig image what does the M&P part stand for?
Noah
Noah HofrichterGive it a try sometime: you might be surprised at the results!
Uh yeah, I was definately surprised... Tried it on my model railroad once, let's just say it didn't come out too good...Whoops... I think what I did there, was I turned the camera more than I actually moved it...
OT, stupid question- I'm looking at cameras. I assume "M mode" means manual? Probably yes, I'm probably being stupid in asking...
ns3010OT, stupid question- I'm looking at cameras. I assume "M mode" means manual? Probably yes, I'm probably being stupid in asking...
Yes, at least on the mode dial on Canon cameras. you probably won't use Manual mode while shooting trains much except for long exposure shots at night. A mode where you can control the exposure length but the camera automatically exposes correctly is better. That's Tv (time priority) mode, although I use Av (aperture priority) mode, where you indirectly control shutter speed via the aperture.
Also, remember that models are very small - a little bit of shake shooting real trains, say half an inch of blur on the real train. Not noticable. On a model, half and inch is the height of a person! Pan shots of models are VERY difficult without a tripod and/or a lot of luck.
Ok, well, this camera has all those modes and is probably in my price range.
And I just tried it again (with my phone, since I currently don't have a camera...), and it came out much better:Perfect? Not even close. Good? For me yes, for everyone else, no!
I think one of the other issues with the first shot is that it's not enough of a true side-on view. To get a crisp pan you have to have something moving parallel to the camera, and with that angle very little would be. A pan can be done at angles like that, but it's just harder. Plus there's the reasons Ty mention of everything being miniature.
The most recent result is definitely heading down the right path. Panning a model railroad is definitely trickier. The only time I ever tried I must have panned about 10 trains, and this was the only one that really came out (and even it's not the greatest):
I'm not familiar with that specific camera, but based on the specs sheet you posted it sounds pretty good. Canon Powershots are generally supposed to be decent cameras I believe.
Noah, the M&P is a subsidiary for my freelanced WIN. It stands for the Madison and Portage. In my version of events, the M&P would own the CP branch from Portage to Madison, along with the Janesville-DJ branch, and the UP line from Janesville to Chicago.
Joe, I think with practice, you'll be able to get the pans down pretty good. I also forgot to mention in my last post, you have gotten better as a photographer. It all takes time in photography. I use to a pretty bad photographer back in 07, and for most of 08. But as the years go by, you will get better. I guess the important thing is to be creative, and think about your shot. Everything doesn't have to be perfect to have a good shot. When conditions aren't perfect, it challenges the photographer to think differently. Also, that Canon Power Shot should do well. Like Noah said, they seem to be decent cameras.
Tyler, I might have to trying using the Tv mode. I always screw up the Aperture on Manual...