RailroadPhotoEssays

Let There Be Light

Experiments with flash photography

Kent Staubus

OK, first of all, let’s be clear that this is a discussion, not an essay. Kent did not submit this thread for approval, and it has never been reviewed, nor was that the intent.

However… This thread has over 100 replies and nearly 3000 views as I post this (and more every day). It’s a continuing discussion of the various methods and techniques Kent is using to do night flash photography techniques. Follow along as he learns what works and what doesn’t. You’ll see his successes, and he’s also posted some of the failures, along with comments on why they failed. It’s a very interesting and informative discussion.

I’ve long been toying with the idea of buying a few radio slaves and going after some night shots with my flash units. I always held off, partly because of the cost and partly because it’s a lot of work. Now that it’s getting dark earlier and the trains are only running at night on my busiest line (due to MoW work), I finally bought the stuff. I’ll go into detail what I bought later…  (read more)

Steam in the Piney Woods

Texas State Railroad

Bradley Linda

A Saturday in mid-November 2006 began like many fall days in Texas- beautifully sunny, crisp and cool in the middle 40’s. Milling around the Rusk, Texas depot of the Texas State Railroad, the quiet stillness of the East Texas pine forests was broken by the unmistakable sound of a steam locomotive whistle nearby. We watched as 2-8-0 #300 showed herself as she came around the wye to pull into the station, the cool air and slow motion allowed the steam to swirl around the locomotive…  (more)

Workday

Eric Miller

Every morning, the ritual is repeated, millions upon millions of times. The workday begins, men and women preparing themselves, and then preparing their machines, be it computers or cash registers or trucks…Or locomotives… (read more)

Chapter 7 Cotton Belt Engineer

COTTON BELT END OF STEAM 1950-1953

Ed Cooper

C. W. “Red” Standefer railroaded from 1917-1967 and saw everything from the sharp end of saturated steam locomotives to second generation diesels. He saw his first train in 1907 while the Stephenville, North & South Texas Railway was being built into his hometown of Hamilton. Standefer decided then and there to become a railroad engineer at the age of eight years. It took him ten years to land the job of engine watchman for the Cotton Belt in Hamilton. He was promoted to fireman in early 1918 and began working for the Cotton Belt out of Tyler and Waco. He moved to the Cotton Belt rail center of Commerce, Texas in 1920 and started his family there. He lived in Commerce for the rest of his life. Red Standefer was promoted to engineer in early 1939. He loved his job and the steam locomotive. This is the story of Red Standefer’s last acquaintance with active steam locomotives and how the Cotton Belt’s last steam locomotives were used…  (more)

In search of the eponymous Brewer, Illinois

Photographic adventures of a young railfan

Glen Brewer

When I was a young boy, and of course typically not very interested in such things, my father mention to me one evening that there was a place in Illinois named for our family. He knew our branch of the Brewer family had pioneered near Danville at a very early date. Father went on to tell me that this place was located somewhere near the north side of Danville along the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. He didn’t think it was actually a town….  (more)

Iron horses put out to pasture

Scenes from the Piney Woods

Glen Brewer

In my youth, I was already a steam fan, but by the time I had means to explore and photograph, steam was about just about finished in the United States. My first solo trip far from home was to a new job in Houston after I finished my education. Where could still I find steam along the way?

Trains Magazine regularly documented the sad news of the demise of steam operations throughout the nation. One of the last holdouts was the Moscow, Camden & San Augustine in the east Texas “Piney Woods”, but I remembered reading that not long ago they had bought their first diesel, a GE 44 tonner. The steamers were no longer needed…  (more)

How I became a lifelong railfan

Glen Brewer

A non railfan father’s influence in the making of a young railway enthusiast.

I think most people become railfans because their father or some other close relative or friend is a fan or works in the railroad business. But my father was not a railfan, and I didn’t know anyone who was or who worked in the business either… (more)

The Wreck of the 8099

Kent in SD

A BNSF manifest from Sioux City was cruising north towards the Willmar MN junction. As it approached Clara City, a major siding location, a southbound grain train pulled into a siding. All except for the last two hoppers anyway. Those apparently picked a point and went sideways on the mainline. The northbound manifest did see the hopper, but it was way too late to stop the train going roughly 25 mph. Hitting the hopper caused the engines to derail. Along with about 80 other cars! Most of these were empty ethanol tankers, which went on their sides in a neat little row…  (more)

Hi-railing with Buck

It’s a sunny Friday morning and Buck is about to work west, making his weekly inspection of the mainline over Mullan Pass. His territory today will go from the depot in Helena to just beyond the west switch at Avon, on the west side of the mountain…(more)

Cane Creek Sub - Potash Branch

Skyview

The ex DRGW now UP Cane Creek Subdivision (Potash Branch) runs through exceptional scenary in Utahs Moab canyon area. The branch leaves the Green River Subdivision at Brendal, UT (mp 533.8) and runs some 35.8 miles to the potash mine at Potash, UT, passing within several 100 yards of the entrance to Arch’s National Park…. (more)