The Cars Come From All Over

Outside the feed mill on Woodrow Avenue, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania there are always a couple of covered hopper cars spotted on the plants spur. The railroad is Norfolk Southern, but the cars are usually from Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern or the BNSF empire. I always assumed the cars had been built some place like Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I was a bit surprised (and pleased) when I got up close to this DME car and discovered the maker's plate was the National Steel Car Company of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. DME was purchased by Canadian Pacific in October, 2008.

High or Low They Work the Same

Both of these units are 2,000 horsepower EMD GP38-2s. Above Norfolk Southern #5070 is working a local job Westward out of Reading, Pennsylvania. More than 200 of the NS GP38s have the high short hood. Below NS #5309 sits in Dillerville Yard, Lancaster, Pennsylvania showing the look of the low short hood. Whether you like one look over the other is up to the viewer. They both do the same work.

Amtrak Pennsylvanian at Rockville

Seen here on the afternoon of September 17, 2007, Amtrak's Pennsylvanian heads west over the Rockville bridge behind P42 No. 140. This shot was taken from the boat ramp at the west end of the bridge. This site is problematic from a lighting standpoint, but the beauty of this great stone structure is unequaled in any other spot.

Railroad Bridge Nuclear Blast Damage

Above is a Department of Energy photo of a railroad bridge about 1,800 feet from "Shot Priscilla", a nuclear weapons effect test in Nevada on June 24, 1957 as part of the operation "Plumbbob" test series. The 37 kiloton explosion was detonated hanging from a balloon 700 feet above the ground. The bridge was subjected to overpressures exceeding 450 PSI that severely distorted the steel girders. The MK-15/39 weapon used was from the DOD stockpile and measured some 27 inches in diameter by 27 inches long.

Shoot a Better Railroad Video

I don't follow all of these rules all of the time but I try. Most of this also applies to still photography.

1. Use a Tripod - the more telephoto you're using the more important this gets. My 9 year old Sony Digital-8 camera zooms up to 25x optically and up to 450x digitally. I think digital zoom is practically useless since the image "pixalates" more and more as you increase digital zoom. I would avoid digital zoom unless it's a once-in-a-lifetime shot. Having your camcorder on a tripod also leaves your hands free for shooting with your still camera. I shoot a lot more stills than video.
   
2. Edit your shots severely. I use Pinnacle Studio software for editing. I also use Windows Movie Maker that come with Windows XP and Vista if I just want a Windows Movie (wmv) file. If you have an analog digital camcorder you can find adapters like Pinnacle's "MovieBox" that will take analog video and audio and convert it for input to one of your computer's USB ports. Digital camcorders connect to your computer with USB or Firewire ports. Adapters are also good for digitizing your old VHS tapes. The severity of editing becomes more important if you're shooting for the web. You can lengthen the time of the finished video for home viewing.
   
3. Use The Sun - Good illumination comes from your position relative to the train you're shooting. That means have the sun behind you so the train is not in the shadows. This is not always possible due to terrain or property restrictions or a number of other things but try. On East-West tracks this means shooting from the South side of the tracks (if you are in the Northern hemisphere - down under, reverse all this). On North-South tracks shoot fro the East side in the morning and the West side in the afternoon. I find this rule the hardest of all to follow.
4. Shoot Low, Shoot High - Camera positions looking up at the subject will make it look larger. Camera positions looking down at the subject will enhance speed. Mix it up, don't make every shot look like it was shot from the same position and height. I often forget this in my photography.
   
5. Wave - A wave for the train crew will get you a horn toot in response more times than not. I almost always get a toot from the engineer when I'm on a passenger platform or I'm easily visible on a road overpass bridge above the tracks. If you're at a grade crossing you are going to get horns anyway where permitted.
   
6. Prepare - Have the camcorder and tripod in the car with you as much as possible. You just don't know when a unique photo opportunity is going to present itself.
   

Short Line at Work - Lancaster Northern

We start with a long telephoto shot from in front of the former Reading Company Sinking Spring Depot as we see Lancaster Northern's GE U23b #2204 round the curve to their junction with the NS main. The engineer pulls up to the grain mill at Woodrow Avenue and drops off the conductor to handle the switching. The engineer then backs up to clear Woodrow Ave. and wait for clearance from the NS Harrisburg East dispatcher. We move to Woodrow Ave. and watch as #2204, after receiving the dispatcher's highball, moves slowly onto the NS main, picks up the conductor and proceeds East to Reading Yard with their boxcar and two covered hoppers.
Lancaster Northern, part of the Pennsylvania Eastern group of short lines, is reported to be down to running two days a week from Stevens, PA to Reading. They serve a variety of feed mills, building supply yards, and a steel fabricator.

Norfolk Southern at Sinking Spring PA

Woodrow Avenue in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania USA is my favorite place for watching and photographing the Norfolk Southern Railroad. The tracks are the former Reading Company Lebanon Valley Line and the place is milepost 64.6.
This was my first video outing in 2009 and I could detect the effect of the economy on train traffic. The trains were shorter and there were fewer of them to watch. Note the high hood GP-38 and its distinctive horn leading the local job. In two days of visits to this spot I did not see any auto racks, although that's from a three hour daily sample. The Eastbound merchandise freight passing at approach medium speed was carrying a mix of ethanol tankers and steel, both in coil cars and as heavy plate in gondolas.