Amtrak Resumes Zephyr Service, ...Sorta

Since the accident last week, Amtrak hasn't been running the California Zephyr, owing both to the accident and damage from the floods further east. Today, Amtrak resumes service from Ft. Morgan west to the end of the line in Emeryville, California.

POTD - One Train - Part V

Today is Friday before Labor Day (Yeah!), and so we're wrapping up the theme for the week of One Train. Five different photographs of one train by Kevin Morgan of ColoradoRailfan.com have illustrated different aspects of railroad photography.

Perspective seems to be my favorite aspect of railroad photography, I guess, because I've been talking about it for most of the week. This shot illustrates a near perfect vanishing point.

Thanks to Mr. Morgan for the great shots and for use of these photographs to illustrate my points on perspective and railroad photography. It was awesome that even without any planning this whole series worked so well. Spontaneity sometimes works wonders, something you can also take to heart in photography. Experiment, try new things, and be willing to live with the results. You never know what you'll come away with until you try!

A meet between BNSF trains in Boulder yields a great perspective shot as
a double stack passes a dormant unit train on the siding on August 24, 2011
Photo: Kevin Morgan

If I don't post later this weekend, have a great Labor Day! Enjoy summer while it lasts, and if you can't find anything better to do, pop on by your local railroad museum. I'm sure they'd be glad to have you!

POTD - One Train, Part IV

For POTD this Thursday, I'm continuing the theme of One Train. Today's is very similar to yesterday's in terms of angle, but it has something very different. It's from a lower angle, which leaves room for the inclusion of a very unique cloud formation. While there may or may not be a statement in including the cloud, such as wings, for Boeing's cargo in the first car, at right, there can always be such angles if you work for it, using the right focal length, and so on. The elements that you include that are non-train related give you the ability to express your art however you want.

A BNSF double stack train rolls past a tied down unit coal train. The first
car of the double stack is bound for Boeing in the Pacific Northwest.

Photo: Kevin Morgan

Trainstar: Review of Unstoppable

Trainstar, says that Unstoppable is "great train porn." While I may not agree with her wording, it's a great way to sum it up. Check out her review. With two of my own favorite actors, Denzel Washington and Chris Pine (Sgt. Getraer's son, Captain Kirk) in the lead, I realize it's about time that I check it out.

POTD - One Train, Part III

Continuing with part III of this week's theme:

One train.

Perhaps the most classic pictures known in railroad photography circles are the approach photos, where a train is approaching on a single set of rails toward the photographer's position. It's a simple shot that a lot of photographers rely on as their "go-to" shot when capturing a train. It doesn't depend much on topography or distance available, unlike the previous two POTDs.

The feeling is one of imminent anticipation. The train is a traveler, passing in only moments. It bears a load from incognito toward parts unknown. It is arriving in only seconds, unrelenting and unhesitating toward its eventual destination. In the moment, it is everything we know of railroads.  It can be a brawny diesel, like this one, or a speeding 4-8-4, a miniature 4-4-0 of the wood-burning, narrow gauge variety, or an F-7 (or even an E-8) with the graceful curves and beauty that made her an icon of American railroading.

By stepping down next to the right of way, Kevin Morgan has put the point of view into the same vantage point most of the world sees trains in their most powerful and acclimated setting. 

Headed by locomotive 5338, a BNSF double-stack intermodal train comes in
for a meet, holding the main with a rather quiet train tied down on the siding
Photo: Kevin Morgan

POTD - One Train, Part II

This week's theme is:

One train.

I have always been an acolyte of long lens work. There's something about being able to take a great distance and smash it into one 2-dimensional image. It's photography doing what it does best, and photographer Kevin Morgan makes it work well here.

In this case, a telephoto shot that doesn't close the distance, but instead takes a great distance of rail (a half mile?) and shows all the wobbles, variances and sags in something that--at least conceptually--should be stable, straight and strong. The haze on the horizon and subtle air distortions close to the rails makes the shot feel all the more heat laden as the rails all but melt into pools of silver.

A BNSF stack train trundles along under an ardent August sun
toward a meet over rails that look too hot to ride this afternoon
Photo: Kevin Morgan

POTD - One Train

I've had this idea for a theme of POTD, and I'm going to try it out. It's simple:

One train.

That's it. One train for the week. Obviously, we'd need five photos, and not just any photos. Five good photos that show different aspects. What's even better? The guy doesn't even know he did it for me.

