Film Wednesday – September 1st, 2024, of Steam locomotive Nickel Plate 765 waiting to depart from Lake Pleasant, Indiana, during Indiana Rail Experience’s Rolling Victory Weekend.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/4, 1/400, ISO 400.
In this week’s Saturday Infrared photo, we catch East Broad Tops M1 motorcar pulling into the engine house over the pit at Rockhill, Pennsylvania, on October 6th, 2024, under the watchful eye of the conductor.
According to their website: Built in 1927, the M-1 is the only original narrow-gauge gasoline electric motorcar still in existence in the United States. Constructed in the EBT’s very own shop complex, this one-of-a-kind piece of railroad history has been painstakingly restored and still runs using many of its original parts and components over the same railroad it was built to serve over 96 years ago.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 10-24 @17mm, f/4.5, 1/8, ISO 800.
In this week’s Saturday Infrared Photo, we find The Valley Railroad Company #40 steaming through the the area referred to as “the ladder” by the railroad, with a rare mixed freight move out of Essex, Connecticut on October 8th, 2024, as part of a two-day photo charter conducted by Dak Dillion Photography.
This section of trackage isn’t normally seen on the railroad’s regular operation as it’s south of the depot.
According to Wikipedia: The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad #40 is a ALCO 2-8-2 that was built in 1923. It was built as Portland, Astoria and Pacific No. 101, but never used there; transferred to Minarets and Western Railroad in 1921, later to Southern Pacific, then to the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad. Purchased by the Valley Railroad in 1977.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 10-24 @ 24mm, f/5, 1/1000, ISO 400.
In this week’s Saturday Infrared Photo, we find The Valley Railroad Company #97 steams along the Connecticut River around Chester, Connecticut with a passenger train on October 9th, 2024, as part of a two-day photo charter conducted by Dak Dillion Photography.
According to Wikipedia: The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad #40 is an ALCO 2-8-0 that was built in 1923. It was built as Portland, Astoria and Pacific No. 101, but never used there; transferred to Minarets and Western Railroad in 1921, later to Southern Pacific, then to the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad. Purchased by the Valley Railroad in 1977.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 10-24 @ 10mm, f/5, 1/250, ISO 400.
Film Wednesday – October 9th, 2024, The Valley Railroad Company steam engine #97 does a blowout just outside of Essex, Connecticut with three passenger coaches, during a Dak Dillon Photography photo charter.
According to Wikipedia: The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad No. 97 is a preserved 2-8-0 steam locomotive that was built in 1923 by the American Locomotive Company’s Cooke Works.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 400.
Film Wednesday – The Valley Railroad Company #40 pulls out of a siding with a rare mixed freight move out of Essex, Connecticut on October 8th, 2024, as part of a two-day photo charter conducted by Dak Dillion Photography.
According to Wikipedia: The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad #40 is a ALCO 2-8-0 that was built in 1923. It was built as Portland, Astoria and Pacific No. 101, but never used there; transferred to Minarets and Western Railroad in 1921, later to Southern Pacific, then to the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad. Purchased by the Valley Railroad in 1977.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 400.
In this week’s Saturday Infrared photo, we catch a loaded Strasburg steam locomotive 89 as it pulls a passenger train out of Strasburg, PA on October 7th, 2024. Strasburg has a pull-push operation, where on the outbound trip the engine pulls the train in reverse and on the return move it leads the train, after running around it in a siding at Paradise, PA.
According to Wikipedia: The Strasburg Rail Road (reporting mark SRC) is a heritage railroad and the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge railroad in the western hemisphere, as well as the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chartered in 1832, the Strasburg Rail Road Company is today a heritage railroad offering excursion trains hauled by steam locomotives on 4.02 mi of track in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, as well as providing contract railroad mechanical services, and freight service to area shippers. The railroad’s headquarters are outside Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 10-24 @12mm, f/4.5, 1/500, ISO 200.
Film Wednesday – October 9th, 2024, The Valley Railroad Company steam engine #97 does a blowout just outside of Essex, Connecticut with three passenger coaches, during a Dak Dillon Photography photo charter.
According to Wikipedia: The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad No. 97 is a preserved 2-8-0 steam locomotive that was built in 1923 by the American Locomotive Company’s Cooke Works.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 400.
