rode with him<\/a> in the cab back in July. Anyways, next up was what you’d expect – a boy pointing at 2-8-0 #97, probably talking about how he’s looking forward to the train ride with his mom.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:5738]\n
As the final boarding call was announced over the loudspeakers at Essex Station, I got into my car and went to my first photo spot just north of the station – Old Deep River Rd.<\/p>\n
I got there well in advance of the train, so I scouted around a bit. A couple angles struck me – first a longer telephoto shot, then I figured I could back up while changing lenses and get a wider shot as the train rounded the bend. As I was finalizing my decisions, a loud whistle to the south told me to get ready – the train was crossing Route 154 and heading my way.<\/p>\n
A couple minutes later the train came into view, slowly accelerating the train towards me.<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5737]\n
And it grew closer still, so I got my last telephoto shot as the train approached the curve in the rails<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5736]\n
As the train continued to get closer, I gingerly went down the ice & snow covered hill while swapping the telephoto for the wide angle. As I got into position, I snapped a few frames of the passing 2-8-0, with one standing out amongst the series.<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5735]\n
As the train went through the grade crossing next to me, I climbed in the car and set my sights on my next destination – Essex Street to the north.<\/p>\n
I got to the crossing just as the train was coming into view. But the shot I had in mind wasn’t at the grade crossing, but rather across the river through a clearing in the brush. I pulled off the road just as the crossing signals activated. So I grabbed my camera, and went for the small boat launch where I’d get my shot. But it was a bit more complicated than just sit and wait. As I approached the ramp to the water, I was reminded that southern Connecticut got more ice than snow, and when my boots slid on the surface instead of sinking in I started to panic a bit. See, there was nothing to grab on and I was heading for the water, the train was coming, and I was loaded down with camera gear. Some quick stutter steps towards the side, and I was able to grab a branch in time to catch my balance, get on some level ground, and get the shot off.<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5734]\n
Phew! OK, now back up the icy hill to the car an onto the next stop – Deep River Landing.<\/p>\n
I got there just as the train was pulling through, heading north to Chester. So instead of trying to get a grab shot, I passed and scouted around. They’d be back. While scouting around, I found the angle I was looking for.<\/p>\n
A few minutes later three whistles sounded to the north – the train was beginning its reverse move back to Deep River Landing, where #97 would run around her train and pull the consist of parents, kids and Santa back to Essex. So I got into position and waited for the train.<\/p>\n
Finally it came into view, and I got a quick telephoto grab shot.<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5733]\n
Then I swapped to the wide angle and got the first shot I planned out – a horizontal with some benches in the foreground, and the train in the background.<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5732]\n
Then I flipped the camera for a vertical as the 2-8-0 got closer<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5731]\n
After that shot I headed for the rocks near the crossing. Scaling the icy rocks wasn’t an easy thing, but what the hey – it was worth it. Got a shot as the power was pulling away<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5730]\n
Then a shot of the engineer & fireman passing by<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5729]\n
And a tighter shot of the fireman riding the tender<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5728]\n
As the tender cleared the switch, the engineer watched for the signal from the fireman to proceed back over the switch, and into the siding.<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5727]\n
Moments later, he got his signal, and they proceeded back south onto the siding. Got a shot with the fisheye here<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5726]\n
Then a swap to the telephoto, I got a shot of the conductor getting back onboard, with a couple watching the action in the vestibule. Also in the background is #97 making their move to the other end of the train<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5725]\n
As the 2-8-0 was making their coupling on the south end of the train, I headed back to Essex to shoot the train coming back into the yard. This time I headed to the south end of the yard, where #40 was sitting, getting some maintenance done. I got a couple shots of her with some spare drawbars strewn about<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5724] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5723]\n
And a shot of the switches at the south end of the yard<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5722]\n
And over to the coal loading area for a shot of the pit, and the GE centercab switcher<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5721]\n
Then something caught my eye – two men working on #40. So of course I had to get shots of them working.<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5720] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5719]\n
Just then #97 was making their way down the main after uncoupling from the train<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5718]\n
As the locomotive progressed south, I got a shot of her and #40 in the same frame<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5717]\n
Then of the fireman waiting for #97 to make her way over the switch, heading back to the north end of the train<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5716]\n
This next one, I’ll have to admit that I didn’t notice it at the time I took it. Nearby the south end of Essex, there’s a restaurant called the Iron Chef (not that it matters, but one of my favorite shows is Iron Chef – both the classic Japanese subtitled version, as well as the newer Iron Chef America). So I got a shot of the Iron Horse and the Iron Chef<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5715]\n
And the next one I did with black & white in mind<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5714]\n
Finally a shot of the engineer leaning out his window<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5713]\n
A quick walk to the north end of the station, I got there in time to witness the fireman backing the train up to the coaches<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5712]\n
And a boy watches the action<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5711]\n
Next the fireman connects the steam heat line<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5710]\n
And the completed connection, with steam now flowing, heating the coaches behind<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5709]\n
Looking at my watch, I had time to get one more shot. So I headed back up to Old Deep River Road. I got a trio of shots with the wide angle of the train coming around the bend.<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5708] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5707] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5706]\n
And one final shot of the train heading through the crossing<\/p>\n
[cpg_imagefixthumb:5705]\n
Not a bad afternoon. With the light fading, I got in the car and headed back home for the evening.<\/p>\n
Thanks for looking!
\nTom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, Friday I looked at the weather – cloudy but cold. OK, that would work. So I took a half vacation day from work and headed to Essex, CT. The Valley Railroad (aka Essex Steam Train) was running a pair of Santa Specials for the kids. They get to ride with Santa to Chester and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-rail_photography","7":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nanosphoto.com\/gallery\/albums\/wpw-20071223\/thumb_20071221-_MG_7377.jpg?resize=100%2C150\")
Well, Friday I looked at the weather – cloudy but cold. OK, that would work. So I took a half vacation day from work and headed to Essex, CT. The Valley Railroad (aka Essex Steam Train) was running a pair of Santa Specials for the kids. They get to ride with Santa to Chester and back to Essex. I figured with the cold weather, I’d get some good smokestack plumes, and the cloudy skies would act like a big soft box, not limiting my photo angles. Would I get my early Christmas present? Time will tell.<\/p>\n