Trackside Lounge

[CShaveRR]

Sounds like a full day Carl.  Get any pics?

Sorry, I don't "do" pics.  As I mentioned, the first day's escapade was only about an hour; yesterday's was actually a little over three hours (Greg probably saw most of the Dinky Parade without us, as he would have stayed around for a couple of hours more).

[Lord Atmo]

heads up to anyone in Wisconsin. UP 9805 (known as CNW 8701 to most) is in St Paul right now. i would bet it's going to be coming back the other way to get back to Proviso. get those scanners ready! i'll post again when it leaves

[CopCarSS]

Actually, terra firma was there ready to greet me upon my arrival, which was ever so slightly delayed thanks to somnolent limo driver (I ended up taking the 7:05 AM flight instead of the 6:00 AM flight). Of course, if I resided in the San Juans, I don't think I'd be seeing terra firma for a good long time...

[CNW 6000]

Sounds like a full day Carl.  Get any pics?

[CShaveRR]

Back to lounging after a couple of interesting days trackside.  Yesterday we caught six trains in Elmhurst in the first hour after a dental appointment--another ten minutes would have yielded another scoot.

Today we went to Downers Grove to meet a visiting friend of Joe Kohnen's.  After seeing several dinkies and two long-distance Amtrak trains we drove to Proviso, Elmhurst, then back to Downers Grove, seeing a quick couple of freights in Elmhurst and a lot of the Dinky Parade from the window of 2Toots in Downers Grove.  Greg had never seen a coal train with a DP unit before, and seemed totally boggled by the frequency of rush-hour trains on the BNSF line.  He had come into town this morning via Amtrak from western Ohio, and is due to return tonight.  Joe, you'll probably have to bring him along next time you head this way!

[CShaveRR]

A kid?  I didn't pay that much for our house!  (That was a few years ago, though.)

Chris, how much did you have to dig away to reach terra firma once you got home?

[CopCarSS]

Attention Canon Shooters!!!

Lookie what I found in the B&H Used Department.

Yes, yes, yes...I know you may have to sell one of the kids or something, but this has to be one of, if not, the rarest used lens I've ever seen for sale. I think there are less than 100 of these worldwide (I know Sports Illustrated has a couple of them) and they were all custom built by Canon. Canon never published the going price, but I've heard it's around $120K, so this is somewhat of a bargain.

Just imagine the amazing Head On Telephotos you could post for us in the Trackside Lounge!

BTW, if any of you do buy this beastie, let me know. I might invest in another Canon body and make you my new best friend!

[CopCarSS]

Tim,

Thanks for the kind words! It really is a lovely depot and I certainly hope that it's a trend setter as far as new/renovated stations are concerned. I still think it's the classiest and most beautiful station I've seen in awhile.

Congrats and good luck with the new job. Too bad it takes you away from the tracks, though.

[CShaveRR]

Nice meeting you, too, Tim! 

Actually, you only met half of the family.  There's another daughter with a hubby of her own, and a couple of bright little girls who would keep you either in stitches or in sutures!

Congratulations on the job--hope it all works out for you!

[TimChgo9]

Chris, great shots of the Depot. You did that place justice.  Your outside shots are the best. 

It was great meeting you and Carl, and Carl's family.  I am feeling the need to go to Spaghetti Bowl.....the fries with their beef were awesome.

PZ... you've gotta try the place.  Great food.... 

All kinda quiet here on the BNSF last day or so..... I start the new job on Monday, so, I guess I'll do my railfanning on weekends  now....  Ah, but it will be great to be back to work,  

 

[Modelcar]

....Well you certainly are pulling all the "tricks" you can muster to get the job done.  The images show it too.

I do have a little tripod I purchased many years ago over in Johnstown, Pa. at a camera store in their downtown.  It simply is a tube about 6 or so inches in length, and the 3 legs fall out and spread to provide the "base".  It seems to hold an SLR and Zoom lens very easy as far as bulk and weight is concerned.  Has ball joint on top for positioning the plate the camera mounts on.

Again, really enjoyed those night "RR" images.

Question:  Would a collapsible bipod be effective enough for a person to use in similar conditions as doing your subject pic's.  By using it and leaning against something solid, seems to me it would provide a pretty steady base.

[CopCarSS]

I'm amazed you don't have one of the little tripods....and also equally amazed you caught these images without the use of a tripod.  Especially the first shot, as it looks to me, no flash, just available light. How do you steady the camera enough to catch that sharp image....? 

I'm surprised that I don't have a little one, either. I have a moderate sized one (but still far too big to travel with) and a massive one that I can use with my large format gear. I've seen some small pocket sized tripods, but I'm not sure if they'll handle a DSLR or not. The lenses I use at night are generally very small, and the K100D is a small body, so I might be able to get away with one of the heftier pocket tripods. I'll have to check it out.

