Later on New Year’s Day I figured I could head out and catch the northbound FEC Extra job (train #240) out of Miami as they rolled through the area. So after putting the kids to bed, I checked out ATCS Monitor to check on 240’s progress north. After a little while, I saw them coming into Pompano. I figured that would give me plenty of time to get into position in Boca Raton, set up, and get a few test shots off before the train arrived. Boy was I wrong…
So I left the house as 240 was coming through Pompano just to the south of us here in Deerfield Beach. I figured I had plenty of time, so I made my way north on Dixie Highway. Just then, I heard the Pompano detector trip as 240 continued north.
I decided to set up behind the CVS in Boca – had a nice wide open view with some palm trees in the background. With the spot set, I started to get my gear together and head trackside. As I got there and started to survey the surroundings, the grade crossing behind me activated – oh shit! Looking south I saw a trio of headlights fast approaching. I literally had seconds to get set up and get a shot off.
I managed to hoist the Lumedyne head into position, turn it on, and get my camera to my eye just in time to fire off one shot. But I didn’t have time to check the camera settings, and unfortunately I left it at a high ISO and wide open aperture from some earlier experiments. So I waaaaaaay overexposed the shot. I managed to rescue something of the shot.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:10995]Yeah, not exactly the best in the world, but it’s something. (the odd crop is because the grass in the foreground was completely blown out and unrecoverable). Oh, well, live & learn…
Thanks for looking!
Tom
