Well, Hasselblad and Kodak have upped the ante again when it comes to the Megapixel race. Check out the 50 MP Medium Format Back that was announced today over at the Luminous Landscape:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/H3DII-50.shtml
While the price of the camera, back, lenses and such will be prohibitive to average Joe photographers (it will probably near the $50K mark), it's still interesting to see where the industry is going. Maybe someday these ultra-high resolution backs will be available to mere mortals...
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
With $50K to spend, I'd probably buy a new car and a cheap $25K camera. Or lower my debt. Tough call.
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 saw on tonight's Newswire that RailAmerica is abandoning another piece of trackage that has meaning for me: the former GTW west from Ionia, Michigan. I've blown through there at 45 or better (45 was all the timetable allowed, but I'm willing to bet that we weren't doing no stinkin' 45!), and spent a couple of hours switching industries and delivering interchange cars there. Not on the same trip, of course!
One ritual I remember is that the rear brakeman would stand out on the platform of the caboose west of town and give a wave to the guy in the guard tower at the Ionia State Penitentiary, high up on the hill north of the tracks. No escapees down by the tracks, I guess that meant.
Besides being the busiest point on the GTW betwen Grand Rapids and Owosso, Ionia was (in my time) the end of the line for a C&O branch from Grand Ledge. Before my time, it was a junction town on the Pere Marquette, with two or three branches radiating north and west from there--even before that, one of those branches was the main line of the Detroit, Lansing & Northern, a PM predecessor (later the line from Grand Ledge to Grand Rapids became more important than the line to Howard City, for some reason). The C&O and GTW crossed each other at a diamond east of GTW's large station there; beyond that diamond, C&O had a large number of industries to serve, including the coal supply for the aforementioned State Pen.
That diamond, and the one at Malta, near Lowell, are responsible for my memories of the sound I remember of a diamond going under the train at speed, as heard from the train. They were only one track crossing one track, but Rochelle never sounded so good!
So now, the railroad presumably goes only as far east as Lowell, from Grand Rapids. It has to make the turn at the former diamond at Malta to service the in-town Lowell industries that used to be on C&O--or maybe it just makes a back-up move through the old interchange track there.
I don't know whether RailAmerica serves anything on the former C&O north of Lowell any more--they used to go to Greenville, but its industry kind of dried up, too.
The Newswire report says that they plan on extending the Owosso-Ionia bike trail over the newly-abandoned right-of-way, when the money is raised. If they make it (and I hope they do), there will be a pretty nice bridge over the Grand River east of town.
Hey Everybody,
Just thought I'd let you guys know that DPReview has posted their official Review of the Rebel XS, the new budget Canon DSLR. It doesn't have as many features as the Rebel XSi, but it looks like it would be quite a capable little railroad shooter for someone on a budget. Prices are still kind of high right now as the camera isn't available yet (September sounds like the projected delivery date). It's $700 with the kit lens. I'm betting that drops by at least $100 by the end of the year, though. If you're looking for a cheap way to get into the Canon DSLR realm, this is it!
I thought about recommending it as a back-up for established Canon shooters, too (it is really a tiny little thing!), but unless you're shooting an XSi or a later version of a 1 Series body, you probably won't have SD cards, so you'd have to invest in a different kind of media for your back-up camera. That would be a little bit of a pain.
Still, I think the DSLR realm is slowly marching closer and closer to being truly affordable. This is certainly a nice step for Canon.
I'll see if I can fit it in the budget. Sounds like a nice item.
Gotta clean the cobwebs out of here. Looks like no one has been here in weeks...
For those who missed it, my thread about an ancient Jordan Spreader is down on about page 3 now.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Thank you for sprucing the place up, Larry (and Chris). I wish more folks would make use of it, but I guess we should be thankful it's here when we want it.
As of last night, we'd been scheduled to be in the Upper Peninsula today. Then my brother-in-law called to tell us to stay away because he was stoned (kidney-stoned, that is!). Knowing what he's going through, I understood completely. So we leave again in a couple of days for the cottage, having saved a couple of days' worth of laundry, and lots of gasoline.
We did have one part of today's trip planned, and went through with that, to our great delight: we visited the nice offices of Kalmbach Publishing in Waukesha. Kat Kube met us at the door, and took us to meet Bergie, Jim Wrinn, Matt (again), Rob McGonigal, Andy Cummings, Angela, and a couple of others. And if my dungeon ever saw the Kalmbach library, it would be jealous (I still think the one at Golden is bigger--but I found more of my books here)!
