Western Railroad Discussion > Toto Tuesday: Busy Night in Topeka

On my way home from Ottawa, KS & the Talgo train adventures I stopped to make the usual rounds in Topeka, KS. Uncle Pete provided me some surprising photo ops. I started out with the usual rosters of switch & local power sitting tied up for the night. But then an eastbound train pulled to a stop and conveniently posed for my camera. Of course it was purely coincidental, but it's kinda fun to think that Uncle Pete did it just for me. They were actually waiting for a train ahead of them to cross the Kansas River off the old Rock Island main from Herington; the GSR. This train had station work to perform in Topeka Yard. As soon as it cleared the crossovers at Tyler St, my original photo subject honked off, lit up & departed. As this new train back into the yard I discovered the trailing unit was worthy of a second glance! (see shot #5). They stopped momentarily, then disappeared into the yard.

I thought that was all for the night so I ventured south of the Kaw River to see what the BNSF had going. It was deathly quiet there, so I did a little study of the BNSF HQ building downtown at 920 Quincy. It was quite an experience setting my tripod up and shooting at will in the middle of what is normally a busy street in daytime. Tonight, there was not a soul around. After finishing up I didn't feel like hanging around for 2 more hours for Amtrak #3, so it I went back across the river for one more check in with Uncle Pete before hitting US hwy 24 for home. My GSR train had finished their switching and pulled up to nearly the same identical spot as the 1st train. I was guessing that the rear man had finished with his part of the air test and would be on the way back to the head end, giving me time to set up the tripod again. A few more shots and they too, departed. I watched the train swing around to return to Herington. I hit I-70 instead of US 24 and set up at the antique store mecca town of Paxico, KS. I got a few tripod shots there too, but that's fodder for a future thread...

1. & 2. UP 6562 posing at the yard office (with that screwy, hand-made number board), then lighting up to depart Topeka. A pair of local Geeps are sitting, shut down for the night. They are UP 812 and...

3. ...UP 814. It was right after this shot that the rear end of the second train appeared, gracefully backing into the yard.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/17 05:34 by santafe199.

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4. UP 7460 stopped long enough for his rear man to line up some switches and for me to grab a couple of shots.

5. UP 7400 was a very pleasant surprise trailing unit.

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6. Almost an hour later the 7460 crew is done with their switching and are preparing to depart back to Herington down the GSR; the way they came up.

7. Until we meet again, 7460...
(all photos taken December 2, 2012 in Topeka, KS)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Great night stuff as always, pal.

Bob Helling
PRose

santafe199 Wrote:
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> 6. Almost an hour later the 7460 crew is done with
> their switching and are preparing to depart back
> to Herington down the GSR; the way they came up.

That 7460/7400 duo is the M-HNHN, a favorite of mine when I still lived in Topeka. Unlike the other locals, this one always ran with fairly sizable power, and I got a kick out of the backup move into the yard.

- Jeff Carlson

lance, does your camera feature a custom white balance option? it's fun to play around with at night with those orange sodium lights a blazing. you can get some interesting effects by using it. at least they give us a fighting chance against the orange borg. dave, out.

davebb71 Wrote:

> lance, does your camera feature a custom white
> balance option? it's fun to play around with at
> night with those orange sodium lights a blazing.

I'm sure it does. But this is part of my (ongoing) digital education that has yet to arrive. I'll have to watch, or follow along with someone who knows what they're doing with it. I took a lot of bad color-cast K-64 night stuff in the 70's & 80's. The bad-tinted results never stopped me because all along I always thought that that stuff could eventually be corrected. I kept my concentration on focus & composition. After a nearly 20 year hibernation from RR photography I feel fortunate to just be getting "back in the door" with digital night photography. I'm still learning to use Photoshop properly, and I've got a LONG way to go. But I'm fully confident I'll not only find the perfect balance of Photoshop correction & editing on the back end; I'll also get there from the front end with the adjustments I don't yet know how to make while I'm shooting. One thing I learned a LONG time ago: I'll NEVER pass when potentially good photo-ops present themselves...

Lance

Nice shots, Lance! I'm starting to get in to night photography and was wondering what ISO setting you were at. Thanks1

mojaveflyer Wrote:

> Nice shots, Lance! I'm starting to get in to night photography and was wondering what ISO setting you were at. Thanks ...

I stay with the factory set 100 ISO. By definition, when you're on a tripod there shouldn't be any need to boost your ISO. Unless you're in an extreme situation, 100 should be all you'll ever need to a good exposure with reasonable depth of field.

Lance



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/17 05:30 by santafe199.

Wow sir, great shots with excellent colors ! I think you nailed em :)

If you are shooting RAW still, you can play with the white balance all you want until you get the picture you want. It is very easy. That way you don't have to be worried about getting it right all the time in the camera.

Lance, sorry you didn't come down to the ATSF depot. These junkers have been sitting here for a few days.

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