D Thirty Fun!

Perhaps some of my earlier shots were a bit nostalgic: I was looking for scenes of railroads similar to those captured by Link 60 years ago (to make matters worse, his photography was retro for his time). I wanted to find something uniquely modern … the concrete overpass!

The D&H’s Albany Main runs in a concrete canyon between the lanes of 787. I loved the idea of shooting the train as it runs under a mass of concrete and steel. Something other than black sky was an exciting prospect. However, with the Port on one side of 787 and downtown on the other I couldn’t really imagine setting up the lights and standing around for a couple hours without getting hassled.

That’s when I noticed a huge overpass were I-90 passes over the Albany Main, north of downtown in the warehouse district. Things are pretty empty up there at night and I figured things would be more my speed – I guess I knew the police would show up anyway.

A few minutes after getting some gear on the ground, the scene filled with red and blue lights. “Do you have permission to shoot here?” “Permission? No. I’m just going to shoot from the side of the road here.” After he was on his way, I figured that everything was going pretty well. However, a few minutes later an unmarked car showed up, “What’s going on here tonight?” And then another car showed up.

And that’s how I met my 2^nd Railroad Special Agent. He ran my ID and noticed I’d been stopped by a colleague of his a few weeks ago. The train showed up right on schedule and I was able to get the shot I’d planned as the police checked out my car and lighting gear.

Here’s a shot of CP train D-31 just out of Kenwood Yard in Albany on its way to Cohoes and Waterford. The crew is checking out the scene I accidentally created as they head towards their switching work a few miles to the North. Rob Dennis was the conductor.

William Gill