Film Wednesday – October 6th, 2024, East Broad Top 16 leads a passenger train as they return to Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania.
According to Wikipedia: The East Broad Top Railroad (EBT) is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge historic and heritage railroad headquartered in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania. Operating from 1871 to 1956, it is one of the United States’ oldest and best-preserved narrow-gauge railroads and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The railroad is now preserved for use as a tourist attraction until operations ceased in 2011. After a nine-year closure, in February 2020 it was announced that the railroad had been purchased by a non-profit foundation and regular train service resumed in the summer of 2021.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 400.
Film Wednesday – October 9th, 2024, The Valley Railroad Company steam engine #97 heads out of Essex, Connecticut with three passenger coaches, during a Dak Dillon Photography photo charter.
According to Wikipedia: The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad No. 97 is a preserved 2-8-0 steam locomotive that was built in 1923 by the American Locomotive Company’s Cooke Works.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 400.
In this week’s Saturday Infrared photo, we catch East Broad Tops M1 motorcar sitting in the engine house at Rockhill, Pennsylvania, on October 6th, 2024.
According to their website: Built in 1927, the M-1 is the only original narrow-gauge gasoline electric motorcar still in existence in the United States. Constructed in the EBT’s very own shop complex, this one-of-a-kind piece of railroad history has been painstakingly restored and still runs using many of its original parts and components over the same railroad it was built to serve over 96 years ago.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 10-24 @17mm, f/4.5, 1/8, ISO 800.
Film Wednesday – October 6th, 2024, East Broad Top 16 leads a passenger train as they return to Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania.
According to Wikipedia: The East Broad Top Railroad (EBT) is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge historic and heritage railroad headquartered in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania. Operating from 1871 to 1956, it is one of the United States’ oldest and best-preserved narrow-gauge railroads and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The railroad is now preserved for use as a tourist attraction until operations ceased in 2011. After a nine-year closure, in February 2020 it was announced that the railroad had been purchased by a non-profit foundation and regular train service resumed in the summer of 2021.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 400.
Film Wednesday – October 5th, 2024, Reading Blue Mountain and Northern 2102 makes its way toward Jim Thorpe, PA during their first fall color run of the season.
According to Wikipedia: Reading Blue Mountain and Northern 2102 (historically known as Reading 2102) is a preserved “T-1” 4-8-4 “Northern” type steam locomotive. Originally built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in March 1925 as an “I-10sa” 2-8-0 “Consolidation” type locomotive for the Reading Company, No. 2102 was rebuilt by the Reading’s own locomotive Shops as a 4-8-4 “Northern” in September 1945, and it was used for pulling heavy coal trains for the railroad until being retired from revenue service in 1956.
Between 1962 and 1964, No. 2102 was used to haul the Iron Horse Rambles excursion trains. After the Rambles ended in 1964, No. 2102 was sold to Steam Tours Inc. of Akron, Ohio, and it spend the next several years pulling various fan trips in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. In 1985, it was sold again to Andy Muller to operate on his Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad alongside 4-6-2 No. 425, until its flue time expired, on October 27, 1991. Beginning in February 2016, the locomotive was restored to operating condition, and then it returned to service, in April 2022.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/4, 1/500, ISO 400.
Film Wednesday – October 9th, 2024, The Valley Railroad Company steam engine #97 heads out of Essex, Connecticut with three passenger coaches, during a Dak Dillon Photography photo charter.
According to Wikipedia: The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad No. 97 is a preserved 2-8-0 steam locomotive that was built in 1923 by the American Locomotive Company’s Cooke Works.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 400.
In this week’s Saturday Infrared Photo, we find The Valley Railroad Company #40 steaming along the Pratt and Post Coves Preserve as a kayaker watches from the water at Deep River, Connecticut on October 9th, 2024, as part of a two-day photo charter conducted by Dak Dillion Photography.
According to Wikipedia: The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
Valley Railroad #40 is an ALCO 2-8-0 that was built in 1923. It was built as Portland, Astoria and Pacific No. 101, but never used there; transferred to Minarets and Western Railroad in 1921, later to Southern Pacific, then to the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad. Purchased by the Valley Railroad in 1977.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 10-24 @ 16mm, f/5, 1/500, ISO 400.
