Eastern Railroad Discussion > Wherewuzit minimalist at night with clues

So, where was this nighttime, minimalist, unmodified, ISO 1600 hand-held photo taken?

Some clues -
1. It is east of Illinois
2. There is a depot building behind me
3. There is a signal at the other end of the depot platform
4. By the signal there is a diamond that was once more important
5. The train is pulling out of a yard
6. It is not Horseshoe Curve
7. The locomotive, like many others, looks black in the darkness
8. Taken 10-17 of this year

Let us know if you know... === === = === JLH

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Elkhart, Indiana?

BobE

No doubt Elkhart Indiana

Yup....Elkhart.  And the clue is....The moon is made of green cheese.

Man we got us a think tank on here, you got it right away! Amtrak had just pulled out, and I was standing at the depot platform in Elkhart in the cool evening air taking in the ambiance, when I realized the crescent moon was right over the tracks. I ran to get my camera, cranked up the ISO and fired away hand-held. I ran down and tried to do some with the old NYC signal still there, but none of those shots worked out as the train was by me by that time. I feel close to this location even though I live in Colorado because this of course is where the Michigan Air Line began, and I lived in Union City, MI in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade and remember the trains going through in the day and whistles at night on the Air Line. My very first train photo was with an old 120 German box camera one held to their waist, of NYC F-units, I was all of 8 years old. My parents admonished me to "stay away from the tracks", so I had to hide the black-and-white photos, I couldn't afford much film but I remember GP-30's too. Those pictures are long gone now as I had no idea how to store prints and I threw away the negatives, dumb kid I was! The next morning after this shot, I did get some NS stuff going by the signals, but my highlight was seeing Grand Elk coming in off the old Air Line. This was my first time in Elkhart, though I have been to the other end at Jackson, MI. Anyway, great job of guessing, I am not that good at it!

Curious, if it was a hint that gave it away, which one was it? === === = === JLH

Just curious, how do you all know?  Would imagine there's many places that look like this at night.  Not doubting your answer, just curious how you all came that conclusion.

The things that helped me think of Elkhart: The depot at your back, the curve, double-track, the train just pulling out, and the locomotives being black i.e. Norfolk Southern.   An eastbound if I'm thinking correcly.

BobE

That's still a pretty fast guess!
I was going to say things like 1. It's dark; 2. It's night; 3. That's a train; 4. The train has 3 groups of lights; 5. That's a moon; 6. The tracks are curved, but I figured everybody would get mad at me. Still a great guess, the info of where it was at is not even in the metadata so one can not just click on it and cheat! Amazing knowledge on here... === === = === JLH

Nice pic!!