The Trains of New England

Okay gang - before we wrap up the 1998 trip to New England, here are a few parting shots to illustrate the fact that yes, there are trains and mountains here. The shot above is probably only remotely interesting to railfans - and even then, not very. This southbound Amtrak train, stopping at Kingston, RI station, is unremarkable. The diesel engines, however, would soon be replaced by electrics, as the infrastructure was nearly complete in the project that electrified the Northeast Corridor from Connecticut to Boston. Okay - even *I'm* bored...

The little rolling tourist trap above is the Old Colony Scenic RR in Newport, RI. Under-appreciated old equipment, but oh, the VIEWS...

A saddle-tank steamer, relegated to holding a paper company's PR office in place. Maine. The way life should be.

Yorkrail GP-9. I know it doesn't look like much to you non-railfans, but trust me - that machine is OLD. And that's cool. Think "'55 Chevy..."

Near Mt. Washington, NH.

Mt. Washington Cog Railway. Note the inclined boiler on the locomotive. Utterly unique. Best tourist trap east of the Mississippi.

... it climbs THIS...

... and pushes coaches full of people ...

... using the cogs in the center "rail" and a gear-like wheel - not unlike old wooden roller-coasters. It's hard to describe, really. Go there. Try it. Love it. Tell 'em Joe and [Maris] sent you. They'll say, "Who?" but that's okay.

You'll end up in the sky. No cell phones, please.

I know it's not America's highest point, but it's somehow exceedingly impressive. One of the windiest places on the planet.

Alien Landscape - Mt. Washington, NH - 1998.

Muchos Gracias for the visit, guys. Keep those cards and letters coming. More to come. Ta...

Falling For Cass

Fall, despite its tendency to become Winter, has its moments. In our 1997 Autumn of Pure Wanderlust, my soul mate and I found our way to Cass, WV. Cass was at one time a busy little logging town, but by the time I first visited there with my father in the late 70s, its Shay-locomotive-powered mountain railroad had begun to carry only tourists. Fall is obviously the best time to make this trip, as evidenced by the panorama above, shot from the train about halfway up Bald Knob from Cass.

On our way from the hotel at Snow Shoe to Cass, this fog-filled valley caught our attention and insisted that we photograph it. I especially like the lone tree silhouetted against the fog in the second shot (center, near the bottom of the frame).

Two shots of Cass Scenic RR Shay #2. The detail shot shows the builder's plate: Lima Locomotive Works, 1928. If only my Chevy would last as long.

Okay, the two shots above were mistakes (I forgot to adjust my shutter speed for the wooded portion of the climb up the mountain), but I really like the resulting images. I'm not sure I could depict the motion of the train ride any better, and if I ever return to Cass, I'm going to be trying a whole bunch more shots like these.

Back out into the sunshine, we were treated to colors like this everywhere we looked.

Shay #4, which had helped #2 get us up the hill, cut off the train on the fly as we reached the summit. Smooth as silk.

Red cabooses stored at Cass, WV. Gotta love a good caboose!

Okay, friends. That'll do for now. That'll do...

Trains In Black And White

Trains look older when photographed in black & white. We railfans tend to like our trains old. Above: Idle Power at Brunswick, MD in 1993.

CSX GP40 #6223 emerging from the west portal of the Point of Rocks, MD Tunnel in 1999.

At the same location, but facing west, the eastbound Q216 is captured in 1997 with the C&O Canal tow path and the Potomac River in the background.

Q398 rumbles east through Dickerson, MD in 1993.

At Riverside Shops in Baltimore in 1993, this ex-Burlington Northern E-9 has received its new MARC identifiers and awaits a "67" number board.

In 1992, westbound Amtrak train #29 "Capitol Limited" rolls toward its first stop in Rockville, MD. It will be in downtown Chicago by lunchtime tomorrow.

Two shots of a CSX freight heading east out of Cumberland Yard and past Mexico Tower at North Branch, MD in 1992.

A train robbery reenactment at the old Western Maryland Station in Cumberland, MD in 1996.

Westbound Q217 approaching Cumberland Yard in 1992 and not making nearly enough noise.

Check back for more. So much more...

The Map Stayed Closed

More shots from the "Cruising Years." We wandered farther and farther from home (Germantown, MD) - deeper into West Virginia, and into the Ohio Valley - in search of whatever caught our eye. When we came across the cool sign for Coolville, OH above, it was time to turn around and head back east, so we didn't get to see the town. Bet it was cool, though.

Here today, gone tomorrow. Identical compositions, shot from the same spot in Cambria, WV in 1997. The power plant at Haywood is only a couple of miles away, so the second shot is a good indication of just how thick the fog between the hills can get.

Two frames of former Western Maryland Railway's old shay locomotive #6 at Cass, WV in 1997. These heavy little brutes were used for decades to haul timber down from the mountains, and required a unique design in order to handle the steep grades they had to climb. They had one long set of connecting rods that powered all the wheels under the engine and tender, rather than just a few drivers under the boiler. It's the steam locomotive equivalent of all-wheel drive.

Cass, WV may be synonymous with the tourist railroad now, but it was born as a logging town. The forests have mostly grown back, but a few decades ago the dilapidated mill shown above was busy, the trains carried timber and the surrounding hills were nearly devoid of trees.

"Tobacco Barn - Southern MD - 1998." Hastily shot by [Maris] from the car. You would think shots like this would be easier to get in Southern MD, but no. Apparently, tobacco is very shy.

Closer to home, we couldn't resist the light on St. John's Episcopal Church in Olney, MD - 1999.

Hard to resist the sunset light on the old town hall building in Poolesville, MD in the summer of 1998.

"Sunset Over Ohio Corn - Rt. 7, OH - 1997." He wants you, too, Malachai! He wants you, too...

Roads To Nowhere

Time to drive into the middle of nowhere and find ourselves. In the second half of 1997, I put 30,000 miles on my car - and I wasn't always the one driving on these road trips. [Maris] and I fell in love with much of West Virginia, starting with the Scenic US Route 50 and venturing southward from there. Above, I'm pretty sure the two opposing road signs are trying to tell us "Look! The Center of The Universe! It's right here! Where are you going?"

Scenic US Rt. 50 - somewhere in West Virginia in 1997. Not always sunny, but trust me when I tell you it's the kind of road on which you'd want to shoot sports car advertisements.

"Another Planet's Barn, WV - 1997." A companion photo to one from my last post, this scene was downright surreal to us, as we had just emerged from hours of driving through some deep, dark woods.

"Cave, WV - 1997."

From Point of Rocks, MD: "Leaves in ballast." Look - dewdrops!

"Church and Fallen Leaves, WV - 1997." I'm too lazy to look up the location in [Maris'] notes, but this is one of our favorite shots, and one where we began to seriously collaborate on composition.

"Cass Scenic Railroad's #2." Shot as it pushed a trainload of tourists from Cass, WV to the summit of Bald Knob in 1997.

Another big-time collaborative effort, this one from an October, 1997 trip to Snowshoe, WV. "Barn and Tree Near Snowshoe." We're not into witty titles, as you might have guessed by now.

"Road from Spruce Knob to Nowhere." This shot is from our second visit to Spruce Knob (West Virginia's highest point). On the first trip, we took a wrong turn leaving the mountain and really did end up on a road to nowhere - and with Very Little gas. I still don't know where we were for about 3 hours.