There was no flash with any of these shots. Everything is available light. There are five tricks I use in getting acceptable shots handheld at night:

1. Shoot with fast glass. Most of the above shots were taken with an M50mm f1.7 lens, though the first was taken with my "Pancake" DA 21mm f3.2. At f3.2 it's a little slower than I'd like, but I don't hesitate to use it wide open, either.
2. I crank up the ISO when it becomes necessary to do so. The K100D does really well with digital "noise" (akin to film grain) up to ISO 800, and even at ISO 1600 it's within my level of tolerance most of the time.
3. If the noise does get to be little more than I can handle, I use NeatImage to clean them up. NeatImage seems to work very well for me, and doesn't lead to too much softening of the image. The last image in this set went through a quick run of NeatImage noise reduction.
4. I use anything I can for stability. If that means leaning against a wall, or a post or whatever, I do it. If that's not convenient, I revert back to my marksmanship days in JROTC at my high school and use all of the steady hold tricks that I learned there.
5. I put my trust in the Shake Reduction feature of my K100D. Any lens is a stabilized lens on the K100D because it uses a shifting CCD to steady the shot, rather than the moving lens elements that Canon and Nikon use for their stabilization. The SR on my K100D seems to be good for 1.5-2 stops of extra stability, though I get the best results at the wide end (which is opposite to almost everything I've read). I've handheld images down to about 1/3 second with acceptable results using the DA21mm before.

Like I said, these aren't the sharpest images I've ever taken, and I doubt that I'd print them past 11x14 or so, but they should give good prints up to that point, though. Not too bad, at least in my opinion.

[Modelcar]

.....Chris, those are the type subjects and conditions that in my eyes, make such a dramatic image.  Especially the subject being at and around a RR depot...!  And at night.

I'm amazed you don't have one of the little tripods....and also equally amazed you caught these images without the use of a tripod.  Especially the first shot, as it looks to me, no flash, just available light. How do you steady the camera enough to catch that sharp image....? 

Love the black and white close up too.

Love the outside shots of the depot area too....Not too much I don't like as you probably can tell. 

Spaghetti:  Found a place down in Florida when we spent Winters down there a few years back....It was {is}, located in Eustis.  A genuine Italian business place:  "Luigi's".....One of those places, once you find it, it continues to draw you back...Hmmm, Good...!  I'd almost drive to Florida just to have some more of his rendition of spaghetti.

[CopCarSS]

Here's a few of the shots I took last night before meeting up with Carl and Tim:

Not the best I've done, but not too bad when one considers that I didn't have my tripod with me. I really need to pick up one of the tiny little "pocket" tripods that are around for my travels. Oh well... I guess that Christmas is only 363 days away!

[CopCarSS]

So we took advantage of relatively good weather today, and went to meet CopCar Chris and TimChgo9 at the Spaghetti Bowl.  Neither the food nor the action outside disappointed, and it was great to become acquainted--or reacquainted--with Friendly Forum Folk.  The prices at the Spaghetti Bowl are unbelievable--and that's in the good sense.  After decades of driving (or riding) past both locations, this was the first time our family had gone in.  It won't be the last!

It was a good night! It was great to meet another forum-resident in Tim and always a pleasure to see Carl and his family. Metra certainly put on a show (and it was kind of fun for me to see some of the MP36's on the line!) I also had an opportunity to shoot around the Western Springs depot a little bit. I've got to get those post-processed and then I'll post them up here. Definately a great outing, though!

[CShaveRR]

They still don't have much in the way of seating capacity, PZ--I think Pat said 36 places.  And we felt like they were trying to move us along toward the end--very understandable, from the crowds.

[Poppa_Zit]

We're under a snow advisory for tomorrow, and are supposed to get somewhere around five inches over much of the region.

So we took advantage of relatively good weather today, and went to meet CopCar Chris and TimChgo9 at the Spaghetti Bowl.  Neither the food nor the action outside disappointed, and it was great to become acquainted--or reacquainted--with Friendly Forum Folk.  The prices at the Spaghetti Bowl are unbelievable--and that's in the good sense.  After decades of driving (or riding) past both locations, this was the first time our family had gone in.  It won't be the last!

I haven't been to the latest incarnation yet, but the old place was terrific for spooling pasta. Although no one called it "pasta" in those days, just like no one called milk "latte". Guess that's what you have to do to justify a $4 cup of coffee.

In the early 1980s the Bowl was carryout only. I can't think of any other strictly carryout spaghetti restaurants anywhere.

[CShaveRR]

We're under a snow advisory for tomorrow, and are supposed to get somewhere around five inches over much of the region.

So we took advantage of relatively good weather today, and went to meet CopCar Chris and TimChgo9 at the Spaghetti Bowl.  Neither the food nor the action outside disappointed, and it was great to become acquainted--or reacquainted--with Friendly Forum Folk.  The prices at the Spaghetti Bowl are unbelievable--and that's in the good sense.  After decades of driving (or riding) past both locations, this was the first time our family had gone in.  It won't be the last!