Kalmbach apparently got a good deal on new carpeting, though "interesting" is the politest description I've heard of it. Nonetheless, the carpet rolled out for us was gloriously red, and we appreciated it! Thanks, Kat--hope you didn't miss too much of your meeting.
Not far from Kalmbach, we found a neat house on Blue Mound Road (west a short distance) that had fabrics, antiques, and other wares--the smell one gets upon entering is a very down-to-home smell, familiar to me from my dad's store. It seemed to be part of a complex of buildings, some of which had other types of stores in them. From there, we went to Duplainville, staying long enough to see a CP train hit the diamond there (don't know the speed limit, but suspect that it was faster than the 35 at Rochelle). Then we went back east to Elm Grove, to visit a quilt shop that Pat and Bergie both knew about. It turned out to be not far from the CP main line, and we later had lunch at a nice restaurant (Penelope's), from which we could keep an eye on the tracks--successfully, as it turned out. Elm Grove reminded us both a little bit of Kirkwood, Missouri, though their depot had been demolished by a wreck about fifty years ago.
From there, it was a trip back to Lombard, made slightly more exciting by a missed turn (we weren't seriously lost--just didn't want to go there).
While we were at Elm Grove, Pat and I found another thing our respective hobbies had in common--the word "bolt". She found plenty of bolts of material at the quilt store there, and bolt is exactly what I did through the door when I thought I heard a train.
....Sounds like you two had a good visit with the folks at Kalmbach.
And various other places Carl.
Quentin
Congratulate Pat with me--she rode her new bike on a 13-mile round trip to Elmhurst! Along with errand-running and lunch (Fontano's), we caught several freights in the hour we were trackside, including a DPU-equipped manifest headed into the yard (I'd heard rumors about this, but that was a first-time sighting for me). A single 7600-series GEVO on the point, and another GEVO--UP 7777--on the rear.
Finally off to the North Country sometime tomorrow; dinner with both of my sisters tomorrow evening (sorry, SJ--wish you could be there, too!).
It has been a while since I've posted in here.
That does sounds like a good day indeed Carl! I had the pleasure of visiting Kalmbach about 4 years ago and meeting Bergie, and it was neat to see where the magazines originate from. Sounds like a good trip otherwise too.
I see the last time I was in here I was mentioning my photos from the DMIR trip that I'd just gotten back from. It took me a while to get my photo edited down to the best of the bunch, but I eventually made it. There are a couple ways you can check out the multitude of photos I have. One (probably the faster method), is to check out the slide show of my photobucket album:
Noah...
Excellent photos as usual. You definitely captured the spirit of the DMIR in your photos. Great job. Also, what kind of locomotive is DMIR #413.... It looked like an SD70 to me, but perhaps I am mistaken.
Thanks Tim, I appreciate it. The 413 (along with the other 400 series units) is designated as an SD40-3. It's a former Southern Pacific Tunnel motor that was converted to the Missabe's unique straight air system. The Missabe had something like 20 of them, and then sister railroad Bessemer and Lake Erie had (still has) another group, though I'm not sure how many they own. They were purchased by the CN too, but so far the BLE has remained intact.
While I'm here, I've got a few new photos up on my website. Last Thursday the WSOR made a fairly unusual move up my way, a daylight southbound on the Reedsburg subdivison. That's rare enough in itself, but then they also ran on a lightly used former MILW road branch line to the North Side of Sauk City, WI. On top of that, the train was lead by two of their "new" MP15ACs that are both in Milwaukee paint. It was a fun afternoon's chase. My photos and trip report can be found here if anybody's interested:
http://badgerrails.webng.com/photos/wsor/rburgsubchase.html
Noah
Excellent photo essay Noah, thanks for shareing
Heyo! I'm back!
Well here's the Altoona report:
Some power was set aside from another train. The leader was quite welcome too! A Z-stripe SD40-2 that's not ex-CNW!. Did not like the SD60Mu behind him though. But that's what shooting power from behind is for!
2 days later, the lead 2 units were separated from the consist and brought over to the yard office. Once again, 2273 was shot from behind
So then last night, I was listening to my scanner wondering where the hell ZEMCH is. Then I hear that the LTB55 is coming in. Well nice! We don't usually get manifests in the daytime like that! So I decided to videotape the train arriving in the yard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiY6vnZFZCo
Then the train appears from behind a building and when I saw what was leading, I freaked out....
