Trackside Lounge

[CopCarSS]

Quentin,

The small JPG here doesn't even really do the shot justice. It was taken with my 4x5 setup with slow, fine grained film (Efke 25). Since shooting 4x5 is kind of a slow, deliberate process, I find that I do all the right things to make a good shot. I use an immense, heavy duty tripod. I use a cable shutter release. I dial in the exposure as accurately as possible (the histogram on my DSLR is a great tool for this). Etc., etc. 

The print of that shot is one of my favorites from my limited B&W film experience. I actually just started shooting B&W about a year ago. I haven't fully commited to it yet as I don't really have room for a darkroom at home, so I have to rent time at a local darkroom. I'm working on this, though, and may start shooting 4x5 more often because the results are spectacular.

[CopCarSS]

Cool shots, Dan. Where were the shots of 1385 taken? It's been awhile since I've been to Mid-Continent (probably since 1999 or so), but I don't remember a busy road like the one in your shots paralleling the line at all.

[tree68]

Chris - I just tried several approaches to putting your images on the board and couldn't.  I also built a quick web page on my PC and couldn't get the image I was trying (Saginaw) to load - I suspect it has something to do with linking to that server.

If I put the URL in the address line of my browser, it comes up just fine.

[CNW 6000]

Good catch.  The 1385 pictures were actually taken in Oshkosh during the summer of that year.  I don't know why it won't let me show the pictures.  I've asked but nobody at my server company has responded.

[Modelcar]

.....Well it sure looked beautiful to me Chris.

[Noah Hofrichter]

Dan, some neat shots from Mid Continent. I only saw the WC&C 1 running once when I was really little, so I don't remember it that well. And I can only wish I would have seen the 1385 running. Maybe someday...

As far as why you can't get the links to work in the img tag, I think I have an idea what's wrong. It appears those links don't go directly to the image file. Instead they seem to go to a page with the image on them. (It's kind of odd to me, as I've never seen a page that ended in .jpg that didn't go to just the image.) But what the forum software needs is only the direct link to the image file inside the tags, not a link to a page.

If I go to the pages you linked to and right click on the photos, you'll see a line that says "Address." Let's see if using that link inside the IMG tags works instead, as it should be a direct link to the image itself:

That works when I preview it anyway!

One other tip that I'd offer is to try and avoid using spaces in your file and folder names in the future too. Anywhere were there are spaces there ends up being a "%20." While it's not a necessary thing to do as the links will still work, leaving the spaces out makes the link a little more "neat," if you will, at least to me.

Noah

[Poppa_Zit]

PZ,

I haven't had as much experience with scans but here are my thoughts.

• I have noticed color problems when having scans made at most labs. I think a lot of the consumer, and even prosumer labs had a tendency to really kick up saturation levels. That really bugged me because everything I got back looked like Velvia (albeit with even less accurate colors and odd color casts). Generally speaking I was shooting Provia 100F with a little Astia 100 mixed in. Had I wanted the Disneyland colors of Velvia I would have shot Velvia so the extra saturation was kind of a pain and led to some loss of fine detail that wasn't retrievable.
• You mentioned scratches when getting photo CDs. I simply had far too many problems with scratches that I just gave up on photo CDs. Even the better labs seemed to get scratches on slides/negs. That was simply unacceptable to me, so I quit going that route.
• Today, on the rare occasion that I need a scan, I either do my own for web use or I get a drum scan from a Pro Lab here in Denver. Since the only film I shoot consistently is 4x5, drum scans cost a pretty penny. As such, I don't do too much with them. When I scan my own, I do notice that I don't get the most from the slide/negative, but the scan will generally suffice for web publication and small prints.
• I'm not sure if you've had this problem, but I've noticed that I have more problems with slides than with negatives, especially when scanning my own. I've read a couple solutions to this problem, but haven't tried either. 1) Unmount 35mm slides before scanning them. 2) Scan transperancies as negatives and reverse the color in Photoshop. Have you heard of/had experience with either?

Chris,

I have a Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart S20 scanner that I bought for my business back in the mid-1990s, IIRC. It scans up to 5x7 flats plus slides plus 35 mm film by using a series of cassettes built into the unit.  It will scan to 3600 dpi.  I have used it many times for slides and have never had a problem.  In fact, I bought it mainly to scan slides of products sent to us by manufacturers for print use.  I would say it has been subjected to moderate use and has operated near flawlessly.

 

[CNW 6000]

Noah,

That worked.  Thanks!  Here are all the pics in bigger form.  Feel free to skip if you would like to.

CNW 1385 approaches:

Western Coal & Coke 1:

Saginaw Timber 2:

[CShaveRR]

Thanks for the good luck message Carl.  I have survived three and only have one more to go (calculus). Got on my bike yesterday and rode a mile down the tracks to get a picture of the Dinky crossing the over the canal. It was a little chilly (20 degrees) but it was sunny. I am going to get the film developed tomorrow so I should know soon if I got any good shots. If I do I'll have to finally figure out how to post pictures on here, (I've been on here over three years and I still havn't figured out how). Gonna have to figure it out one of these days. Oh well, bye for now.

emmar 

I hope calculus went well for you--it was my downfall in college (and I was a math major!).

Did I hear you say "bike"?  Good for you!

