Night wanderings

[kenszok]

I decided to head out for some night photography last night. I made my way to Cajon Pass with a couple locations in mind. One I have shot many times, and the other was a first time night location.

My first location provided a nice over look of the the pass. It required some hiking from my vehicle, but the effort was worth it. I had just missed the Chief as it climbed up track 3. I didn't have to wait very long for the next train to come along after getting set up. It was a BNSF train heading down track 2. In the image below, the trains course can be tracked from Silverwood to Alray.

   

More trains could be heard in the distance, but one got my attention. A UP manifest was southbound on the Mojave sub. At first, I thought I had missed the chance at getting a night shot of a train crossing Cajon Wash at Mormon Rocks. Fortunately, the train came to a stop for a crew change. This allowed my enough time to get back to my vehicle and make my way to Mormon Rocks. I got set up and started my exposure when I saw the North Canyon signal light up.

   

My battery went dead during the more than ten minute exposure. I changed the battery out and checked the time. I decided to head down to Pepper Ave. to check out the yard and meet up with the train I had just shot.

The yard wasn't all that busy. There was a train with BNSF power staged along with several sets of power on other tracks.

   

There was one yard job working in the area.

   

There wasn't a lot going on, and I was about to leave when the train coming down from Cajon Pass showed up. It passes under Pepper Ave. as the yard job shove a cut of cars back.

   

The mid-train DPUs passed by as the head end of the yard job came into the frame.

   

I thought I was done for the evening when another train came along on the other main. Now both mains were occupied by trains heading the same direction. The end of the manifest passed by as the stack train ran along side.

   

I think I had a fun time with my wanderings and got home before midnight.

Thanks for looking.

Ken

[bastatim4294]

Looks like you had a grand time. Thanks for sharing.

[randy]

Great stuff, Ken. Even more than in the day, we sometimes can only guess what we'll have from a night shot.

How did you estimate exposures?

[roee]

As always Ken, great shots. Brilliant.

[kenszok]

Thank you for your comments.

(12-27-2011 04:50 PM)randy Wrote:  How did you estimate exposures?

I did the exposures based on previous experiences through the school of. One reason I chose to go out last night was the lack of a moon at the time. I wanted to get more stars in the image. I also opened up the lens more. In the first shot was using my EF 24mm - 70mm f/2.8 L lens set at f/3.2. I switched to my EF 14mm - 40mm f/4 L lens set at f/4 for the Mornon Rocks shot. I would have waited for the whole train to pass before ending the exposure for the Mormon Rocks shot, but the battery decided it was done. In hind sight, I should have changed out my battery while setting up for the Mormon Rocks shot. It's time to buy a couple new batteries.

[SLOCONDR]

Well my friend, these photos are absolutely fantastic as usual........

[orange choo choo]

Great shots! I got to hang out with you so I can learn photography from one of the pros.

[wCRv]

Nice photos! I also see the elusive WCLBAR - gonna have to catch that some day!

[Amtrak/Santa Fe Boy]

Nice photos

[kenszok]

Thanks again for the comments.