Life and Times of a urban railfan

I can say I have had a great week, with eating till I could not move and spending some times with family and friends I have a lot to be thankful for, let's begin. Sunday I get out of church and not even 10 minutes later I hear the Q359 calling Broad street now mind you perfect sun and clouds, warm temps, and being in the one spot I like to shoot from it began to be a great day. Q359 rolls west past some track equipment Well after the Q359 I hear the dispatcher calling the K157 and hearing him cackle on the radio and I knew he was close, so I went to another one of my usual spots and waited till I heard him call the last signal by me and with knowing light was not on my side I had to make it work. Pumpkins on the K-train  After the K157 I heard the track gang out working East ask him if anything behind him and his reply was no, so there was no sense and watching the rails rust (and yes I have done this plenty of times). So off to the Wheeling tracks to see what was lur...

The week before it had been a rain train mostly raining up into even on Saturday. For the most part I had some heavy personal changes to make some involved leaving places I had been at for years. Friday morning I made up my mind to start making some changes regardless of how they hurt me.  for the most part it has worked out great so far minus a few times I seemed to want to go right back into trying to fix something I know I can't fix. But enough of my Rambling here is my week in a nutshell. Sunday I went to a new church and the cool thing was I have a couple of friends there already and it is close to the tracks so I can catch some iron on the way home or just sit and meditate on what was preached. So Sunday after church I decided to go trackside it seemed dull at first with the Q358 being the only one and the light being totally wrong I just sat and watched his train roll by. After him I knew something was amiss as the westbound signals were lined up but no trains and the oth...

This week is been a week full of rain not only meteorologic-ally but in my life as well some choices were made and I had my tail knocked into the mud but I will make it I know. so enough of my moping let's look at this week. Monday it was a cold one and I saw a Early Q015 rolling past and it was the last day trackside without rain for the week. A frosty and early Q015 Tuesday it rained cats and dogs and that personally seemed to be my roughest day as well but I caught a Q253 that snuck up on me and not being ready I did manage to get a decent shot of it in the pouring rain. A very wet morning for me and the crew of Q253 Wednesday the sun came out but yard work kept me at bay so Thursday the rain returned and I was able to capture our local stone train as it was waiting on another train and the rain seemed to hold off till I got the picture taken. Reflections of life     As Friday rolled around so did the wind, I saw a few decent trains but was only able to...

With Summer well past us and the trick or treater's out of the way we are in the thick of fall here in Northeast Ohio. For the most part I have been enjoying the good weather when we have it and even when we don't. Like the fall colors, the selection of color on the locomotive consists of both the CSX and the W&LE railroads has really been colorful to say the Least. With cool mornings and warm days lets take a journey on what I have seen so far. Q137 with the early fall  colors For the beginning of October computer problems kept me from doing what I love to do, however I managed the chaos and still got some great shots in my opinion like the one above. This one I caught when I got off work and heard him two signals away at Broad Blvd I set up on the bridge and waited the 15 or so minutes for him to approach and it seemed at the right moment the sky and the lighting seemed to work in my favor. The next few days provided me with the chance to chase my buddy's stone...

This past summer I got a chance to go out on a road trip out to western Ohio with my buddy Dave, We began our day here in Akron with the hopes of catching a special wheeling move on the CSX later that day. To say that day was a epic one would be a understatement. The night before we had some rain showers which just added to the humidity that day, our first train was the Q352 with BNSF power leading heading east. Q352 note the passing rain clouds  After him we got wind that the Q641 was coming off the CL&W with our buddy Chris at the helm so off to sterling we went and set there to catch him while we were there we saw the K919 and the Q016 roll past. K919  rolls east As the K train passed and a work train then the Q016 it came the turn for our buddy with Q641 as he gained permission out and onto the New castle sub. Q641 with the Garbage Zephyr After the 641 and having time as the Wheeling train was not due onto the CSX till two we decide to head west. Dec...

Here in Akron we have a local stone train operated by the Akron Barberton Cluster Rwy, it use three W&LE SD40-2's for power in this blog post we will follow a typical day in the life of the crew that operates this train. The stone train moving the empty's back For the most part if you are not a morning crooner, chances are you will miss this train. For me the morning starts out with my alarm going off at 3:00 am I get up get my coffee going, Pray, turn on the scanner feeds and see what is going on. Between 3:30 and 5:30 usually is when the train is brought in on the Akron sub by the wheeling crew and tied down in the siding. 5:30am Wheeling crew putting the train away For the most part I have seen every oddball combo of power on the point so this can be a daily crap shoot for railfans. After the Wheeling crew ties down the train it is a little while then our ABC crew arrives. Then the fun begins the crew usually does their inspection of the train and doing th...

In today's modern realm of Train Photography it seems that not only has everybody have advice to give but they are 100% right and nobody can be wrong. Well being around enough Photographers that do other things besides trains I have learned that there is really no right or wrong way and nobody is really right. Ok let's pick on me for example here is one shot of a conductor riding the car. The Ride Ok now for the skinny this pic is 2.5 stops underexposed why? I wanted to add the Drama of the conductor riding off into the sunrise, along with capturing the sky and fog details that otherwise be blown out. Was I wrong? Maybe to some, but to others  I am a hero. It is all in the eye of the viewer. Now let's pick on another thing called Back-lighting In regular photography it is acceptable and is used quite extensively in model shots on beaches ( sorry I don't have any sexy models for you) but it seems you ask any 100 train picture buffs I almost guarantee  93 of them...