strasburg railroad photo charter

i just attended a photo charter on the strasburg railroad in strasburg pa, while not the best weather, it wasn't a bad day. monday night was a static night session in the pennsylvania railroad museum, and then tuesday was a day/evening photo charter. it rained much of the day after 1100 so it kind of limited the time out on the line, especially since it was a real raw cold uncomfortable type day. but i think i got my money's worth. i'll be posting a few and i'm sure we'll see a few from michael the tmip train master, as he was also there. here is #90 going past a rural cemetery. the region still has an amish presence but is nowhere near as rural as i remember from my first visit back in 1987

 

Despite the rain and cold, it was a good charter. ; I think I got some good stuff especially from the night sessions, but it will be a while before I get mine processed.

 

dawn, a cold dawn, but it's a shame the clear skies didn't hold for the rest of the day. out in a field somewhere northeast of strasburg pa. gallery now up on phanfare, and gps links on the shots.





local wagon and the farmers son, hired by the charter organizer. lerro productions seems to do a good job getting props and actors for scenes. i've been a satisfied client on the 2 i've been on.





a bridge on the line

 

Great stuff Gary! ; Do they put the car and the horse drawn cart out there for you guys on the charter?

 

yes, pete lerro's charters seem to be good for props and actors, although the wagon and horse was not a prop per se, that's an actual young mennonite man and his dogs with one of their working draft horse teams. i know he's mennonite because he's wearing a north face jacket in the chill morning, amish would have tried for a plainer jacket, one without branding, old order amish probably would not have provided the team, especially if the young man had been baptized and was a church member. baptized adults usually do not photograph willingly. something to remember when in amish farm areas, always politely ask permission to photograph anything, more often than not, it will graciously be granted as long as you abide by their wish not to photograph the people. farms, horses and equipment, it's usually shoot away. except for the very old reclusive old order amish they may even in fact ask to chimp

 

Good to know. ; I did not know that they wished to not be photgraphed.

 

Awesome shots Gary! Looks like you had a good time.

 

i have really enjoyed doing these photo charters, i have a diesel one in romney west virginia on 3/23, it's F units from the 1950's which are units i actually like and remember. here's a couple more strasburg

 

Nice work Gary! ; Keep them coming!

I haven't even edited one of mine yet...

 

so ; couple more from strasburg, as i finally have these done, and have started on the potomac eagle charter








back in the yard for a few static shots, trying to wait out the off and on drizzle








last shot of the charter for me, it was cold, i was cold and getting damp, so i went off to the local diner for some excellent chili, and decided to nail the 234 mile drive home before it got late into the evening

 

Real strong stuff Gary! ; Love the last three! ; How about a B&W treatment to that last one?


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Gary, I saw this one on your site but not here. ; Cool idea!

 

I finally got a chance to process my shots over the weekend. ; Since I'm a week ahead of my study schedule for my next exam I decided to take a study break to process them. ;

First up, a study on the pre-trip inspection of the locomotive. ; I was there early and taking static photos of the locomotive sitting in the yard when the engineer climbed out of the cab with his lantern and did one final check of the running gear before pulling forward to the water spout:



As Gary mentioned, we had a great but all too short sunrise out on the line: ;







A pan at Long's Curve:



The charter operator arranged for a horse team and wagon. ; Unfortunately the horses didn't want to have anything to do with the locomotive, but we managed to get some shots anyway:



Carpenter's Cemetery:



Since a bone chillingly cold rain ended the morning shoot early, the railroad kindly arranged for a shop tour for anyone who was interested. ; I had done the shop tour before and thought about heading to lunch early to thaw out before the afternoon session, but decided to stick around for the tour and I'm very glad I did. ; For insurance reasons, the normal tour is always held during the shop crew's lunch break so you never see any work being done. ; Certainly understandable in with all the heavy machines in there. ; This tour was held before their normal lunch break, so we got to see everyone working. ;

Our tour guide, Andrea, explains some of the work being done to the Rio Grande Southern #20 which is an on again, off again project for the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado:



The highlight of the day was getting to see them run the wheel lathe to turn the profile on a set of drivers:

 

Love ths set Michael! ; That first sunrise shot is worthy of hanging on a wall!


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Thanks, John!

 

Thanks, Tim!

 

And now for the second half of the day. ; As Gary noted earlier, it was cold and rainy out, but the charter operator had arranged for a pair of period correct trucks to meet us in the yard after lunch, so we did some static shots out there:





After that we headed back out on the line for a couple of final shots. ; First up was a stop at Verdant View Farm where we did the traditional shot over the barnyard. ; With the cloudy skies, that location didn't do much for me since I couldn't crop the sky out without loosing the barn, so I opted to shoot over the calf pen on the other side of the barn:



Since the Great Western #90 originally came from the plains of Colorado, and had been returned to its 1950's look by the charter operator (minus the extended smoke box and the second sand dome which would have been overly difficult to re-create) the operator arranged for a cowboy to attend the "sunset" shoot. ; While we ended up without a sunset, working with the horse was rather interesting since it was a retired race horse and didn't want anything to do with the train at first. ; After a while, the cowboy was able to get the horse to settle down and chase the train:





After the dinner break, we assembled at the engine house to find out what the plan for the night shoot was going to be. ; Since the lights used for the night shoot don't like water at all and it was still misting, the planned shoot out on the line was canceled and we moved inside to shoot scenes in the engine house. ; First the locomotive was parked outside with the crew standing at the door. ; I shot this one from down in the inspection pit while trying not to get any grease on anything:



After getting my shot I got out of the pit and grabbed a shot of the rest of the group in the enginehouse:



Next the locomotive was brought in and parked under the first of the two smoke jacks to allow plenty of room for the photographers to get shots of the locomotive. ; It was later discovered that only the second smoke jack was open since the first one is almost never used. ; This resulted in a nice atmospheric layer of smoke high in the enginehouse:



Once parked some static scenes were set up. ; The first involved a crew member at the work bench:





Next up was a crew member oiling the locomotive:



The final scene of the night was a crew member adding some coal to the heater to ward off the chilly night air while hostler tends to the locomotive:



On my way out, I noticed this lantern sitting on the work bench and stopped to grab a shot of it:



Despite the weather, it was still a good charter. ; Now that I finished editing these shots, I'm looking forward to attending the Cass Railfan Weekend later this month, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park.