The first REGULAR passenger excursion of the Western Maryland Scenic Railway and it’s 734 pluming out of Brush Tunnel. After the train past, I then realized standing so close to the tunnel up top was a mistake, hahaha. I booked it off that hill and got away from the smoke. Black flags are up on the point for the passing of Richard Markle, long time conductor for the WMSR. He died before this season kicked off. I say regular season because Carl Franz did a photo charter (or two maybe?) in the winter with the WMSR. Thanks for looking and enjoy!
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=328128&nseq=0
Ben
Dramatic shot! Thanks for sharing!
Like the different angle - not the ‘same old, same old’. I don’t think that losing the top of the smoke plume detracts from the composition - what you got in the closer-up view (see next comment) more than makes up for it.
The smokebox and cylinders front end looks especially massive and dramatic - were you using a wide angle lens of some kind that emphasized/ distorted that a little bit ?
Also like the gloss on the boiler jacket, and the reflection of the sky and trees there.
I never heard of ‘black flags’ being used for or instead of classification signals before. That’s a different and nice touch - a knowledgeable railroader would likely figure that one out pretty quickly.
Not mentioned at all is the foreground, which shows the trail entering the tunnel alongside an obviously very much live and active track, and demonstrating - even proving
Very nice sharp photo of 734 action…
[quote user=“Paul_D_North_Jr”]
Like the different angle - not the ‘same old, same old’. I don’t think that losing the top of the smoke plume detracts from the composition - what you got in the closer-up view (see next comment) more than makes up for it.
The smokebox and cylinders front end looks especially massive and dramatic - were you using a wide angle lens of some kind that emphasized/ distorted that a little bit ?
Also like the gloss on the boiler jacket, and the reflection of the sky and trees there.
I never heard of ‘black flags’ being used for or instead of classification signals before. That’s a different and nice touch - a knowledgeable railroader would likely figure that one out pretty quickly.
Not mentioned at all is the foreground, which shows the trail entering the tunnel alongside an obviously very much live and active track, and demonstrating - even proving ? - that the two can coexist peacefully and s
Ben
Nice shot. Black flags were used on the Lincoln funeral train and most memorial specials since then. I am not positive but I think this was the first use of black as a marker.
http://www.google.com/images?q=lincoln+funeral+train&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=8_EXTIvMNoKClAfb29HLCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDMQsAQwAw
They are hard to see but they are next to the Red White and Blue flags on the pilot.
Pete
…I like and agree of constructing Trails when the railroad is finished…This one is a bit different…It lays right beside the active WMSR track. And I for one, do not care to share any RR tunnel with a live steam engine passing thru. If I remember, this tunnel is around 800’ in length. No way, would I care to be “caught” inside with the train entering too.
I wonder if there is any way to tell how close the active train might be…