You can't really see it much but Santa Fe was delivering a special load on the flat car to the Museum in Temple, Texas. The zebra striped switcher is none other than #2301, an Alco HH600 that was the second diesel that Santa Fe ever owned. They had retrieved it from the Palo Duro Grain Company. I will see if I can find some better photos of it.
OK Verne, what is the deal here? How did you get the ballast up front to be in as good a focus as the background engines curving off to the right and the "modeled" trees right next to them?
A software program called Heligon Focus can create that effect. It's very easy to use. Stay cool and run steam.......
Geez, how'd I ever miss THIS thread? This has Verne's old truck in it, but still one of my favorite shots:
Randy.... ya just gotta do a couple of new pics of your La Posada in the new Helicon software. Do one of your GPs and maybe one of the Super coming around the bend. That would look great!
Geez! what shot up that pick'um up truck, Rand? Was someone practicing with anti-tank rounds, or what? That thing looks like it has some serious, fist-sized holes in it..... I hope you had permission to be in that field..... Seriously - great pictures, everyone. Nice to see La Posada again, too. EDIT: Hey! Is the pattern of holes in the sheet metal on that truck consistent with the antler punctures made by an Arizona Jackalope buck in rut? They range the Mogollon Rim from Winslow to Williams, and are very territorial in the best of times, but go mad when the doe's come in season. Or so I've heard..... [ September 16, 2005, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: LongTrain ]
Bob, that pickup suffered at the hand of another Outlaw, whose identity is protected under the Witness Protection Program... Great shots Rand, your focus is looking much improved. Love the La Posada one... Helicon Focus is a software package that 'stitches together' multiple exposures, each taken at different focus points. So for example, a scene 3' deep could have 12 or 16 images taken with the focus manually set every few inches. The software digitally combines the focused regions of each image into a final picture. My shot above is a composite of 12 images taken on my layout, superimposed in front of a background shot at my prototype's location.
Verne decided the truck was too 'new' to be on his 1948-era layout, and replaced it with a much older one. It's just right for my '72 though. Verne had commented about that on his truck - the size of the holes. Me, I love it. Everybody that sees it on the layout loves it. It's about the first detail item you see when you come into the layout room. There is the Navajo Ordinance Depot out along the ATSF.... yeah, that's it. Stray rounds. Indians....yeah, Indians.... When I was jeeping the remaining grade of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in Carson Canyon (was it 10 years ago?) I was astounded by the number of vehicles wrecked in the bottom of the canyon, burned, and apparently shot up with automatic weapons fire. Don't look down, and don't slow down either!
I like the 'stray rounds' story, let's stick to it! Besides the Navajo Ordnance Depot, there are a number of USAF and USMC air-to-ground gunnery ranges in Arizona, perhaps some fellas coming back from practice couldn't resist ventilating the pickup a bit. Yes, to a large extent, the west is still...um, kinda wild...
Nice work fellas. Verne. Looks like your getting the hang of that software. Makes me want to put away the slide film for awhile, get a digital camera and play. Randy the cowled 45's look great. Like the scale test car as well. Nice work. grant
This engine has been sitting outside of the passenger station in Grand Junction, CO for several weeks now.