YES!!!! I have waited far too long for this! SD60'S! HERE! IN ALTOONA!!! Add that to another SD40-2 that isn't ex-CNW and you have a recipe for one awesome train! The SD60 was LEADING too! It was epic! And I'll tell ya, hearing a 710 and a 645 roaring with power together was a really amazing sound! 710s on SD60s sound much cooler than those in SD70Ms. Especially at night when both of them are running fast. Ohhh what a night!
And as always, the CNW report:
First some news. My membership with CNWHS has expired. I will not be renewing, as this organization is not for me. However I would like to once again thank CopCarSS for buying me a year of membership so I could at least see what the magazine was like. And it got me issues pertaining to my area (that made me bawl my eyes out. Though I learned a great deal from it).
Anyway, onward with the photos!
I have overlooked this for years. But then another fan showed up and pointed it out to me. So here's a little history lesson. This tie in the ground once was part of the old coach service spur. The spur, as its name suggests, was for storing and cleaning out coaches on the 400 back when it still existed and served this area. The track was removed and the ties were paved over in blacktop. However, some are still visible to this very day.
TWO cement hoppers! I'll take that!
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
I-65 in New Albany, In(Jeffersonville?) their is a concrete RR overpass with PRR Keystones on them. Talk about being cast in concrete.
Rgds IGN
As mentioned in the Cafe thread, I spotted a CSX northbound running alongside the Interstate on Sunday and figured I'd catch a picture or three.
First stop cut it a little close, and the photo there certainly qualifies as a "grab shot." Wish I'd had the presence of mind to set the camera to "rapid fire," I might have gotten more of the locomotive on the bridge. For that matter, wish I'd had a couple of minutes to set up the shot better...
As the head end of the train passed, I noticed that it had not the usual two locos on the point, but what appeared to be five. I just had to catch it again.
Fortunately I was able to jump back on the Interstate and catch it at the next town.
Four engines and a road slug (said so right on the cab!). Two GE's and two GP-38's. Hindsight being 20-20, I now realize that I should have grabbed a shot of each locomotive (and the slug) as it passed.
Tried to catch the train one more time, but somewhere between the last shot and the next spot I set up (on an overpass), the train dissappeared. Didn't have a radio with me, so I couldn't hear if I'd missed them (the yard is just north of where I set up) or if they stopped or slowed to a crawl before they got to me.
At least I knew the trooper who stopped...
These aren't contest grade - the sun wasn't about to cooperate.
Larry, I hear you're taking a trip to Koh Country next week. Given your success with that CSX train, you're going to love it wherever Joe and Matt take you! Wish I could join in on the fun, but I'll be giving blood at my local lab.
It's Wednesday; we've been home for two days, and I'm finally catching up with things. The trip to the not-so-far-north country was great for a vacation--sleeping in, afternoon naps, walks on the beach, bicycle rides, and so forth.
The bike rides involved renting bikes and traveling on the Hart-Montague Trail, previously a C&O right-of-way. Pat and I did a 12-mile round trip on a tandem bike, then, after several days for her to recover from that experience, a 19-mile trip on individual bikes (there was a quilt shop that I baited her with for that one). Many, many years ago in this Forum, I nominated a part of this trip between Mears and Shelby as one of my ideas of "hallowed ground"--rolling hills (stabilized dunes), plenty of trees and spectacular views off fills that you wouldn't expect to find within a few miles of Lake Michigan. It's still good, and Pat definitely appreciated the not-so-steep grades that the former roadbed afforded.
About the only train we actually saw in the ten days or so that we were up at the family cottage was a Marquette Rail train. It was headed by the only unit (SD40-2?) they have that's painted in their full blue-and-gold paint scheme (think ICE/DM&E for a rough idea of the colors). we saw this train departing Manistee (including a fantastic view of nearly the entire train across the bay), and again--about 40 miles and a quilt shop later--switching at Walhalla, the junction between the lines to the two northern extremities of this railroad. Interesting note: We saw this train a week ago today--and just yesterday, one of the same box cars (MQT 1216) came through Lombard on its way west. I think CSX routes the MQT stuff via Toledo from Grand Rapids, so I don't consider the six-day trip to be abnormally slow.
One nice archival find at the local antique barn, snapped up in a hurry: a program book for the Chicago Railroad Fair (1949 version). Also bought a copy of August Trains, with the article on UP's mudslide recovery, and left it at the cottage. One brother-in-law, at least, found the issue to be interesting reading.
So we're back--and today at work I had to learn a new tie-up procedure (the vacation happened to fall over the entire transition period). Problems doing what the computer wanted me to do (even with the help of my relief) gave me three minutes' overtime when I should have gotten a ten-minute quit. Guess I'm back in the real world.
