Through The Lens 175 – East Broad Top

Yesterday was the 60th Anniversary of the the East Broad Top Railroad’s first tourist trains under the ownership of the Kovalchick Family who saved it from being scrapped. It was fitting that yesterday was also the first public train rides hosted by the EBT’s new owner, the EBT Foundation. Great things are coming from what is arguably the best preserved railroad site in the United States.

Happy Friday!

Through The Lens 166 – Reading & Northern

Hunter Street Tunnel

More Steam and Snow from the archive. This time from a 2016 charter on the Reading and Northern. Heavy snow on Saturday turned to rain on Sunday which gave us some great atmospheric effects, including the ground fog seen outside the tunnel.

Through The Lens 152 – Leatherbark Creek Autumn

Leatherbark Creek

Some fall color along the Leatherbark Creek from the 2015 edition of the Cass Photography Workshop.  Hopefully we’ll get to do this again some day.

Happy Friday!

Oregon Trip Report 2018 – Part 2

Smith Lake Reflections

Continuing from last week’s Oregon Trip Report Part 1, The second morning of the trip starts in the small fishing village of Garabaldi, which is home to the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad, for a Martin Hansen photo charter with the Polson Logging #2 pulling a log train and the McCloud #25 on a mixed freight. We covered a good portion of the line, stopping in several scenic locations including Garabaldi Pier:

Garabaldi Pier

Second Nehalem River Bridge:

Second Nehalem River Bridge

Hathaway Slough Trestle:

Hathaway Slough Trestle

Stasek Slough Trestle:

Stasek Slough Trestle

Three Graces:

Three Graces

and back to Smith Lake for the night session:

Smith Lake Blue Hour

Thanks again to Martin for putting on an excellent charter and also to Pete Lerro for leading the night session!

Look for Part 3, next Tuesday.

Through The Lens 141 – Three Graces

Three Graces

Polson Logging #2 charges past the rock formation known as the Three Graces on her way to the night photo session at Smith Lake.

Look for Part 2 of my Oregon Coast Trip Report on Tuesday, featuring the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.

Oregon Trip Report 2018 – Part 1

Wreck of the Peter Iredale

While the main purpose of my trip to Oregon in May was to photograph the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad, flying into and out of Portland provided some additional photography opportunities.  First up was a stop at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center on Friday afternoon.  We arrived to find Southern Pacific 4449 parked outside in preparation for an open house the next day.

SP 4449

Inside the facility were Oregon Railroad & Navigation 197 and Spokane Portland & Seattle 700:

OR&N 197

From there we headed to Astoria where we caught the Riverfront Trolley running with several container ships waiting their turn to run up river:

Astoria Riverfront Trolley along the Columbia River

Flavel House gardens in full bloom:

Flavel House Rear Gardens in Spring

Next, we headed down the coast and found the wreck of the Peter Iredale:

Wreck of the Peter Iredale

After spending some time on the beach capturing the wreck under menacing skies, we make the final leg of the trip into Garabaldi for the photo charter the next day.

Look for Part 2 next Tuesday.

Through The Lens 140 – Smith Lake Abstract

Smith Lake Abstract

One of my favorites from a recent trip to the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad in May. I recently finished editing photos from the trip, so I’ll post Part 1 of the Trip Report on Tuesday.

Happy Friday!

Trip Report – Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington 2018

Early Morning in the Yard

In April, the Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum in Alna, ME held their annual photo excursion.  The WW&F has been on my to-do list for a couple years and the opportunity to attend finally presented itself this year.  The day started in the yard with some locomotive maintenance and switching before moving out onto the line.

Enginehouse

Oiling Around

Switching the Yard

Water Tank

Out on the line we made several stops including Cockeye Curve:

Cockeye Curve

Humason Trestle:

Humason Trestle Reflections

Alna Center:

Station Master & Train Crew

And Top of the Mountain:

Switching the Yard

The WW&F Ry Museum is dedicated to historical accuracy in just about everything they do. While modern machinery is sometimes used where necessary, the old fashioned way is preferred wherever possible. Case and point was the removal of about 330ft of rail at Davis Grade. They needed to remove the rail to facilitate the correction of some roadbed issues and while they could have easily used modern machinery to pull the rail, they chose to do it by hand just as it was done in 1937 when the line was scrapped. Even more incredible was the fact that the flat car that was used by the original WW&F Ry to scrap the line is back in service at the WW&F Ry Museum today. Since none of the WW&F’s locomotives were operable in 1937, they used draft horses to pull the flat car. All of this was recreated for the photographers assembled this spring. Why? Because they can!

Scraping the Line

Scraping the Line

Scraping the Line

Scraping the Line

The day ended with a night session produced by Stephen Hussar and his crew. The night session actually started before dark in the machine shop where we found a mechanic working on the Railway’s Ford Model T Railcar:

The Mechanic

Once Blue Hour hit, we moved outside to work with the Train Crew and Locomotive #9:

Needless to day it was a fun day photographically and I’m looking forward to a return trip, hopefully next year.

Through The Lens 139 – The Engineer

The Engineer

Engineer Robert “Bullet Bob” Longo awaits his next assignment in the cab of WW&F #9.  Actually, he’s waiting for the start of the night photo session during the Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington’s 2018 Spring Photo Excursion and the assembled photographers have asked him to pose for a photo as the sun sets behind us.

I finished editing the photos from this trip, so look for a Trip Report on Tuesday.

Happy Friday!

Through The Lens 128 – N&W 611 Roanoke Mornings

Roanoke Mornings

N&W 611 pulls into the station on the final morning of her 2017 Excursion Season.  Hopefully this sight will return in the future.