On the first night of spring, I went out to shoot an empty ethanol on the
Green Mountain Railroad. I spent the night wrapped in a tarp on the bank of
the Black River and watched it snow from my seat atop a huge block of ice.
Spring came late this year. It seemed to follow that summer would come late as
well. The first half of the summer was rainy in Troy, NY. I got my hopes up when
the rain stopped only to find that inches upon inches were falling in Vermont -
which was hosting three trains a night on the New England Central. Equal doses
of good and bad at the same time. By the time Vermont dried out and warmed up,
the slightly-longer-than-twevel hour cycle had rotated around a bit and photos
were pouring in of the NECR running in summery daylight. Ugh!
At this point, I remembered what one does when it rains: model. Before the
rain stopped, I brought my two GP38s (both of D&H heritage) up to 80%
complete. They will join last year's caboose on the yet-to-be built Troy
Industrial track. http://thursdaynightrr.blogspot.com/2013/07/getting-there.html, http://thursdaynightrr.blogspot.com/2012/07/sc-1s-caboose.html
Having done a winter's worth of modeling (at the speed that my skill
allows) it was OK to return to night photography. Vermont Rail System turned in
their (impossible-to-photograph-at-night) SD90s and picked up some
photo-friendly GP38s leasers for use on their C&P/Rutland-Whitehall job. Pan
Am's West end has stayed busy at night this summer and the NECR schedule
currently includes two trains at night on the Palmer Sub. Perhaps the highlight
of the summer was spending a day at the Valley Railroad shooting in their shop
as steam experts preserved their motive power. After dark, there was an
opportunity to pick up a shot or two while Chinese built no. 3025 still had a
small head of steam built up.
Will
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