Every picture tells a story or so they say. I’ve always been interested, though, in the stories that lie behind the pictures.
At face value, the story that these two images tell is that of a westbound ethanol train on Norfolk Southern lumbering through Olmsted Falls on a Saturday night. For the record, this was train 65V.
The sun is about to sink beneath the tree line and in many ways these are the kind of “sweet light” photos that photographers crave.
You might think that after making these images that I went home satisfied. I can feel that way now. But that was far from how I felt at the time.
The story began that morning when I received an email that the Monongahela heritage unit was leading intermodal train 25V and likely would reach Cleveland between 4 and 6 p.m.
Hmmm. That would put the train through Olmsted Falls in late day light.
I followed the train’s progress online and when it was reported past Leetonia, Ohio, at 3:21 p.m., I grabbed my camera bag and out the door I went.
By the time I arrived in the Falls, the 25V was on the southeast side of Cleveland. But the radio chatter between the Toledo East dispatcher and various trains and NS supervisors revealed that the Chicago Line east of Cleveland was, again, more parking lot than speedway.
Nothing was moving west out of Cleveland and it remained that way for the next two plus hours.
I was able to ascertain from the conversations between the Cleveland Terminal dispatcher and various trains that the 25V was fourth in line to go west once traffic got moving.
The 65V came through Berea at about 6:45. The sun was slightly south of the tracks so I set up there at the Brookside Road crossing. Then I saw a headlight to the west and quickly crossed over, lest that eastbound block my shot.
It would be 15 minutes before the next westbound, a 21Q, came by. The 65V was getting an approach signal somewhere to the west and everything was moving slower than normal.
It was a given that I wouldn’t get the 25V and the Monongahela H unit in sunlight or even in daylight.
It was downright dark when the NS 25V with the NS 8025 on point came past the Olmsted Falls depot where the railroad club that owns the building was having a picnic.
Even with a digital camera that has a high ISO capability, getting even a fair shot was mission all but impossible.
I tried, but the image was too dark and blurry. Many photographers wouldn’t have bothered and others would have deleted their images.
I went home deeply disappointed. The heritage unit photography gods had turned their backs on me yet again.
A few days later I’m still disappointed about how that sortie turned out, yet as I studied the images I made of the 65V I’ve come to a new appreciation of what I was able to do with what I had.
Sometimes studying a photograph days reveals things that escaped your attention as you peered through the viewfinder. So it was with the 65V.
In the top shot, I ended up liking a few qualities that I missed when making the photo. Although I would have preferred to have been on the south side of the tracks, there was just enough light down the sides of the tank cars to create a nice streak that contrasts with the shadows of the rest of those cars.
The angle from the north side of the tracks enabled me to capture several utility poles in full lighting. Ordinarily, photographers don’t like having poles in their images, but in this case the poles and even the multitude of wires that cross above the tracks convey the aura of “urban setting.”
In its own way, this image is a good snapshot of railroading in 2014. Tank car trains have increased in numbers in the past few years due to the crude oil boom in North Dakota. Hence, tanker trains represent the au courant in this image.
Look in the background. See that signal bridge erected by the New York Central goodness knows how many decades ago? It provides some historical contrast. A lot of petroleum products used to move by rail back in the era when those signals went up, but then that business went away only to come back.
Late day light also enables you to see inside the locomotive cab. Notice that the conductor is giving some kind of sign – a peace sign? – as the 65V approaches. That might have been for the benefit of the crew of that rapidly closing in eastbound train.
These image will always remind me of the train I really wanted to get in this warm, sweet light and how circumstances intervened to foil those plans.
I made the most of the situation and came away with some pretty fair images. But don’t forget heritage unit photography gods that you still owe me one.
Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders
The rail passenger agency is protesting NS’s recent move to route tank car trains off the Fort Wayne Line and onto lines that pass through more populous areas, including Cleveland and Toledo.
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