Hello!
I just posted the latest installment of Trackside with Erik and Mike in our section within the Railroad Reference area of TrainsMag.com. Read Trackside with Erik and Mike Volume 79.
To vote for your favorite railroad photo, visit the top of the Trackside with Erik and Mike section on TrainsMag.com. Click here to vote.
Add your comments about this week’s photos here.
Thanks! Erik
No contest this time- Erik’s shot gets my vote. Out of the ordinary in many respects.
…Vote goes to Mike’s photo. Like the composition of photo best between the two.
Item: Track looks crapy in both photos…
Went with Bergie this time.
Mike’s shot was neat in it’s own right and I’ve seen that engine personally. I like that it’s a shot seemingly ‘peeking’ from the inside of a pine tree. Neat effect, but it just didn’t ‘grab’ me.
Bergie’s shot offers a different perspective on RRing: thinking of what the crew is seeing/experiencing. I’d say it’s fair to say that more railfanning shots are ‘wedge’ shots or broadside, roster-type shots. With the light right, exhaust visible, background in view (offering a neat one at that) that photo seemed more able to get and hold my attention.
Bergie what’re you going to be doing in the future? When’s the ‘last day’? Moving up at Kalmbach or moving on? Either way, best wishes.
Went with Mike for this one. Also I kinda like the “High Iron Chef” idea.[(-D]
Voted for Bergie. The composition on Mike’s shot just didn’t speak to me at all. I liked the different perspective on Bergie’s. BTW, Crescent probably looked a little more like this yesterday:
That was taken a couple years ago, but I’m sure the conditions were similar. They probably got around a foot or so of the white stuff yesterday!
I prefer Mike’s photo this time. Working hard on a branch line can be a good subject, and I think it was well done in Mike’s photo. The dips in the foreshortened rail joints seem to show years of work and the passage of many wheels.
I have ridden the Moffatt line out of Denver, and Erik’s photo just does not turn my crank.
In addition, it looks as though Erik may have climbed atop a car on the siding to take his photo. If that was the case, it is a poor example and was trespassing as well.
Rex Beistle, Northern Colorado
Rex,
Crescent Siding is in a cut and Eric is on top of the north side of the cut. It’s right at the level that the top of a car would be.
I’ll see if I can find a picture showing the cut a little bit.
While I prefer the CN and CP over UP and Mike had a very nice shot, I was greatly impressed by the Erik’s fabulous view of the Rockies. So I voted for Erik’s photo. I hope that Erik provides more details of where he was standing for his photo during the recap. It sure is a might impressive spot!
I liked Mike’s composure, but like Erik’s “over the shoulder” perspective even better. I have spent time at the very same spot on the north side of this cut “waitin’ for a train”.
Well, that was a tight contest. Mike’s shot was railroading in the woods; Erik’s was the call of far away places. I particularly liked the way the mountains shimmered in the diesel haze. In the end I went for the woods: I liked the way the composition formed an X with the train sitting on top of the intersection, but with those mountains calling out, I wonder if I got it wrong. Seems like 3 out of 4 people think so anyway! It’ll be a shame to lose Erik, but I’ll look forward to the new competition format, whatever it is.
As many have already made clear, it is a sad thing to hear that Erik will be moving on after the next edition of Trackside, and that is making this vote all the more critical for me (and I’m sure for others).
And yes, my choice for this photo is indeed Erik’s UP shot. Not just because he’s leaving, but because of the mountain scenery. The heat exhaust from the train does kind of take away from the shot a little (well, kinda depends on how you look at it: if you like that kind of smoked glass look, it might even add to it), but still the view is quite catching. It kind of made me think of the grade climb on Raton Pass, another place where one might see such a view at the right time of season.
Mike’s CN shot has great approach feel (not necessarily “comin’ at ya,” but more like “slow train coming up hill”), and the color turn of the trees, and the hazy grey overcast add to it. One of the two critical things that made me choose Erik’s over Mike’s was that it was not possible to see a lot of the rest of the consist in Mike’s. Given what he said about it, I wanted to see more of it. This probably would have been tough, though, because the curve in the track would have blocked the view of what we can see if the shot had been taken a few moments later. Still, it is a good shot.
I’ve said before that I usually judge a shot on what it contains rather than who took it, but admittedly, Erik’s impending departure did give him the slight edge in this week’s vote for me, so this is the other critical thing that carried my choice the rest of the way to him.
I find Mike’s shot more interesting, but that’s just my roots speaking. CWR in the mountains is nice, but the branch lines can give you fits. The mountain railroad gets all the money and attention and the branch goes begging. I would be looking hard at that pair of joints in the far rail just to the right of the sign post. Indicates a broken rail at one time that was repaired with joint bars leaving a very short peice of rail that will just continue to pound down.
Another thing would be to have to walk that curve with a track level and see how much rock and roll is developed by the series of low joints. Just walking it tells one story. The whole story comes when you take long nails and set them under each joint, just touching the bottom of the rail and watch a train such a this go over it. The train pushes down the nail and you add that amount of deflection to what you measured before the train and you can get some scary numbers when you look at 49CFR213.63.
While there is less tolerance for deviations on the good CWR track in the mountains, it is often the slow speed track that will kill you. Meridian & Bigbee for example.
But then I’m just a track (and bridge) guy at heart
I agree that the maintenance factor is $$$. I also noticed the very short section of rail. One of these days the Roadmaster is going to get the ‘short end of the stick’ ( I mean rail). And again, management uses an ounce of prevention to obtain a pound of cure.
Very nice shots guys! Although the lone GP-40 rounding the curve looked very good, I had to go with the up Scenic shot where it looks like you’re looking over the shoulder of the engines. Both are excellent shots, but the UP grabbed me from the get-go. Erik, I wish you luck in your endevors in the future, and I do hope you’ll do guest apperances in future editions.
Kofy
For the record, I was not, I repeat, WAS NOT standing on top of a car. I would never do something so stupid.
As Chris mentioned, there’s a cut there. I was on the top of the cut, giving me the elevated vantage point.
In the future, please ask instead of implicating. I don’t want someone to read your post and walk away from the forum thinking that is what I actually did.
Thanks,
Erik
Oh, Rex, one other thing…
Thanks for reading Trackside, voting, and commenting. [:)]
Erik
Let’s call it a draw… both good shots, well composed and each showing a particular aspect of railroading one may or may not get a chance to see or experience.
And thanks for the extremely satisfying rebuttal to the implied trespassing scenerio; And your would be accuser owes you big time [:(!]
And best wishes for a happy ??? after Trains. DadH
Great Job Erik!!!
Both were really good scenics. I voted the CN shot because it ‘spoke’ to me. Besides, Bergie must have been standing on a car, or something… (I’m only kidding here!)