Life and Times of a urban railfan

     This week has been nothing like the ordinary for me Saturday I had a wedding to photograph, I really like doing them, NOT!!!! Honestly I would rather push a boxcar a mile with the handbrakes on than do a wedding. but hey it helped pay for a new lens for the camera so I shouldn't complain too much. The next two days were your your typical days devoid of any trains, However Tuesday morning held a nice sunrise and a unknown tanker train sitting waiting on a eastbound. Tuesday's sun rises over the sitting tanker train That afternoon I was able to catch two more a S368 and a Q277 it would have been a meet but the 277's End of Train or EOT dumped the air putting the train into emergency just past the AY signal so the dispatcher told the 368 to stop short of the 277's head end and one of the road foremen took off to assist the ailing 277 while the Q277's engineer radioed to the conductor they were building air in the  train line the conductor made his wa...

One of the things as a railfan I like to do is take pictures, and lot's of them sometimes I get really bored with taking pictures especially when I had the chance to learn about a medium that most of us have somewhat abandoned in the modern railroad photography era. I work our local art museum and we had the dream exhibit of O. Winston Link and seeing the work he did as a Photographer was epic to say the least and getting a book of his work only fueled  the fire. Today my blog is about not only turning your photos into black and white but some of the things that has worked well for me to add drama to a otherwise boring picture. Here is the original in Color For the most part the picture above is a good one in my opinion but why would I mess with it? Well just imagine if it was 1952 instead of 2014 and color cameras did not exist yet or was too expensive for the average person to even fathom owning. Black and White Version Notice the stark contrast to the first picture?...

      If Being a railfan in the city isn't a challenge enough, I mean by the odd angles, lighting, and other challenges I have to overcome, I like to take on the Challenge of being out in the weather. Most of the time some railfans I know will come out in the snow and shoot pics Just for the sake of having some snow shots. Q331 During a snow squall However one of the most fun elements for me is shooting even when the weather is not the best. This means Rain,  Snow, & Fog  now each element has it challenges, snow being the least difficult to deal with, by this I mean you won't get wet quickly, it stays on the ground and looks pretty and can fall slowly but don't underestimate it's ability to turn into bad if you aren't careful. Q253 during a downpour In the Spring and summer the Snow turns to rain while most people try to avoid it I don't I kinda like the quietness of the air and the pitter patter of all the rain hitting the groun...

           This Week has had it's ups and downs, mainly it's downs with the temperature it was so cold it reminded me of the old Mom's Mabeley Joke about the two drunks going through the grave yard the first drunk falls into a open grave that has been freshly dug he soon becomes chilled a few hours later a second drunk is walking past and hears the first drunk saying "help I'm cold" "I am Soooo cold" the second drunk looks into the hole and says, "no wonder your cold you fool you done kicked all the dirt off of you" Now I got the joke out the way and I hope you enjoyed it The weekend was the typical no train weekend and Monday presented a cold but beautiful sunrise devoid of any trains, and by the time I get off work there is not much light yet for good Photos. Sunrise Monday Morning Tuesday was the same but devoid of any good sunrises as it was mostly cloudy, Wednesday I was able to obtain some new filters and toys for my came...

            There are those times you just have to get away from it all and just spend time out on the High iron this was one of those days. It was the first Wed in October, and  I knew winter would be setting in and it would be the last I could spend a lot of time out trackside without being cold. For the most part the CSX had been quiet nothing much on the radio all day. Against my better Judgement I decided to head South or railroad West I went over to the next town called Barberton I had a spot I like shooting from a grade crossing that offers a great photo op depending on the time of day while not the perfect time of day for this pic the first train I caught was the Q352 Q352 heading East on the single main After the Q352 Came the D750 this is a local that to most railfans can be a nuisance due to them tying up the single main and thus making trains sit and wait, today However I decided to see if I could chase them...

          During the warmer weather sometimes as early as March and sometimes as late as December the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway has the Local ABC railway (a Wheeling Subsidiary)  move a stone train form their connection at Mp128.9  on the CSX up to a stone company located approximately 3.5 Miles at MP 132.4 however they have to travel up Main #1 to where the two lines converge at MP 134.6 and sometimes have to go as far as MP 135.0 for headroom make a reverse move up track #2 back to MP132.4 to switch out the stone company then make the same move reversed back to their connection at MP 128.9 this is a almost daily occurrence usually in the morning. One Great thing about this train it is usually operated by my buddy Chuck and his conductor Jeremy both theses guys are not only great railroaders but have hearts of Gold making this train even better to be able to witness. It was a Thursday morning in August of this past year I hea...

My name is Elmer and I am a freelance railroad photographer. Most of my work involves trains, however as a railfan in an urban environment. I  write about my days and some of the different things I do here in my blog. As a photographer I try to include the environment in which the train  operates. Being in a urban setting provides plenty of opportunities as well as challenges. Opportunities like being able to Photograph various backgrounds including the sky and city scape along with the trains. Some of the challenges I face are having to shoot from odd angles, bridges, publicly accessible parking decks and various odd places that not only are difficult to get to in a urban environment but also present some limitations to my equipment  things such as fences, trees, and other structures.  Early Morning Coke Train For the most part I have learned to stay in my lane meaning stick with the one thing I have known about, and that is trains I have done photo sho...