Too wide for narrow guage...... The Milwaukee Road always had patrols right behind they're trains goin thru the Bitteroots for fire prevention, so maybe up near the loops?
KCS 2810 and 2849 begin their late afternoon return from Metro Jct after completing the afternoon pig turn in Krum, Tx. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Here's something different from the Minot area. I recently bought a used 100-400mm zoom, and it's a beast. It weighs nearly 4 lbs! This is a 400mm shot, handheld and manually focused of a westbound Interbay-bound grain train leaving Minot. It is approximately crossing the underpass for 16th St SW, and I'm roughly 2,000 feet west at an unnamed dead end road. You can see the imposing signal bridge just east of Soo Tower, the home signals that guard the western approach to the interlocking, and 2 grade crossings in the photo. I like the capabilities it offers, but manually focusing on a moving target is a challenge in itself. The autofocus works well, but for moving subjects, it is a bit more accurate. The heat distortion was pretty bad further away.
Man, great consist. Love that Rock Island livery and the the Iowa Interstate is sharp too. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
I call this new (to me) lens "Big Jack" now. Some railfans back in the day called the monstrous DDA40X "Big Jacks" as they were the longest and heaviest diesels in the country, and the most powerful around at 6,600 HP. This lens is the "Big Jack" of my modest photography kit. Here's Big Jack at 210mm on that same grain load, now easing into a curve: It's quite sharp, too. Here's a full-res crop *the jpeg conversion dilutes the sharp details* from the above pic:
Great work Hemi! You'll have a blast with your new lens. I once carried an old skool early 1970's era Nikkor 50-300. It was so heavy that the lens had a pistol grip midway along its barrel. Despite the pistol grip, using it without a tripod at 300mm was hopeless. I sold it years ago. Happily, high quality old "glass" is still valued by photographers. Unfortunately, my current 55-200mm Nikkor DX has a bad tendency to produce lens element light flares from locomotive headlights, even if I'm not shooting straight on. I'd like to replace it with something better.
Hmmm. I hadn't thought about that. I'll have to check. I have a lens hood that I should perhaps use more often.
Hood won't help with headlights that are in the field of view. The hood is used to prevent bright light coming obliquely to hit the lens surface and then scattering to cause flare. It's the lens coatings that minimize direct light flare. One other thing that can cause it is the use of filters (UV for example) that are not coated or which cause it from light bouncing from the front of your lens to the filter and then back into the camera!
John got to it before I could. Lens flare from strong light sources are only exacerbated by most add-on filters.
I think I removed my UV filters from both of my lenses, but I'll double check. Here's an example of what I sometimes see. Look at the rear of the walkway on the lead unit below the radiator and you'll see a flare of two green spots, the headlights. What makes it so irritating is that I'm not looking straight into the headlight. Sometimes I get multiple flares if the light source is stronger and my angle is straight on. I may just have to live with it and move even further aside.
I believe today’s lashup on CBBI was even better than yesterday. This was on the train. Video of Roll-By: [MEDIA] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
In April of 2012, after the 844 debacle causing the "flat tires" on the drivers in East Texas, the rebuilt E9s were commandeered off of an officer special to pull the UP 150th Anniversary train through Texas and Louisiana while the steam locomotive was being repaired. Here the train is departing Hearne, Texas on its way to Austin and passing in front of the restored MoPac/SP union depot. It is now a museum.
