Railroad photography is always interesting if you like industrial/infrastructure/machinery topics. There are so many shapes, patterns, and details to record. Your eye can wander around the scene and seldom run out of new details.
Most rail yards today are off limits to casual visitors. This is true for the large BNSF rail and off Puyallup Avenue in the Port of Tacoma. However, East D Street, just east of the Foss Waterway, has an overpass with a pedestrian sidewalk! When I saw that, I knew it was too good to resist. On a May day with interesting clouds, I parked nearby and walked along the overpass with my camera and a tripod. The roadway vibrated when a truck rumbled by, so I waited for a quiet period. These frames are 2400 pixels wide, so click to see more details.
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| Turntable, BNSF rail yard, Tacoma |
Years ago, there was probably a roundhouse here, where steam locomotives would have been repaired and readied for duty. Turntables were necessary to spin steam locomotives because they did not run in reverse efficiently. Modern diesel locomotives can run in either direction.
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| Buildings in background are Tacoma Dome parking garages (Panatomic-X film, med. yellow filter) |
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| Signal equipment |
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South side of rail yard from East E Street (Tri-X 400 film)
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| Train moving around south end of Foss Waterway en route somewhere south |
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| Tracks below downtown Tacoma parallel to Dock Street (Kodak T400CN film, Leica IIIC, 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, med yellow filter) |
I took most of these pictures on Kodak
Panatomic-X or Tri-X 400 film with my Texas Leica, the Fuji GW690II camera with an EBC Fujinon 90mm ƒ/3.5 lens. This 5-element lens has amazing resolution. I bought the camera in 1992 and have used it over the decades. It is a big package to take on an air trip but is fine for car travel. I expose the Panatomic-X at EI=25, which normally requires a tripod.
1 comment:
A nice subject resource to have available. It seems very close access is problematic most places these days. I was a little sad to see the SF 2926 locomotive restoration completed recently in Albuquerque ; while it was in progress I could visit it and make pictures any time. There are still some possibilities at passenger stations and crossings. Google shows quite a few steam locomotives on display around the Northwest, but the only operational one looks to be in Snoqualmie.
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