Western Railroad Discussion > Donner Summit Sunset

Approximately 30 minutes before sunset on June 25th I caught UP 6355 leading a westbound manifest over Donner Pass as it emerged from Tunnel 41, aka the Big Hole, at CP RV193 East Norden. I had wanted to catch a train in the evening as it emerged from the Big Hole and shoot it with a specific MF lens I have to get nice sunstars around the headlights. (It's a sharp apochromatic design that has a 10-blade aperture and can make fairly well defined sunstars from high contrast point sources of light.)

Photo 1: I had a black and white shot in mind, and this is the result. The locomotive was still in the shadows of the snowshed that guards the switch at East Norden and the entrance to Tunnel 41, which allowed for nice sunstars to form around the headlight and ditch lights while still providing high contrast between the locomotive and the blackness of the tunnel. The photo was processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and then converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2, starting with the Fine Art Process Preset and Red Filter Effect and tweaked from there.

Photo 2: Not to overlook the color of the scene, UP 6355 and its crew emerge from the shadows of the shed and trees into full Golden Hour sun.

Continued...

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Photo 3: After the train passed I grabbed a shot of the sun ducking behind the trees as I headed to the car. The grade crossing is for Old Donner Summit Rd. The concrete crossing panels of the road are still absent from between the rails and stacked in the road on each side of the tracks. I believe they’re removed in winter to aid in snow removal by the flangers, and I’m looking forward to their reinstallation.
 
Photo 4: By the time I made it back to Soda Springs Rd right at sunset the sky in the east was absolutely bonkers. I grabbed a quick shot showing the sky above the Boreal Ridge ablaze with color with the still attached 110mm MF lens.
 
Photo 5: Switching to a 20mm prime, I headed to the old dam site for Lake Van Norden to shoot the sunset reflecting in the pond that remains in the Yuba River where the lake once was, shooting until the alpenglow show was over. The scene is looking east towards the Van Norden Meadow and Summit Valley. It contains from left to right Boreal Ridge, Donner Peak, Mount Judah, Mount Lincoln, Mount Disney, and Crows Nest Peak which trails into Razorback Ridge. There’s good reason I refer to Donner Summit as my “Happy Place.”
 
Cheers,
Sean
 

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You captured an excellent image in that reflections picture.  You now refer to the water as only a pond instead of a lake.  Presume that's due to the drought?

Lake Van Norden was a man made reservoir. They've breached the dam on the Yuba River to restore the area to a meadow. There is now a pond that exists behind what remains of the dam, far smaller than Lake Van Norden used to be.

Sean

GeneL Wrote:
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> You captured an excellent image in that
> reflections picture.  You now refer to the water
> as only a pond instead of a lake.  Presume that's
> due to the drought?

The "pond" photo is really nice!
SR

No, not a drought issue- it's more a there's-no-longer-a-dam issue

UP 6355 sure looks nice, and is definitely at home on Donner (built as SP 308). All shots turned out fantastic!

Brody Wyrick
Reno, NV

Nice pics!!  You should frame that last one.....

Thanks!

Funny you should mention framing. I just finished mounting, matting, and framing another photo from the same series that evening that's going on the wall in our cabin.

Sean

ns1000 Wrote:
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> Nice pics!!  You should frame that last one.....

All are great shots Sean...thanks for sharing !

Amazing colors from the sunset photos.  Smoke from the Rices fire near Grass Valley contributing to the exotic textures?

Rich

Really like no. 2!

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Great pics!

Posted from iPhone

Very nice series of photos! The colors are gorgeous....

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

spectacular series!

All beauties and congratualtions on the IOTD nod. Excellent picture, no train needed.
John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/22 04:04 by jmbreitigan.