Folks —
The newest edition of Trackside, “Amtrak,” is now live. You can view it here:
http://trn.trains.com/Trackside/2011/01/Vol%20155%20Amtrak.asp
Best,
Well, this one was a no-brainer- I actually submitted a shot for this one, and it just so happened to be the EXACT SAME SCENE from nearly the EXACT SAME LOCATION as what Bob Gilreath submitted, only mine was from August 2009. I can see why Bob’s was chosen over mine- he’s got better light and a better sky.
I initially was very excited, thinking that my shot had been selected for the reader contribution, until I read the captions.
Kudos! Bob gets my vote.
Oh, and Andy, your link isn’t working-
http://trn.trains.com/Trackside/2011/01/Vol%20155%20Amtrak.aspx
Yeah, had to go through bihanel’s link to get into it, too.
This is probably gonna be a parochial or rider’s choice event. There is now wire pix, no Corridor, no Penn Sta be it NYP or NWK. So closest thing for me had to be Buffalo, thus a vote for Mike’s shot here. I’d be surprised if this doesn’t turn out to be the most evenly voted contest so far.
Ken Fitzgerald included passengers in his submission–which is what Amtrak is all about. As usual all the choices were fine shots, but Fitzgerald’s photo had mood and people, too.
Ken Fitzgerald got my vote this time…not because his photo is all exceptional, but because it is the only one entered that shows the interaction of people with rail transportation…which is what Amtrak is all about.#### The other shots are all nice, but show only the equipment, usually in exquisite settings; and I don’t believe that’s the true Amtrak story.#### Tom in Nashville
To me, Mike’s shot symbolizes the decline of urban downtowns, with a push from Amtrak. I wish Matt had taken his shot just a bit earlier or later so we could see the dome cars more clearly. Andy, good photo if you wanted to feature ‘BNSF to the rescue’. Jim’s and Elrond’s shots canceled each other, although the fisherman’s red shirt does add contrast to Elrond’s. Passengers boarding or alighting from the train would have been more interesting than a bunch of smokers standing on the platform in Ken’s shot. That leaves Bob, Alex and Drew, and it was the rocky bluff behind the train as well as the S-curve in Alex’s photo that got my vote.
…Many nice photographs following the theme, Amtrak…and some just really great scenes that contain an Amtrak consist.
My choice this week is the night station scene by Ken. I do like and appreciate well done night scenes, and in my opinion, this one certainly qualifies as a very nice one. Sharp and nice RR station ambience. And we’e witnessing an Amtrak scene.
Reader submission: Bob’s entry certain is right up there and I’d consider it a very close second place entry.
For the most part, with this particular subject, the most difficult aspect of choosing a picture to me is that all the trains are basically identical! So my choice came down to which picture had the best “background”.
I quickly narrowed my choices to Jim Wrinn’s, Elrond’s, Ken’s, and Alex Mayes’ shots.
Admittedly, Andy’s shot of the BNSF pumpkin pulling the trains along in the snow was eye-catching. Tom pushed the envelope with his “half dressed” shot, but it was more like looking at a junkyard to me.
It’s always hard to bypass a night shot like Ken’s, but scenery won out in Alex Mayes’ photo. What a great scene for model railroaders to match! I voted for Alex.
There were only two that caught my eye this time. I agree that there should have been a photo with passengers boarding and alighting and the closest to this was the night photo but not much of the train was visible and the passengers weren’t boarding or alighting. So I went for the best train/scenery shot. Alex’s photo won my vote this week.