Spring TRAINing Part I – In the Daylight

On April 30, 2011 Railfan & Railroad magazine held their first annual Spring TRAINing event at Steamtown in Scranton, PA.  The event was two parts – the first was a series of multimedia slideshows during the day, and the second was a night photo shoot using some of Steamtown’s equipment.  Since the event was in two parts, I’m going to split up the photos into two sections as well.  First up is the daytime stuff – photos, friends and slideshows.

I headed out of the house first thing in the morning, heading west on I-84 towards Pennsylvania.  Once I got there (and after I-84 just over the PA border claimed my exhaust pipe patch job), I was greeted by a pretty welcome sight – a Delaware Lackawanna train preparing to head out of Scranton with what looked like a train of grain empties.  Not a bad way to start the day off – shooting the DL for the first time!

After I got my tickets, I wandered around the site and started shooting.  While shooting I ran into a couple of guys that I’ve never met, but knew through our online conversations – Mitch Goldman and Dennis Livesey.  As with the rest of the day, it was nice putting faces with emails and forum posts.  But as noon rolled around, it was time to head to the theater for the feature of the day – the multimedia slideshows.

Presenters from all around showed their efforts on the screen for the next 4 and a half hours.  All the shows were great, and covered a lot of ground.  Here’s a few words on each, in order they were presented:

• George Hamlin’s “1970’s Northeast” – George had me hooked at the first shot of a New Haven passenger train in southwestern Connecticut.  Some very nice views from around the northeast, and I really like the way he “unwound” Conrail at the end of the show.
• Andrew Blaszczyk’s “Shortlines” – A nice view of a number of shortlines around the eastern US.  Two photos stuck in my mind – first a shot of a Iowa Traction locomotive nicely framed by some stalks & ears of corn, and also of the Iowa Interstate’s double header steam, where a going away shot in the hazy fog really stuck with me.  I also thought the melding of video along with the stills was a neat idea.
• Frank Etzel’s “Reflections of the Susquehanna” – A nice retrospective look at the Susy-Q from the Delaware Otsego years through today.  In addition to some great photography, the show included very some informative narration, and not just the usual music track.  A nice learning experience, supplemented with enjoyable photos.
• Bob Eisthen’s “Southern Belle” – Some beautiful imagery of the entire Kansas City Southern system.  Bob gave us a nice tour of the entire system to the Mexican border, showing some classic stuff, along with up to date photos – covering 23 years – 1987 to 2010.  Personally, I liked all the bridge shots he included.
• Steve Barry’s “Eastern Pennsylvania” – Steve had a nice show highlighting the diverse railroading available in the eastern portion of the Keystone State.  The tour included Steamtown & the Delaware Lackawanna, Northeast Corridor, SEPTA and Strasburg Rail Road and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.  Also included were some nice night views, as is expected in any show Steve puts together.
• Jeff Smith’s “An Alternative View” – This was the different one of the group, and I did enjoy it.  Jeff presented a show that featured some alternatives – both in the taking and processing of photos.  A number of photos, he presented were processed in different ways, showing how the same shot would differ depending on the processing technique used.  Also included were some shots taken with a Lensbaby – a kind of tilt/shift lens.  Very interesting!  The only thing I wished he included was some kind of indication as to what processing was what…
• Steve Barry’s “A Tribute to Former R&R Editor Jim Boyd” – With the recent passing of R&R Editor Emeritus Jim Boyd, he left behind a huge trove of slides.  Steve assembled some of the more recently scanned slides into a show paying tribute to the man that took them – these were taken from “the box under the table” which was recently discovered in Jim’s house, literally, under the table.  A very nice look back into Jim’s extensive body of work.
• Jerry Jordak’s “Postcards from the P&LE” – This was probably one of the more interesting shows.  Jerry took Howard Fogg’s paintings of the P&LE (Fogg did a number of promotional paintings for the railroad), and showed how those scenes looked today.  Some very interesting changes, but also some spots didn’t change much at all.
• Chris Blaszczyk’s “STS:  Shuttles, Trains and Scrubs” – Chris and his brother Andrew made a number of trips to Florida to shoot shuttle launches, and along the way photographed the railroads they encountered.  A nice tour of railroads between New Jersey and Florida, along with some of his shuttle shots.  Chris, like his brother, mixed in some video with the stills.  But instead of railroads, Chris put in shuttle launch shots.  A nice change of pace!

With the slideshows done (and on time to boot), it was dinner time, so a bunch of us headed down to Wegmans for dinner.  For the local folks here in the northeast, Wegmans is kinda like Big-Y – they’re a grocery store that has a restaurant in there (albeit larger, and they serve beer & wine).  After dinner, it was time for the night shoot.  But that’ll come in another post.

OK, you’ve made it this far – I guess your reward is the photos from the day.  Nighttime photos will be coming tomorrow sometime – stay tuned.

Thanks for looking!
Tom