Film Wednesday – September 24th, 2024, a Westbound BNSF intermodal with BNSF 5688 leading works their way downhill through the Mormon Rocks area in Cajon Pass, CA.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/4, 1/500, ISO 400.
Film Wednesday – This shot is from September 24th, 2024, of a Westbound BNSF intermodal as it starts its downhill run from the summit in Cajon Pass, CA.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/4, 1/500, ISO 400.
This week’s Saturday Infrared photo is of Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad steam locomotive 2102 as it pulls through the Nesquehoning Tunnel at Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania on October 5th, 2024, during its first day of the year of pulling Fall Foliage Excursions.
According to their website: The Reading Company T-1 class #2102 was built in the Reading’s own locomotive shops in 1945. With drivers of 70” diameter, it weighs 404 tons, and its tender holds up to 26 tons of coal, and up to 19,000 gallons of water. After the Reading Steam era was over, the Reading Company used 2102 for the Reading Rambles on several different excursions. The 2102 has had many different owners since it was retired by the Reading Railroad. It is one of only four to survive. The other remaining locomotives are the 2100, 2101, and 2124.
The Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad purchased the 2102 in 1987, and it ran on the Temple to South Hamburg line into the early 1990’s. Once the Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad became the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern, the 2102 ran over Reading & Northern’s rails for a short time before it was removed from service in the early 1990’s.
In 2022, steam locomotive 2102 reentered service on the Reading & Northern. The locomotive has been used actively to pull both passenger excursions and revenue freight trains.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 10-24mm @24mm, f/4.5, 1/500, ISO 800.
In this week’s Saturday Infrared photo, we catch a loaded BNSF freight as it starts the climb up the grade in the Cajon Pass from Cajon, California on September 24th, 2024.
According to Wikipedia: Cajon Pass is a mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains to the east and the San Gabriel Mountains to the west in Southern California. Created by the movements of the San Andreas Fault, it has an elevation of 3,777 ft (1,151 m). Located in the Mojave Desert, the pass is an important link from the Greater San Bernardino Area to the Victor Valley, and northeast to Las Vegas. The Cajon Pass area is on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Cajon Pass is at the head of Horsethief Canyon, traversed by California State Route 138 (SR 138) and railroad tracks owned by BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. Improvements in 1972 reduced the railroad’s maximum elevation from about 3,829 to 3,777 feet while reducing curvature. Interstate 15 does not traverse Cajon Pass, but rather the nearby Cajon Summit. The entire area, Cajon Pass and Cajon Summit, is often referred to as Cajon Pass, but a distinction is made between Cajon Pass and Cajon Summit.
The California Southern Railroad, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, was the first railroad through Cajon Pass. The line through the pass was built in the early 1880s to connect the present-day cities of Barstow and San Diego. Today the Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway (the successor to the Santa Fe) use the pass to reach Los Angeles and San Bernardino as part of the Southern Transcon. Due to the many trains, scenery and easy access, it is a popular location for railfans, and many photographs of trains on Cajon Pass appear in books and magazines.
The Union Pacific Railroad owns one track through the pass, on the previous Southern Pacific Railroad Palmdale cutoff, opened in 1967. The BNSF Railway owns two tracks and began to operate a third main track in the summer of 2008. The railroads share track rights through the pass ever since the Union Pacific gained track rights on the Santa Fe portion negotiated under the original Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 24-70 @28mm, f/4.5, 1/500, ISO 200.
September 18th, 2024, In this Saturday’s Infrared photo I caught BNSF 6965 leading an Northbound intermodal train past the rising moon out of Tehachapi, California.
Tech Info: Fuji XT1 converted to Infrared, RAW, Nikon 24-70, @39mm, f/4, 1/500, ISO 200.
Analog Wednesday – I’ve recently added a like new Mamiya C330 Professional 2 ¼ square film camera to my camera bag and on Wednesday’s I’ll be sharing images I’ve shot with it. This shot is from September 19th, 2024, of two Westbound intermodals racing each other as they head out of Mojave, CA toward Bakersfield, CA through the Tehachapi Pass.
Tech Info: Mamiya C330 Professional, Ilford HP5 Film, Mamiya 80mm, f/4, 1/250, ISO 400.