Eastern Railroad Discussion > 2020 Hindsight: the year of living (un)dangerously

Like most of us, my railfanning activity has been dramatically altered by the Covid virus.  But fortunately, living in a rural backwater, the local infection rates have been fairly low and opportunities for low-human-contact  train chasing have been pretty good, so long as I stay local. "Local" in this case includes NS's former D&H over Richmondville Hill, and CSX's former NYC main down the Mohawk Valley. 

The trains could have cooperated a bit more, but all in all, I won't complain too much. I can still breathe, taste food, and generally live my life. 

One approach, of course, is to keep shooting at your favorite locations, working with whatever lighting the weatherman throws at you, in the hopes of getting the one shot you've always wanted. Toward that end, NS train 11R rolls through Central Bridge, NY with the houses in the background basking in early spring light.  This is a whopping 2.5 miles from my front door and yes, I've shot it before. 

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/21 15:25 by march_hare.

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[img::]https://cdn.trainorders.com/attachments/thumbs/1523000/C1BF12AA_9B20_48C2_A530_F912EA4234DE_5ff24e11e9908.jpg[/img]

Here

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Nice!

Posted from iPhone

It wasn't all that great a year for heritage units up here, at the far reaches of the empire. But one day this fall, the scanner popped off with a crew calling a signal, just as I was dropping my son off. A quick trip trackside yielded a surprise, one of the few heritage units I hadn't seen yet. I'll take it. 

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The first photo captured a relatively unique Safetran Unilens back-to-back high signal installation. The Unilens signals
were unique for their color filter and optical fiber design (no mechanical moving parts) as a late competitor to the US&S and GRS Searchlight signals that utilized
an expensive electromechanical polar relay.

I might note that the light given off by this signal is so pathetically weak that you often can't tell if it's on, even if you know there's a train coming. 

Haha I saw the same train at the same place. Here is my shot:

 

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