Western Railroad Discussion > speed entries

Competition for this year's competition is getting brutal. There sure are a lot of really inspiring images. I guess I should get my entries in to maintain my image.

The first image makes it plain exactly what the speed of the train is, 34 mph in a 35 mph speed zone. Note however the train is also accelerating to bring it back up to speed. This photo was taken from the cab of an MRL F45, perhaps the last time I will get to run one of these beasts. This was the sole power of a return move of an MRL business train crossing the long bridge across Lake Pend Oreille at Sandpoint, ID. It sure was fun to run this train at passenger train speeds on the BNSF. Well as much of the 79 mph authorized as a 72 mph overspeed setting will allow. If you look really closely, you can see one of the Ospreys which builds a nest on the top chord of the thru truss annually. For those who may be interested there were three TO posters occupying this locomotive at this time.

The next photo was taken at Heron, MT in the early morning. One train is standing still and the other is just accelerating out of a 30mph curve restriction. To get to the 1/8 sec or so exposure I had to reset the ISO to 100, use the minimum aperature of f22 and attach a polarizer for about one additional stop of exposure. There were only two TO posters involved in this photo.

Thanks to all the other photographers who have posted their speed images so far. Looking at them has been quite a pleasure.

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Al--

You just won with shot #2, IMHO.

Shot #1...I can see the froth on the window from a Jolly Trainee in the cab. Or was it Monad Dave's foam???
And is that MonadDave doing the rollby in shot #2 ?

Alco251 Wrote:
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> Al--
>
> You just won with shot #2, IMHO.
>


agreed, me likey shot #2. Appreciate the fact that classic Warbonnet is in crisp detail focus and played-out Pumpkin crash-9 is blurred!

I like the first shot best but both are great!

I miss the F45s...wish I had known 10 years agao that they'd almost all be gone now....d'oh....

Alco,

I spent a bit of time cloning the bug splatters off the window to make the image presentable, the foam on the inside remains for historical context. Trainees tend to be nervous about handling the company jewels so he had not taken over yet. The grey beards did force him into the seat later on "for the experience".

Yes, Monaddave is performing the rollby at Heron. I think the pose could have been a bit better but we failed in that part of the job safety briefing beforehand.

Thanks for the kind words.

Ryan,

It is sometimes a good thing I carry that light weight tripod amongst all the other necessities, oddities and junk I take to work every day. Shots like this make wrestling it through the doors of locomotives worth it. I am glad you like the shot. It could have just as easily been the other way around but I believe the blurred orange makes a better image than the blurred silver would. Unfortunately no amount of saturaton boost could restore the red warbonnet nose to it's original glory. I also like the grass visible beneath the pumpkin unit in motion.

Great shots FBE.

As I recall, the trainee had some "attention getting" experience closer to home with this train.
At least it was "attention getting" for him.......

Todd

> Trainees tend to be nervous about handling the
> company jewels so he had not taken over yet. The
> grey beards did force him into the seat later on
> "for the experience".