Western Railroad Discussion > Grand Prize winners

Hi all a big hand for some Great shots and the Grand Prize winners Ray lewis- Bill Larduskey- Jim Husband
Thanks Todd QU25C Richard

QU25C Wrote:
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> Hi all a big hand for some Great shots and the
> Grand Prize winners Ray lewis- Bill Larduskey- Jim
> Husband

I guess us heritage members don't get to see the winning photos?

Trainorders.com Announces Night Photo Grand Prize Winners
Author: TO News

Trainorders.com is proud to announce that a total of three Grand Prize winning entries have been selected from the Night Photo Contest.

In no particular order, the three Grand Prize $100 winners are: Jim Husband’s image of Amtrak’s 8th Street Service and Inspection building; Bill Larduskey’s Western Maryland Scenic tunnel image; and Ray Lewis’ Union Pacific crew digging out the switch image.

The Amtrak image displays a seldom sought after view of railroad ‘action’, the daily maintenance that each commuter train must undergo to insure riders a reliable trip.

Jim Husband tells Trainorders.com that he photographed Amtrak’s 8th Street Service and Inspection Building along the west bank of the Los Angeles River from Olympic Boulevard. The photo was originally lensed with a Canon Powershot Pro90IS digital camera at f/4 over 8 seconds. He explains that the only Photoshop editing he performed was resizing and contrast adjustments.

Viewers of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad image are transported back in time with this view of the Western Maryland 2-8-2 seemingly hauling freight out of the Brush Tunnel in Maryland.

Bill Larduskey captured the image as part of a Carl Franz Photo Special in 2001 using a Nikon N90s with Kodachrome 100 film, f/8 and a timed exposure. The transparency was scanned into digital format with a Nikon Coolscan IV ED and saved through Photoshop CS without modification.

The final image captures the true essence of winter railroading for employees of one particular Union Pacific train. Crewmembers prepare to dig out a switch as the falling snow is illuminated from the locomotive’s head and ditch lights. The icebreaker atop the cab roof also tells that this crew was going to or had already encountered more snow and ice than what was visible here.

Ray Lewis explains that he had been sleeping in his truck at Truckee, California, when radio chatter awoke him amid a snowstorm. The crew of a Union Pacific flanger move was seeking dispatcher permission to go about its snow clearing duties.

With thoughts of the move passing in the falling snow, Ray set up for a passing ‘blur’ shot, when to his surprise the train came to a stop directly in front of his truck. He set up for the still captures and lensed this particular shot with a Canon EOS 10D, a 28-80 mm zoom lens set at 80 mm, and an aperture of f/8 at an approximate 10-second exposure. Outside of resizing and sharpening, no other modifications were made to the photo.

Trainorders.com wishes to thank all of the participants for their entries in the Night Photo Contest. The contest made judging the imagery very difficult, however in the end the three photos chosen were done so for their representation of nocturnal railroad action.