Well Tuesday was an epic fanning day for me. It all started at the LSRM where i rode an excursion train. then i rendezvoused with Max M and we went for a railfanning trip for the rest of the day. Here's what we saw:
We first headed by the ore docks and caught a manifest (only one DMIR hauls) heading up the hill. After some missed exits, Max got us on the right road to the PERFECT spot. These units soon came roaring up the hill and allowed for this shot.
Next stop was the BNSF yard in Superior. Not much power was sitting out. Save for this GP38 and GP50.
This BNSF manifest pulled in when we were heading south. Power was 2 SD60Ms.
So then after lots of bad luck at Saunders, we went back to Superior. I pointed out a road Max hadn't seen before. The road led us to this recess in one of the massive grain elevators. Low and behold, we found a pair of GP20s sitting there. If only I knew their reporting marks...
In fact, the grain elevators themselves are a sight to behold. Look at the size of those things!
We then doubled back to Duluth to check out the CP and BNSF yards. Nothing was stirring there, so we kept going to a building near the lake to check out this schnabel car. CEBX is a one-of-a-kind freight car capable of carrying 800 tons.
Finally, we saw an ore train leaving the DMIR ore docks headed for Proctor. So of course we headed to the yard to see it there. Here's Proctor yard.
Lastly, we hit up the diesel shops to find TWO DMIR SD38-2s and an IC SD40-2.
That concludes my adventure. Big thanks to Max for taking me all over the city and allowing me to see all this great stuff.
Oh, and there were also CNW relics to be seen. One at the museum:
This Bi level was JUST delivered the very same day and time I was at the museum. As I was coming back from the train ride, I saw this car on the track distant from the siding as the tonner was waiting for our train to clear the siding. As soon as I got off, I ran to the storage tracks to find the bi-level sitting there. Nice to finally see one of these in person!
Apparently these still exist! While every last car in this cut was CNW, this one stuck out the most. How common are these Klemme Coop pink FMC hoppers anyway? This is the first I've seen in a CNW mark and number. (I saw another in Altoona but it was an NRLX hopper)
A whole string of over 20 CNW hoppers was sitting at the BNSF yard in Superior. And another long string of nothing but CNW hoppers was at a distant grain elevator. I now know where all the 180XXX hoppers are!
Dan
As noted at the Cafe, I paid a visit to Michigan and Ohio last week, including trips to the Huckleberry RR, Greenfield Village, and Crossroads Park in Deshler.
If you haven't been to Crossroads Park, make plans. Greenfield Village has enough to keep everyone interested, including the railfan, and the Huckleberry RR and Crossroads Village in Flint are a great visit, too.
A few pics from the trip: (I'll edit with some from HRR as soon as I get them moved over)
In the roundhouse at Greenfield Village is a Pacific that's probably too big to traverse their loop of track. You can go under it, which results in this view:
Along the line, their little 0-6-4 Forney passes a number of the attractions in the park:
It's my "art" shot for the day.
And in the working farm district, I tried for a Link-esque shot:
On to Deshler!
My Hosts & me:
At the head of one of the first of 18 trains that passed while I was there were two refugees from Mookieland:
A later train of autoracks yielded this "across the generations" shot:
Crossroads Park in Deshler doesn't just attract the hardcore railfan (although there are plenty of them as well). Witness these three youngsters, there with their mothers. Also note that trains crossing the diamonds (especially at speed) are pretty noisy - hence the kids hearing protection!
I took multiple shots of everything that went through (including the MOW equipment - in both directions), but that's a lot of pictures.
....Just one thing that looked a but scary to me at the Crossroads Park photo....I see no fence in the background separating kids from trains....There may be one there that I don't see.
Modelcar wrote: ....Just one thing that looked a but scary to me at the Crossroads Park photo....I see no fence in the background separating kids from trains....There may be one there that I don't see.
There are no fences. But there are a number of "mind your children" signs. Matt and the kids in the pictures are not novices at the park and seem to know to keep their distance. The mom's I mentioned were just a few feet from the kids, and Matt's whereabouts were always known.
Given the excellent opportunities that abound there for photos, I'd really hate to see any fences go up. It did occur to me that perhaps some sort of "border" set into the ground would help remind folks of the 50' distance from the tracks that park patrons are advised to maintain. It would be an excellent "cross that line and I'll powder your behind" reference for the kids (young and old), and would not interfere with photos.
