Alright, since we got kicked out of our old place, I guess we’ll start a new one. I’ll comment on pictures later.
Here’s a link to the old thread.
I’m still slow on editing. Looks like my trip reports and videos will start to be a few months behind again!
Well, this past week brought on an unusual three days of fanning instead of the constant one, usually two.
First up, as I round a corner in Superior, I find an unusual site: The destruction of a boxcar
From there, I cruise past the engine facility, and pick up shots of two BNSF Dash 9s, 4537 and 5386
Later on in the evening, a different SD70ACE, 9236, is parked waiting to proceed to Midwest Energy.
As some of you probably know, I’m a bit of a sicker for twilight/dusk type shots, so with two SD70ACEs lined up next to one another, I couldn’t resist.
And that was just Wednesday. Thursday brought even more fun. First, a coal train waits to head for Midwest Energy, and as he cruises down the tracks, I get a shot of another SD70ACE, this one 9353.
Back at the engine facility,
Nice shots!
Well I’ve been saving for a scanner, and I almost have enough money now.
I am looking at a Uniden BC72XLT right now, and an antenna w/magnet to put on a car. A friend refered me to Scanner World in Albany, NY. Their prices are great! I end up saving a ton of money, even with shipping and exchange.
I know how you feel now, Alex… I have three days of MBTA footage to edit! My volunteer work at the Boston Museum of Science takes me over every form of ground transportation currently in popular use today - foot, bike, car, bus, light rail, subway, and commuter rail! It takes 2.5 hours each way leaving home around 6:30 AM and getting home around 5:30 or 6:30 PM, depending on what shifts I have that day, and I travel about 110 miles in one day!
So far in one week I’ve shot 28 clips…and I’ll be in Boston twice a week the for the duration of the summer!
I also know how you guys feel… I still have to edit the pictures from last Tuesday. I have roughly 50 pics. And it was only a 4 hour trip. And most of the time, I wasn’t even using the camera. I’ll try and have a report up soon, I promise, as long as more important things (cough, beach, cough) don’t keep popping up…
I’m taking the same trip, this time in reverse, again on Thursday. I’ll be starting in Bay Head, take 2312 to Hoboken, and do some railfanning there. Then I’ll take either 879 or 807 or Mount Arlington, or points west.
first of all i cant believe president obama let this happen to the white house & i hope he has the money to fix his limo, or he apprieciates all the visitors.
ok that really isnt the white house, its a cheesy place thats in the dells, but me my uncle & my cousin went to the dells last week wednesday, my uncle just came back from iraq. crappy weather & it was cold. but we were on the river walk & this went by. i was starting to walk away as i heard something rumbling in the backround.
sure enough it was 486. i wish i was up by the railing when it went by.
Still didn’t come out bad though! Ah yes, Top Secret, that place is interesting to say the least.
50 photos in 4 hours? And you think that’s a lot? Most of my 1 hour trips (not just railroad stuff) leave me with 150 or so… The New York trip used 6 GB of space, and I shot about 8,000 photos! (Then I delete the bad ones, some on the camera, and others in three stages in Adobe Lightroom. Now I’m down to 400 from NYC.)
And most of you guys focus on stills!
Try video with an old camera! Besides actually shooting stuff (on a good day, 12 hours of 'fanning is equal to half an hour of RAW footage), I must spend almost an hour for every little Youtube clip, transfering the tape, converting, cropping editing, playing with the lighting, transitions, audio, creating the clip, uploading, comming up with interesting things to say in the descriptions etc…
Ok, so that turned into a bit of a rant, but I still enjoy it! [:P]
Very true! I shoot with a digital tape camera, so I have to transfer the footage to the computer too. Most of my railfanning videos just have the empty space cut out, transitions and a copyright logo added, then uploaded. My most recent project, the MBTA Marathon (Week 1, but I’ll be out shooting again tomorrow and Thursday!) has a lot of clips that need stereo (2 channel) audio added, since the tiny portable camera shoots fine video, but horrible mono-channel audio. I spent a lot of yesterday converting the raw .MOV files to .WMV files, then dubbing audio.
Fun stuff!
You guys don’t want to know how many pictures I take in a trip…you don’t want to know…
I do like video, it gives you sounds to listen, what the train was actually sounding like. But I hate not leaving with out pictures, it kills me when I don’t have a nice shot. Now since I learned how to convert my DVDs to my computer, I take more video. Usually I just set it up on a tri-pod and make sure it’s level, and then take pictures. Sometimes I don’t have the time to set up the tri-pod, so I’ll just take stills. I actually have a lot of clips to put on youtube, but it takes a long time for me to upload them.
