Red engine, white snow...repeat after me...red engine, white snow...red engine, white snow.....!
Have I been hypnotized by that repetitious siren call, or are the photos really that good?
Must be, because I voted for my second of that ilk against another very striking competitor. What didn't I like about the UP shot? Too perfect! Is that possible?
TJB
Nashville, TN
Well, I did vote for Mikes photo, it tipped the scale barely. But had Ken submitted the "snowy passing train"-shot ("Blowing snow from the passing train darkens the sky at Pewaukee") he would have gotten my vote .... I really like the fuzzy image of the back of the train and the sharp contrast of the signs to the left. Great Shot!!!
Regards
zikkan
Sorry Mike,
Maybe its the fact I have a soft spot for CP, but if you would have entered the loaded and empty's on the curve, I would have had a much harder time deciding. All are great shots though!
Thanks,
Chuck
nanaimo73 wrote: This is just like last week, Mike takes the best shot and then enters the wrong photo for voting. I voted for Kent, but I would have prefered to vote for the photo of WSOR GP38 3803 and WC GP40-2 3017 with that purple sky.
This is just like last week, Mike takes the best shot and then enters the wrong photo for voting. I voted for Kent, but I would have prefered to vote for the photo of WSOR GP38 3803 and WC GP40-2 3017 with that purple sky.
I agree. I voted for Kent because the picture reminds me of what I see outside. It's the sort of shot I could have taken if I had gotten out and scouted the area.
However, that being said....IF Mike had only.....*sigh* Mike, you trying to throw the game or something?
Last time I voted for the shot in the snow. And it probably took a similar effort for Kent to get this shot. I wonder what a shot taken a few seconds later would look like!
Nonetheless, I had to go with Mike's shot this time. As somone said, there's a story there. Maybe more than one (this is why the Missouri Amtrak trains can't run on time!). And when you think of all of the probable outcomes of where the two units came together side by side, this was probably the best.
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 aagree with past posters that Mike probably did enter the wrong picture, because that purple sky shot is absolutely stunning!
But several weeks ago I mentioned his website and the fact that he had some great shots from around Eureka, Missouri (my birth-state). It was neat to see some of that coal train action here. I couldn't help myself. In spite of my partiality and predelection to the asymmetrical, the parallel union of those two trains was just too big of a fascinating coincidence to ignore. Very cool.
Admittedly it always hard to pass up "Red Train White Snow", but I sided with Mike on this one.
Whoops, I just saw the results of the voting so far. hmmmmmm, looks like it's haiku time:
Red trains on white snow
turns Mike's pricey camera
into paperweight.
A mile from the tracks, but I still hear the whistle! Cleveland, Tennessee
Two absolutely marvelous shots for this week's vote!! I'm totally stunned by the sheer beauty of both!
In the end, my decision had to come down to a matter of personal evocation of feel. The perfect alignment of the lead engine and DPU in Mike's UP shot is what makes it very appealing, although to me, Kent's CP photo evokes the feeling of much more power, with the consist blowing up snow and the trackside angle giving a strong feeling of "comin' at ya!!" This is what took me most, and Kent got my vote for this week.
Kent modestly noted in the column that he's just lucky to get the lens cap off. Well, let me tell you, his shot makes anything I've ever shot look like chicken feed (I'm so bad with cameras, digital or otherwise, and I don't know why; guess they just don't like me). In my opinion, he's a much better shot than I can hope to be!
- Bryan
Sorry, Kent, but I just did not have the heart to vote for your this time, even though it is a spectacular shot, I just HAD to vote for the two UP coal trains meeting for three reasons.
Eureka, MO is a suburb of the City of St. Louis, my hometown, The line is on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Sub (Freq. 161.220 MHz) and three, I was in Kirkwood, MO and saw BOTH these trains. However, the Eastbound stalled on the hill (Kirkwood Hill) when the DPU ran out of fuel.
If Mike had not posted the shot from Eureka, your shot would have gotten my vote...I vote for anything St. Louis!
Kent's photo, with its simple yet strong and dramatic red-on-white impact, gets my vote. Mike's shot is a good composition, to be sure (and I'm not going to deduct for the luck, having had lucky shots of my own published) but the lighting is a bit on the dull side. Actually, and I wonder if anyone else agrees, my favorite of the bunch is Kent's previous shot with the train in the distance. There's a sense of anticipation, and the undulating rails, stark against the snow, add interest and draw the eye deeply into the scene, right to the approaching train. Just a thought.
Ctrain
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