Winter Freight on the Western Maryland Railway

What do you get when you mix steam trains with cold temperatures and a forecast of snow? ; Answer: ; A whole lotta fun.

The week before the charter, I started watching the weather very closely. ; The forecast kept flip flopping between warm and and cold, snowy and dry. ; I was beginning to think that the weatherman was doing that on purpose just to mess with us. ; But, our fearless leader had promised snow so we would just have to wait and see.

I have to admit, Saturday started out pretty bad. ; The light absolutely sucked and after a hour long delay caused by a coupler problem we were plagued by ashpan problems that required us to back up and put out two fires as we headed up the line. ; But then it happened... about half way up the mountain it started to snow:



Great big flakes:



Lots of 'em:



By the end of the day we knew Sunday was going to be amazing.

...more tomorrow

 

I don't know how you do it but your steam train photos get better and better. ;

 

Awesome shots, cant wait to see the others. ; You out do yourself on the steam pics.

 

awesome stuff as usual

 

thanks guys! ; I"ll post more tonight.

 

The weather Sunday morning was the complete opposite of Saturday; clear skies and cold temperatures... perfect steam train weather. ; First stop of the morning was the Narrows for some awesome glint light:



Next up was something I had been waiting for since November; the opportunity to get good shots of the new barn at Helmstetter's Curve[nb]The original barn was lost in a fire thought to be arson. ; For those who missed my thread on the Helmstetter Farm Fund photo charters last fall, click here. ; There's a good video from CBS on page 2 [/nb]:





As an interesting side note, the Farmall Tractor parked next to the barn in the first shot was badly damaged in the fire. ; A neighbor did a complete frame off restoration on it. ; It looks like it did the day it came off the assembly line.

...stay tuned for part 3 tomorrow.

 

with a rebel yell he cried more more more!!

 

Wow!!

 

thanks guys!

 

Thanks Dennis!

 

Time for the third and final set of pictures from the January photo charter. ; Continuing where we left off, I found tried some panning at Coal Tipple:



I tried for the elusive zoom pan at this location but couldn't quite pull it off... maybe next time. ; A little farther up the line at Lap Waterstop. ; This was once the location of a dual track main line with a long passing siding. ; Today all that's left is one track and the concrete foundations from the water tanks:



#734 storms up the hill at Frostburg Approach:



And pulls into the station at Frostburg:



I've saved my favorite for last. ; They call this the Suicide Shot[nb]Closed course, professional driver. ; Please please don't try this at home.[/nb]:



This shot hasn't been staged for several years due to a change in management. ; The new guys didn't think it was safe, so it took a lot of convincing to get them to agree to do it again. ; The secret is that while it may look dangerous, its actually a highly controlled event and is in fact perfectly safe. ;

It was a great weekend of photography. ; I hope you enjoyed viewing them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

 

Michael, again, you have outdone yourself. ; I love the steam shots.

 

that tractor is a farmall model B, unless i'm fooled by the angle and it's an A, pretty much everybody growing row crops had one when i was a pup, great cultivating rig, gearing was perfect, of course you didn't do it after lunch if at all possible, that same slow pace made it hard to stay awake. neighbor once woke up, digging weeds out of the roadway. i imagine these were all accepted over at railpictures.net. if not then they seriously don't know their A from their elbow. these are some mighty fine steam shots

 

I bow to your steam train shots. ; When is the book out? ; Followed by wall and desk calendars, postcards, etc. ; ; Do you put these in a stock portfolio? ; Just outstanding work, Michael!

 

Thanks guys!

 

Awesome shots Michael!