Available Light Shots

Available light shots often yield unexpected results. It is difficult to anticipate the effects that distant lights, automobile headlights, number boards, step lights and ground lights will have on a photograph.

There are moments where the unexpected glare, flair and reflections ruin the shot, and there are moments when these conditions actually improve the image.

Amtrak #8, the Empire Builder awaits an on-time departure from Minot, North Dakota on September 26, 2010. The green signal in the distance seems to add an element of impatience to the scene. Equipment – Nikon D200. Exposure – 15 seconds at f15. R.R. Conway

We’re at Midway Station, Minneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota on September 18, 2010. The time is 10:40pm and Amtrak’s Empire Builder waits for an on-time departure before heading west into the night. Ahead lies a lot of high speed running through the moonlight in Minnesota and North Dakota. Equipment – Nikon D200. Exposure – 3 seconds at f10. R.R. Conway

September 28, 2010 finds us at Davis Junction, Illinois without any flash capabilities. The Illinois Railway is about to enter the photo and head into Davis Junction before continuing on to Rockford. The time is 9:50pm on September 28, 2010. Equipment – Nikon D200. Exposure – 13 seconds at f5. ISO 800. R.R. Conway

The scanner indicated action on the IC&E, so I decided to try to work the water tower into a shot and obtained this result of an eastbound Iowa Chicago and Eastern (CP) train at 11:10pm. Equipment – Nikon D200. Exposure - 8 seconds at f16. ISO 800. R.R. Conway

This is a 20mm view of the James River Viaduct in Richmond Virigina on August 5th, 2010. Equipment - Canon Rebel XS Body with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5 - 5.6 lens. Exposure - 24 seconds @ f8.0, ISO 200 using the city lighting. Loyd Lowery

On May 15th, 2010, we see a 24 mm view of the Fairbanks-Morse Coal tipple in Thurmond, WV, using the locomotives headlight to silhouette the tipple. Equipment - Canon EF-S with an 18-55mm f3.5 - 5.6 lens. Exposure - 10 seconds @ f6.3, ISO 200. Loyd Lowery

The last two operating F40Cs (611 and 614) are still on the job with Metra as of August 22, 2010. The 611 is idling smoothly under the moonlight at Fox Lake, Illinois. The time is 12:19am and she is being prepared for her Sunday assignment. Equipment – Nikon D200. Exposure – 2.5 seconds @ f5.6 . ISO 800 with available light. R.R. Conway

One of the first, but not the first, night shots I ever took is this view of C&NW SW600 #1281 at Eu Clare, WI in April 1974. She is one of two SW600s (the other was 1280) on the C&NW. Equipment -Minolta SRT101. Kodachrome 25 film. Sam Carlson

It is March of 1978 and the Milwaukee Road F units were nearing retirement. This ABBA lashup was shot at Abbott Park, north of Rondout, Illinois as they prepare to return to their train after making a setout. Equipment - Minolta SRT-101, Kodachrome 25 film. Sam Carlson

The same ABBA lashup stopped long enough at Rondout, Illinois to allow this nicely backlit photo. The CTC code lines in the background were often a nuisance back in the good old days, but occasionally they could be worked into a photograph to enhance it rather than hinder it. Equipment - Minolta SRT-101, Kodachrome 25 film. Sam Carlson

An A-B-A set of Soo Line F7s rests under the mercury vapor lights at North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in April 1976. Tomorrow they most likely will run to North Milwaukee and back, making most of the trip on Milwaukee Road trackage rights. Bill Christopher

In an area that normally does not see much snow, CSXT train G234 awaits a new crew at Kayne Avenue in downtown Nashville, TN. The photo was taken in January of 2010. Doyle Massey

The color position light signals on CSX's Toledo Sub are not long for the world. They will soon be replaced by more modern, and arguably less visible signals. The change of aspects are visible as Amtrak passes the signal at Wapakoneta, Ohio on January 2, 2010. Rob Schreiner

At Swanders, Ohio, the details of these unique signals are highlighted against the darkness of the night sky. . Rob Schreiner

EJ&E 478 is framed in the roundhouse doors at Waukegan, Illinois, on a moonlit November 16, 1975. Built as a VO-1000, this unit was repowered in the 1950s with a Baldwin 606SC prime mover from one of the J’s EMD-repowered Baldwin centercabs. The 478 would be sold to Wisconsin Steel within a year and scrapped a few years later; the poured-concrete roundhouse was knocked down in the 1980s. This photo was taken with Kodachrome Professional Type A to compensate for the roundhouse’s tungsten lighting. Bill Christopher

A new Tradition begins...Every year the village of Altamont, New York has a Christmas Victorian Stroll that showcases the beautiful Victorian houses that dot the streets of Altamont. This year, on behalf of SMS Lines, Santa arrived on a Christmas Train which is a for Altamont and SMS. After the train arrived in front of the 1867 former Delaware and Hudson Depot, children could visit with Santa in the attached boxcar and have their picture taken. Dean Splittgerber

SP 4449 rests at the Amtrak station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 2, 2009. Equipment - Canon Rebel XTi . Exposure - f/5.6, 4 seconds, ISO 200. Robert J. Della-Pietra

It is 24/7 railroading on the BNSF and locomotives 4682 and 8004 are at the servicing facility at Cicero Yard in Chicago, Illinois. The date is November 10, 2007. Equipment - Olympus SP500UZ. Robert J. Della-Pietra

The fresh snow muffles the sound of the Metra locomotives in the distance as another morning rush is about to begin. The date is December 5, 2007 at 7:43 am.