I know the feeling, Jordan. I take video and photos at the same time. The problem is, the DLSR makes a lot of noise, so almost all of my videos have clicking in the the background from it!
You don’t want to know how many photos I take either. It probably is at LEAST as many as Jordan if not even more. I don’t even want to know how many photos I’m going to take at Trainfestival. I took probably close to 1000 photos during RailCamp in Ely, Las Vegas, Boulder City, Williams and the Grand Canyon last year, train related and non-train related. It was so many they could not fit in one folder.
i have a trip report from yesterday.
i had to go to neenah yesterday for a job service thing for the place i work for. well i was able to catch a few things before the meeting. WC 3024 was moving around the yard
When i came back from my thing they were leaving with the local to waupaca so i headed up to lake st.
i decided to chase it to medina jct well it beat me there. so i waited & waited thought id head 6 miles up the line to dale, well i checked out some of the back rds along the tracks & i found one that got me lost in a subdivision. & i got out of there & got into dale & i see one rolling through town. it was the 118, didnt see the power & i hope there was no BC Rail power on it. so then i go to the dead end rd & sit & wait & finnaly a NB comes.
i wonder if the customer could of saved money by puting both on 1 car
new DMIR ore jenns
well i was waiting around & i see the SB light pop green well then i turn around few secs later its red WTH, well half hour later i hear a horn blowing at hunters rd ( the rd i got lost in)
as they pulled into town i seen the headlights & i go that aint no train.
[IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/CNWCL/Dale%20Trains/IMG_3852.jpg[
Brent, nice catches, especially the WC.
Some news that is pretty funny. BNSF found that the turbos are exploding on their GEVOs. They have an advisory for crews not to stand on the walkways of GEVOs. BNSF is also bringing 50 SD75Ms/SD75Is back into service while the GEVOs are looked at. The advisory effects all the BNSF GEVOs on the roster. CN and CP have both found the same problems of turbos exploding. I guess GEVOs aren’t just junk to railfans, they are literally junk! I’m hoping BNSF brings back more SD75Ms, and maybe some SD60Ms and/or Oakways, CP brings back some SOO SD60s and CN brings back some older power as well.
BREAKING: This is still unconfirmed, but rumor has it BNSF has just made a new rule. ALL GEVOS FROM ANY RAILWAY are no longer qualified to lead trains on BNSF rails due to the risk of injury until the problems are addressed.
Man, I take roughly twenty photos a trip at the most, usually deleting a healthy chunk of that before I even get home.
Anywya, that’s some interesting news regarding the GEVOs. I guess if that’s the case, the '60s and '75 should be coming out, as that takes out a ton of power on the TransCon, and especially up here on the Range.
well im in milwaukee til sunday, a good time too with no gevos on cn or cp. already seen a m-2 leading a train today.
Nothing but good news from here!
IRM is doing diesel days tomorrow. 8646, 8701, and 1995 are there to join in the festivities.
But they dont matter!
CNW 6847 lives again! The logos have just been applied to the cab, completing the “dezombification”. The unit is entirely CNW once more and will also be part of the diesel days celebration.
IRM already said they have plans to line it up with every other CNW unit around there for a great photo op! hopefully it’ll be 411, 4160, 6847, 8646/8701, and 1995 respectfully. A nice solid timeline!
But the good news doesnt stop at CNW…
CB&Q 504 wears chinese red once more! The SD18 also is ready for diesel days and may even be run!
2009 is pretty good thus far! Now I just need to find a way to get to the museum…My past is sitting there waiting for me!
I went to IRM today and CNW 6847 was operating, as was CB&Q SD24 504, which was just finished up last night. You could smell the fresh paint! Also, the MARC E9 has been depatched and now wears BN markings again. CNW 6847 looked pretty good with the CNW markings on it, plus it was washed. As a bonus they turned the classification lights of 6847 on. The CB&Q E5 also had its matching trainset back for the first time since 2005. They also had other diesels running too, WC 7525, BN 5383, CNW 4160 (which was coupled to 6847 for an all CNW consist), CNW 411 and numerous other diesels. UP 1995 as well as CNW 411, 4160, 6847, 8646 and 8701 were representing the CNW.
I am now in Brookfield waiting for SP 4449’s historic run down the racetrack!