Western Railroad Discussion > More UP on the transcon

A visit to northern Missouri last Saturday (24th) netted us a very productive day. Lucas McIntyre (mg8711) & I covered a lot of ground between Carrollton & Marceline,
MO. We shot Amtrak #4 at Mendon, then shot a few trains with the classic overhead searchlight signal bridges in frame. We also kept an eye out for signal bridges in
any other locations we could find during the day. To be expected we shot many BNSF trains, but we also shot 4 UP trackage rights trains, 2 each way.
Below are those 4 UP trains.

And we ended the day in spectacular fashion with some golden fire in the western sky...

1. UP 5126 on WB stacks scooting through Mendon, MO.

2. UP 7530 on EB autoracks approaching Marceline, MO. Shot taken from Pioneer Ave. crossing.

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3. & 4. UP 7315 on WB autoracks skirting the yard on main #1. The old coaling tower still stands.

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5. & 6. UP 7766 is approaching S Mason St overpass out of the sunset with a stacker in Carrollton, MO.

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7. Hanging around the overpass netted us a grand sunset scene, but then...

8. ...like something out of a Hitchcock movie, this HUGE flock of birds decided to include themselves in our shots.

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9. Just one more! Looking west from the S Main St crossing in Carrollton. There is yet another westbound train lined up at WB Jct, but it's time to go home...
(all photos taken on a birthday belonging to "Kent in Carmel Valley", November 24, 2012)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Gorgeous. The last shots a re awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Hate to say it but it's actually nicer seeing UP on that territory than BNSF...

Posted from iPhone

Milw_E70 Wrote:
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> Hate to say it but it's actually nicer seeing UP
> on that territory than BNSF...
>
Wash your mouth out with soap, heretic!

Nick Tharalson,
Marion,IA

How many trains a day does the UP operate over the BNSF bewteen KC and Chgo?

ntharalson Wrote:
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> Wash your mouth out with soap, heretic!
>
> Nick Tharalson,
> Marion,IA

Agreed!

Lance, that shot #8 is crazy. Any chance you could share the settings you're using for those sunset shots?

- Jeff

You guys don't get tired of seeing endless orange GEs??? ;-)

Why would you waste pixels on the yellow cancer??? :) GREAT pics Dr. G!

bnsfsd70 Wrote:

> Lance, that shot #8 is crazy. Any chance you
> could share the settings you're using for those
> sunset shots?

The EXIF says the camera was at 1000th @ f7.1 and I was at 250mm (100 ISO). I did a little bit of Photoshop sharpening & contrasting with just a touch
of saturation. I pretty much let the camera 'do its thing' while I was running through about 2 dozen shots in various focal lengths & compositions.
By the way, I was using a brand new (early Christmas present upgrade) Nikon D5100.

Lance

Lance, I was about to ask what equipment you are using, and it was answered--The D5100 looks to have some great qualities, but then, we know it's the photographer, not the camera. I am really enjoying your early and late light shots. You have a great eye and those are awesome.

nycman Wrote:

> .............................The D5100 looks to
> have some great qualities, but then, we know it's
> the photographer, not the camera.............

Thank you, sir! But I think it's more the time of year than it is this photographer. The sun rising & setting at a lower longitude seems to make it easier to get creative. You just have to be willing to get out in the field and not be afraid to go at it with the camera & lens(es). In digital photography with auto-focus, I'm discovering the hardest part in getting shots like these is finding a sharp focus. A lot of the time when working with long focal lengths I'll have to preset & lock in a focus, then hope I've hit the spot I wanted. Unless I get caught by surprise, I always use a tripod when I know I'll be shooting long telephoto shots. As I stated in a previous thread I'm learning how to use Photoshop's many tools. When you have all that up your sleeve, good composition becomes a simple matter of cropping a shot to taste...

Lance

Excellent photos Lance. Thank you for posting!

Gary Clark
Griffith IN

Yeah, the bird shot doesn't even need a train. You should publish that somewhere, or enter it in a photo contest. It's "that" good!