Kevin and I have spoke very seldom, but he knows I am a fan. If you've read here for any period, you'd know it too. His web exposure is great because he has his own web site. This site lets you do searches by railroad, location, and even by weather. He e-mails his subscribers when he has new work, describing--sometimes in great detail--his shots and the stories behind them. He's doing what he can to get a core of loyal followers that take an interest in his work. Is he a regular producer? No, but if your work is of sufficient quality, that shouldn't matter. My point in this little diatribe is that it takes more than a good camera and average skills in railroad photography to make things happen.

In the decades before the internet, it took photographers the effort to find receptive clubs to come display their work, to sit down and organize their slides in trays, then haul them off in their car to the club meeting place, usually in the dead of winter, set up a projector and sit in the dark with a bunch of other grown men, and even women, and put your talent on display in front of everyone. Today, it requires a little less physical work, but effort is still a vital part. Learn how to use the tools like Blogger, Twitter, Flickr/SmugMug, Facebook, FeedBurner, Constant Contact, web forums and other, often free tools to increase your ability to interact and bring out your better photos. Making full use of the internet can change everything for you as a photographer and artist.

Diatribe over. Thanks!

Today's Photo of the Day is the basic high-angle, shot from a hill, overpass or other feature that enables a high view showing the tops of the locomotives and cars. Shot usually from the same side as sunlight, the effect is to show the train in the context of it's route. Interesting features of landscape fall second to the features of the train itself. This particular shot has the added benefit of the train curving between two trees that create a natural frame for the shot. The train is now part of the land, not just passing over or through it. What looks like just a shot of train at first glance is instead a carefully composed subject in its context.

Time: 11:52 AM

BNSF Double stacks are rare on the Front Range of Colorado
but this train seems as much a part of the land as the earth itself
Photo: Kevin Morgan

Amtrak's California Zephyr Hits Crane, Derails - 22 Hurt

Photo: Nebraska State Patrol

Amtrak's California Zephyr left Colorado and ran into a crane. That's essentially what happened to Thursday's train out of Denver in the early morning hours of today in Benkelman, Nebraska. At least 22 people were injured. The AP has the complete story.

POTD - Beneath One Bridge and Over Another

Rounding out this week's theme for Photo of the Day of Tennessee Pass, Carl Weber returns to Colorado Railroads with a worthy photo indeed! How could I not include Red Cliff? Those who haven't been, should, despite the lack of rail traffic. The town is as aptly named as any. Good way to go out on a Friday.

It's September 4, 1990 and the warmth belies the proximity to autumn and aspen gold.
Rio Grande SD40T-2 5379 passes beneath the soaring US 24 bridge at Red Cliff, Colorado
Photo: Carl Weber, B_And_A_Fan collection

PS: If you love Tunnel Motors, check out 5379's factory fresh paint job in 1977.

POTD - Minturn Years Later and Months Before

We are in Minturn for the second time this week for Photo of the Day and our theme of Tennessee Pass. This time, however, we are only a few months away from the Southern Pacific merger with the Union Pacific, 5 years to the day before 9/11.

The sun glares off the remarkably clean and unaltered nose of Geep 3099 as
she leads a colorful consist and train into the yard at Minturn in July 1996.
Photo: John Jauchler

POTD - At the Summit, Cresting the Continent

Colorado Railroads continues the theme of Tennessee Pass for Photo of the Day by going to the summit of Tennessee Pass, where a tunnel pierces the divide, emerging after half a mile on the other side of the pass.

Railblazer is a veritable shrine to the Rio Grande. It hasn't been updated in 4 years and the photos are small by today's standards, yet I can't help but go to it to find vintage photos of the Grande in her glory.

Geep 3117 a GP40-2 is westbound on Tennessee Pass in September 1980.
In seconds, she'll plunge with her stable-mates into the tunnel beneath the summit
Photo: Railblazer

POTD - Has Anyone Seen My Right-of-way?

It's hard to believe that only 10 years before this photo was taken, this right-of-way was part of a well-maintained transcontinental railroad system, a vital national link carrying goods and commodities from Pueblo and points east to Salt Lake City and points west. In 2006, It's hard to see it among the weeds as nature attempts to reclaim the land for its own use.

A ballast train eases itself along the weed-choked main at first is east of MP 325
east of Eagle,Colorado on June 29, 2006. Rusted rails makes you go slow as snails
Photo: Todd Busse

PS: If you'd like to see more of Todd's trip, he posted some of his photos on RailroadForums.com.