[mudchicken]

Yesterday:

Steamboat 19", Winter Park 11", Monarch 14" , everybody else less than 8"....the commute to the office was scary today...plenty of cars in the ditches and the rush to the malls had yet to start.

The powder that fell, 6" at the house, blew and drifted all over the place.

[CopCarSS]

Chris:

6 inches of powder on the ground here from yesterday's snowstorm, 4-6 more due here Thursday and another storm due in Monday (New Years Eve)...be careful getting back here. (Utah Junction is Disfunction Junction this morning) If Mr. Sun is out there , please take advantage. If you catch the "J" running out there, catch it while you can (before what's left becomes the "G")...I need to borrow an image or two when you get back.

Frozen Mud

Hmmm...seems like I picked a good time to skip town. How much have the mountains been getting, MC?

The "J" is definately one of my goals while I'm around here. Gotta catch the orange locos while they're around!

I've got my laptop with me so if you want the pix e-mailed, let me know.

[mudchicken]

Chris:

6 inches of powder on the ground here from yesterday's snowstorm, 4-6 more due here Thursday and another storm due in Monday (New Years Eve)...be careful getting back here. (Utah Junction is Disfunction Junction this morning) If Mr. Sun is out there , please take advantage. If you catch the "J" running out there, catch it while you can (before what's left becomes the "G")...I need to borrow an image or two when you get back.

Frozen Mud

[CopCarSS]

A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I haven't had time to drop by the forum lately because of the holiday but should have some free time now.

Tim - Excellent shot and congrats on Amtrak using it! It's certainly a beauty!

Noah - Likewise on the Christmas Card shot. Very nicely executed!

Well, I've got a couple errands to do today, but it looks like we may have some sun, so hopefully I can devote at least a little time to some rail photography.

[Steam Is King]

...picking up my daughter and son-in-law at Midway, and waiting for an hour or so for their baggage to come up didn't help, when it was past my bedtime ... 

Ah... the baggage claim at Midway.Flew into Chicgao a couple months ago. Took my bags longer to get from jet belly to carousel than flight was in air.

And Mwerry Christmas everybody!

Chico 

[CShaveRR]

I hope everyone is having a merry Christmas!  We were fortunate enough to have the entire family together last night, up in Michigan.  Only one train seen on the entire round trip--it was the wrecked NS stack train at Burns Harbor, and it wasn't going anywhere for a while.

But just watching those grandchildren's antics for several hours has made me feel like I haven't had any sleep the entire "weekend" (oh--picking up my daughter and son-in-law at Midway, and waiting for an hour or so for their baggage to come up didn't help, when it was past my bedtime).  Still, getting our family together with major portions of our bigger families was worth it.

[Poppa_Zit]

Merry Christmas, all.

[spokyone]

My Christmas card for this year. The CP Holiday train near a Christmas display in Wisconsin Dells, WI on December 9, 2007.

Happy Holidays all!

Noah

Thank you for the perfect Christmas card. And a Merry Christmas to you.
Merry    Christmas everyone.

[Noah Hofrichter]

My Christmas card for this year. The CP Holiday train near a Christmas display in Wisconsin Dells, WI on December 9, 2007.

Happy Holidays all!

Noah

[Modelcar]

....Easy to see why they were interested in that photo Tim.  Sure looks nice to my eyes.

Sharp and espressive of railroad Winter....

[Poppa_Zit]

Oh yeah, and some good news!!  Amtrak is going to be using one of my photos.  Their "Guest Rewards Program" is going to use one my Amtrak photos as a "gift" for some of their clients.  They are going to be making 11x14 framed prints to give away.  I spoke with someone from over there to day, and made an agreement with them so they could use the photo.  I am so excited.  Oh, and here is the photo, if I haven't posted it already....

Just make sure they send the check to the right address. Hope they paid you well.

Congrats!

[TimChgo9]

Hi Carl,

After looking at Tim's shot, I definately want to hit the Western Springs station. I love the classic look of it!

Hey Chris, (and anyone else who tags along with him)  if you're gonna be in the neighborhood, look me up.....   I am not too far from the station...

Just tell us how to reach you, Tim!  Maybe we could bowl some spaghetti or something some evening this coming week!

Sounds good to me..... Just PM me for the contact info. 

Oh yeah, and some good news!!  Amtrak is going to be using one of my photos.  Their "Guest Rewards Program" is going to use one my Amtrak photos as a "gift" for some of their clients.  They are going to be making 11x14 framed prints to give away.  I spoke with someone from over there to day, and made an agreement with them so they could use the photo.  I am so excited.  Oh, and here is the photo, if I haven't posted it already....