[Lord Atmo]

well i finally managed to sneak out to Altoona at 7:00 AM in -5 degrees (why yes i AM dedicated!). LTS61 and one of the manifests hadnt yet left. so it was photo time:

UP 3225 was sitting around on its own. possibly dropped off by the other manifest.

the rest of the power sitting out by the office was a snoot dash 2 (i love snoots) and 2 dash 8s. 

then it was on to check for CNW relics. and there were some nice ones sitting around that day!

i havent a clue what this  hopper is, but i remember seeing them way back in the RR golden age. i love these!

onward i trudged. through the snow in the cold with only a hat and gloves for warmth. but only a close detail shot would do this 175000 series hopper justice. they're not common to Altoona. and this  was only the second i have seen so far.

finally, i came across a zito boxcar sitting at the edge of the yard. another great addition to my roster!

i also saw about 4 malt hoppers, but they're a dime a dozen and i posted enough pics for a single post.

ENJOY!

     

[philnrunt]

    Hello all- this is my first visit to the Trains Forum, I've always hung around the MR Forum and checked in to the Garden RR Forum a few times, but for some reason, just never came over here.

   So is this the place to chat with the Trains crowd? I've already posted a few replys, and from what I've read, this is as good an information site as the MR section.

   Hope to become more of a regular over here, my horizons need expanded!

[CShaveRR]

Welcome to the Lounge (and the rest of the Forum), Philnrunt!  There are a few Hoosiers that drop in from time to time.

Max, what would you like to know about that CNW covered hopper?  It looks like a 435000-series car, which CNW acquired from Procor Ltd. back in the 1980s (with some research I could be a little more specific).  Cars in that series were built by Bethlehem Steel.

[CNW 6000]

Neat pics Max.  It's wise to get pics of that stuff before it's gone.  I keep my eyes out and never seem to see anything CNW but green covered hoppers.  Occasionally some ex-CNW coal hoppers but they seem to have drifted to leasing companies.

[emmar]

Thanks for the pictures Max. I have never seen any CNW cars, so it's nice to at least see pics of them.

As for me and pictures hope to have a couple on later today.

Happy trainwatching.

emmar 

[Lord Atmo]

Neat pics Max.  It's wise to get pics of that stuff before it's gone.  I keep my eyes out and never seem to see anything CNW but green covered hoppers.  Occasionally some ex-CNW coal hoppers but they seem to have drifted to leasing companies.

thanks. yeah i see those too. they only seem to change the reporting mark. so i still enter them in as "CNW" anyway, just to make my roster complete.

but i've seen my share of straight CNW ones too. they're somewhere in my album 

Max, what would you like to know about that CNW covered hopper?  It looks like a 435000-series car, which CNW acquired from Procor Ltd. back in the 1980s (with some research I could be a little more specific).  Cars in that series were built by Bethlehem Stel.

those small yellow ones? any info is appreciated. thanks in advance!

i shall continue to shoot all CNW equipment i may find. i never knew there was much interest in rolling stock. it sure is nice to have CNW pictures people will look at 

 

[CopCarSS]

Just a note to all the photographers out there: PMA season is here, so most of the big companies will be issuing their new product releases. Canon and Pentax have already made their announcements. I expect to see more in the coming days. I think I'll be picking up a K20D when they hit the market. It should be just about everything I'll need in a camera for a long, long time.

BTW, DPReview is a pretty good place to keep up to date on announcements.

[CNW 6000]

What's PMA Season?

[CopCarSS]

PMA is an acronym for Photo Marketing Association (or something along those lines). Every year they hold a trade show where members can display products. It's traditionally been a launching pad for major announcements from all of the big manufacturers.

Since this is an even-numbered year, we'll also have the Photokina show in Cologne, Germany later in the year, so the PMA announcements may not be quite as large (Since it's a bi-annual event, some manufacturers save really big announcements for the Photokina show).

To my eye, it looks like Pentax has brought all the big stuff to the PMA show. Unless they have the long rumored 645D or K1D, they'll probably only be announcing a new lens or two at Photokina. Since Canon only brought out a mild rework of the Rebel (the Rebel XSi), I would imagine that they have something big planned for Photokina (I'm guessing the 5D will be replaced...maybe by the long anticipated 3D that has only been vaporware to this point).

[CShaveRR]

Never seen CNW cars, Emma?  I guess that, considering that you were about seven when CNW vanished, that isn't too inconceivable.  And they're getting rarer!

Now, Max, here's all I have.  Cars in CNW series 435000-435084 were obtained in mid- to late 1985 from Procor Limited.  They were relettered and renumbered from UNPX series 121100-121242 (cars built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in 1974).  These cars were fully repainted into CNW bright yellow ("Zito" yellow).

As far as I know, none of them has been repainted into any other paint scheme.  At last count, 54 of the original 85 cars remain.

On another note, I may not be in as often for the next several days.  Pat's dad lost his 14-month battle with cancer, and we'll be headed to Michigan sometime this weekend (after our daughter arrives from California).  We'd said our goodbyes earlier this week, and our family has good memories of this past Christmas, just a few weeks ago, when the entire family got to see him before the final decline.

[blhanel]

Condolences from Iowa, Carl.

[CopCarSS]

Condolences from Iowa, Carl.

Likewise from Colorado, Carl. You, Pat and your family will be in my prayers.

[Modelcar]

....Pat and Carl....Our condolences from Quentin and Jean.

[CNW 6000]

Condolences for you and your wife from WI.  I'll say a prayer for your family today.

[mudchicken]

Likewise from here.

[Murphy Siding]

     Sorry to hear of your loss Carl.  You have my sympathies.

     -Norris

[Mookie]

Our sympathies to Pat and you, Carl.  Give her a hug from us.

[locomutt]

Carl, Our condolences to Pat, You and the entire Family.

 

CW & mutt 

[Lord Atmo]

thank you for that info, Carl, and i'm very very sorry to hear about your loss. my thoughts shall be with you, my friend

[emmar]

My condolences as well  Carl to you and your family.

emmar 

[Poppa_Zit]

Sorry for your loss, Pat and Carl.