.....If kids attend that park that seems to be right up against a busy rail area, without parents....Kids will be kids. It just seems a bit shocking to me. Considering of course, no fences.
Nice shots Larry. A fellow member of my model railroad club worked at Greenfield village during summers for a few years when he was in college (I think). It was quite a few years ago, but the stories he tells make it sound like an interesting place. If I ever get over that way, it's definitely on my list of places to visit.
Thanks, Noah. Most fall into the category of "snapshots," taken to remember the moment, rather than to win photo contests....
I was talking to one of the staffers at the roundhouse and Steamtown came up. He lamented that he hadn't gotten there and I suggested a "Great Circle" of Steamtown, Strasburg, B&O Museum, maybe WM. Forgot about Horseshoe curve. For you, such a pilgrimmage might include Rochelle, the museum layout in Chicago, Greefield Village, Huckleberry RR, Deshler, and all the other stuff I mentioned. It'd be a two week road trip, for sure!
Here's a few more.
Visitors to Greenfield Village must cross the tracks to enter. This wig-wag protects the crossing:
It should be noted that the track loop has a fully functioning signal system, with crossing protection at a number of crossings (some with gates), and a variety of signal heads along the line, including a couple of semaphores.
The roundhouse and turntable are fairly recent additions to the buildings on the property. The armstrong turntable is so well balanced that one man can turn it, with a locomotive, as the staff is only most happy to demonstrate:
Another "art" shot - notice the skillful use of a tree branch to camoflage the power pole behind the engine:
As mentioned, on Saturday we (Mom and I) visited the Huckleberry Railroad and Crossroads Village near Flint. I'd hoped to catch a mudhen, but had to "settle" for 152 - which has an Alaskan heritage.
The railroad runs in a model-like dogbone, with loops at both ends so they never have to turn anything or do a run-around. This picture was taken just a few minutes after the one above. They were now approaching the station for the stop.
The trip is very popular (you only get one - unlike GV, where a stamp on the hand gets you unlimited rides). I didn't discover until afterward that my shot of the train includes a couple of people doing the same thing I was doing - sticking my hand out the window to catch a shot. I think there are still a couple of cars at the end of the train, out of the picture. I was in the third car -
Before our tour of Crossroads Village was cut short by a downpour, we found this little train ride. It's actually a three rail system, much like O Gauge, and is operated the same way - by an operator standing trackside.
Crossroads Village has a number of period houses and stores, etc, as well as an old carousel and a Ferris wheel, plus a "steamboat." Not bad for a county park!
It was a great railfan weekend (and that wasn't even the initial reason for going!)!
Modelcar wrote: .....If kids attend that park that seems to be right up against a busy rail area, without parents....Kids will be kids. It just seems a bit shocking to me. Considering of course, no fences.
Quientin
Matt has learned from a very young age to be away from the tracks as the trains come through.Too bad some adults do not take heed. We saw the same guy walk across the diamond twice with his dog while a train was in sight of Deshler.Someone mentioned a PRR symbol in stone.Go down key lime road around toledo and their is a bridge with PRR markings in that area.Anyone wishing for info or a tour of the corn city let us know.
stay safe
Joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
Key Lime Road? Joe, you're making me hungry!
Larry, thanks for posting all of those shots. Glad to hear that you had a great time--couldn't have picked a better pair of hosts, except that Matt probably wore you out just from watching him (that's how it works for me!).
Quentin, they have warning signs in lieu of fences at Rochelle. It would appear that a number of people (including parents) can't read. If I see anything that crosses the line (figuratively speaking), I would take a non-confrontational action, and the problem would be dealt with by someone with more authority.
Noah, if you make the epic trip that Larry's proposing, you'd have to check out Fostoria as well. On the other hand, I suspect that two weeks could be put to good use just around Chicago. And let me echo Joe by welcoming anyone interested to my "neighborhood"!
....I certainly was not targeting Matt with being in danger at that park as I'd wager he's is always accompanied by dad....But if that is a "play park" that it appears to be, surely it will see some children unaccompied much of the time and with a rather active RR that close....to me, a danger signal goes up.
The kids in the picture were playing in the gravel around the fire ring - and getting suitably dirty! Both moms were right there, and the oldest boy didn't even cross the street to the port-a-jon without mom (no tracks involved). Later all five (as well as the rest of us) wandered over toward the SW wye to watch a train pass over it.
Matt is far more likely to wander into the road than on to the tracks.
There is no playground-type equipment there - the entertainment is the trains.
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