The city of Fox Lake, Illinois provides a very nice Christmas display at their Millennium Park, but only a small amount of the display can be worked into a decent railroad scene. Equipment - Nikon D200. Exposure – 20 seconds at f29. ISO 800. R.R. Conway

Skytop Lounge Cedar Rapids crosses the Menomonee River in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 15, 2008 as she returns from yet another successful excursion behind Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #261. Rob Schreiner

Via Rail train #2, The Canadian, prepares to depart Vancouver, BC on October 6, 2009. Tonight’s #2 consists of two F40PHs, 1 baggage car, 2 coaches, 3 Skyline Vista Domes, 2 dining cars, 9 sleepers and 1 Dome Observation car. Equipment – Nikon D200. Exposure – 2 seconds at f14. ISO 400. R.R. Conway

Via Rail #2, The Canadian, races toward Winnipeg, Manitoba on October 8, 2009. We’re aboard dome observation car Yoho Park at 8:44pm. The cocktails are going down smoothly as I experiment with my tripod-mounted camera. The lights from the downstairs solarium softly illuminate the interior of the dome as the world races by outside. Equipment – Nikon D200. Exposure – 18 seconds at f5.6. ISO 800. R.R. Conway

An eastbound Union Pacific manifest outruns a Nebraska thunderstorm somewhere west of North Platte, the thunder of steel mingling with the distant rolling thunder of nature. On this July 1979 night, the atmosphere is warm and dry and electric – for now. Soon driving sheets of rain will strafe the prairie. Bill Christopher

The moon is rising over Waukegan, Illinois, and no doubt some sort of lunacy is descending somewhere in the rust belt port city on Lake Michigan. The “J” – the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway – has been a fallen flag for months, but we can pretend it ain’t so on this September 2, 2009 evening as SD38-2 no. 658 awaits the morning call. Bill Christopher

Ann Arbor S4 no. 7 slumbers under the mercury vapor light at Elberta, Michigan in July 1978. The carferry MV Arthur K. Atkinson is still laid up in the harbor, crippled by a broken crankshaft in one of her two Nordberg diesels. Soon she will be repaired to join her Ann Arbor sister, the MV Viking, when the state stepped in to keep the railroad and the 86-year-old carferry service running. Michigan would even purchase a Grand Trunk carferry, the SS City of Milwaukee, to augment the Ann Arbor fleet. But it was a short-lived revival. State support ran out in April 1982, and the Ann Arbor Railroad shut down, trains, boats and all. Bill Christopher

The Wheeling & Lake Erie's Rook Yard in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is usually a good place for night photography, as the railroad frequently has a unit or two parked there. On a very chilly November 24, 2003, SD40-3 #3016 and sister unit #3049 slumber at Rook underneath a dramatic sky. I had already started shooting digital images at this date, but had a roll of Agfa Scala in one of my film cameras. To neutralize the color casts from the ambient lights near the yard office, I decided that B&W slide film would work well here in a time exposure. Wade H. Massie

A jumble of semaphores used to protect the diamonds of the CN and B&OCT / NS at Brighton Park in Chicago, Illinois. The crossing has since been modernized and the semaphores are gone. The date is June 13, 2007.. Rob Schreiner

An amazing lightshow takes place as an eastbound freight ascends the famous Tehachapi Loop. Traffic from nearby Route 58 adds to the scene, visible at far right. This exposure was so long that it spanned part of two days, it began on 8/7 and finished on 8/8. Wade H. Massie

There is a lot to be said for available light action shots and they often go overlooked by many photographers. Chris Guss is a master when it comes to this type of shot and the above photo of Milwaukee Road #261 "Roaring Through Rondout" is proof. The photo was taken with a Canon 5D, 1.6 second exposure at f 5.6, ISO 1600. The date was May 15, 2008. Copyright 2008, Chris Guss.

Here is another magnificent example of an available light action shot and it too comes from Chris Guss. The C&NW coaling tower is located at DeKalb, Illinois. The shot was taken on August 18, 2008 with a Canon 5D, 68 seconds at f 8, ISO 400. Hopefully this photo will grace the Moonlight Haze home page in the future as it incorporates not only railroad action, but the moon as well. Copyright 2008 Chris Guss

Milwaukee Road F40C #50 is three years old as she waits for another departure from Fox Lake, Illinois in 1977. Of the 15 F40Cs built, only two (Metra 611 and 614) remain as of May, 2009. Although Metra commuter trains still depart from Fox Lake on a daily basis, the green searchlight signal in the distance (not the train order signal by the depot) is the only thing in this scene that remains today. R.R. Conway

The year is 1978 and we are looking south on the Milwaukee Road mainline toward the EJ&E crossing at Rondout, Illinois. The Milwaukee Road used to base a switch engine at Rondout for use on the "Rondout Patrol" which serviced industries in the area and also worked the EJ&E interchange. In this shot, the "Patrol" engine and caboose are visible on the right and Milwaukee Road Alco RSC 2.5 (a Milwaukee Road designation for a rebuilt RSC 2) #577 is visible on the left. The 577 spent most of the summer of 1978 here as she waited for repairs for a hotbox. R.R. Conway

A westbound Metra suburban train crosses the former Soo Line main at Grayslake, Illinois on March 19, 2007. Equipment - Nikon D200. Owen Mars.

At 9:45 pm on March 20, 2007, Wisconsin Southern westbound "CJ" (Chicago - Janesville) train waits on number 2 main at A20 (Northbrook, Illinois) for the last westbound Metra train, #2159 to pass. The "CJ" will then follow 2159 to Fox Lake, Illinois where Metra's trackage ends and WSOR rails begin. The train will end up in Janesville, Wisconsin in the early morning hours. Equipment - Nikon D200. Owen Mars