Railroads of Greece 6b: The Lost Locomotives of Myloi (with Tri-X film)

Myloi is a sleepy town on the west side of the Bay of Naufplio (Nauplion), which is at the north end of the Argolic Gulf in southern Greece. The narrow-gauge (1.0-meter) Peloponnese railroad passes (more accurately, passed) through town. The main line from Athens comes in from the north via the town of Argos. Heading south, the line runs along the coast to Myloi and then turns west, ascending the mountains towards Tripoli. I found some Tri-X frames that I took in 2016 in Myloi at the old rail yard. Here, steam locomotives had been parked and semi-forgotten for decades. I presented some digital frames from Myloi before.

The old locomotives are rusting away slowly, although with Greece's dry climate, the deterioration is not nearly as severe as it would be in a rainy climate. Giant eucalyptus trees loom over the tracks and old locomotives.

The label of "mouseío" indicates that at one time, this locomotive was to be used for some sort of display or museum. What happened to that plan? I would not be surprised if the economic crisis that started in 2008-2009 dashed hopes for a rail museum.

This is the depot, which, as of 2016, was secure and in good condition. Many of the tracks had new ties and bedding. Status of the Peloponnese railroad and all this equipment and infrastructure: unknown.

Water spigot for steam locomotives, Myloi, Greece.

These photographs are from Kodak Tri-X 400 film exposed with a Rolleiflex 3.5E twin-lens reflex camera with 75mm f/3.5 Xenotar lens. The negatives are rough. I did a poor job with developing, and the film was thin and had spots and lint. I cleaned the lint with the heal tool in Photoshop CS3. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner, operated with Silverfast Ai software.

Railroads of Greece 7b: The Corinth Railroad Station with Black and White Film

When I visited the now-unused train station in Corinth, Greece, last October (2018), I had two cameras with me. The little Yashica Electro 35CC had color Kodak Ektar 100 film, and my Leica M2 was loaded with Fujifilm Acros black and white film. Last week, I showed you some of the color results. Here are some of the black and white frames.

Corinthos train station (not in use), 35mm f/2.0 Summicron lens, Leitz polarizing filter. 

Control lever for points, Corinthos, Greece

Being a sunny day with the classic brilliant Greek light, the setting does not have quite enough of that urban decay aura. The Acros film is very fine grain and does not look gritty, unlike 1960s Tri-X.

When I was last here in 2011, there was more rolling stock on the tracks, but much of it is now gone.

I am surprised that these rotating water spigots were preserved. I have seen other spigots at stations throughout the Peloponnese.

End of the line, Corinthos, Greece.

Dear Readers, you can decide if you prefer color or monochrome for this type of setting.

Ticket for the full-gauge Athens Suburban Train.

Photographs are from Fujifilm Acros film exposed at EI=80. I used a Leica M2 rangefinder camera with a 35mm f/2.0 Summicron lens, with yellow or polarizing filters to darken the sky. This is the Type 3 35mm, the pre-aspherical model. The film was developed in Xtol by Praus Productions, Rochester, New York. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600i film scanner controlled by Silverfast Ai software.

Railroads of Greece 7: Corinthos Train Station (Ektar film)

Corinth is an ancient city at the east end of the Gulf of Corinth, a long, narrow body of water that separates the mainland of Greece from the Peloponnese region. The Peloponnese was developed with 1-m narrow gauge rail in the late-1800s. Corinth was one of the first cities that a traveler reached on his rail journey from Athens to the Peloponnese.

This railroad station on Dimokratias Street is rather severe mid-20th century architecture, possibly 1950s or 1960s construction. I do not know how many older stations on the site were replaced by this building. Fortunately, it is not abandoned. I saw modern computers and office furniture inside, so someone is using it as office space. It may have been painted since I last visited the site in 2011.

Kodak Ektar 100 film, Yashica Electro 35CC camera, polarizing filter.

The modern Athens Suburban Railway, Train OSE, is a regular-gauge commuter line that enters Corinth on a totally different right-of-way. Therefore, this older 1-meter system is currently unused. The rail yard is unused and grassing over. Some rolling stock that I saw here in 2011 has been pulled away.

The Ektar film does a nice job emphasizing the red of the roofs, graffiti, and rust.

These old spigot arms are still in place, even though steam locomotives were phased out decades ago.  Some of the old locomotives are rusting away in Myloi, a town on the west side of the bay of Naufplio. When the family and I took the train from Kato Achaia to Athens in 1997, we rode in self-contained diesel-electric cars (meaning not pulled by a locomotive).

The KTEL bus station is across the street. On the day I was there, a modern and clean Athens-bound coach pulled into the street and picked up a few passengers.

These photographs are from Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film, exposed with a Yashica Electro 35CC compact rangefinder camera. I used a Canon brand polarizing filter to cut glare. This inexpensive little camera has a very fine 35mm f/1.8 Color-Yashinon-DX lens, maybe marginally lower resolution than my 35mm Leica Summicron lens, but not far behind. These Electro 35CCs are a bargain on the big auction site. Update: like many other film cameras, these 35CCs have gone up in price and sell for over $100, mostly from Japanese vendors.

The picture of the WC door with books is from a Moto G5 mobile.

Romanian Railroads 2: Sinaia (Romania 2018-02)

Sinaia, Fujifilm Acros, Leica M2 camera, polarizer filter.

Sinaia is an elegant mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania, about 3 hours drive north of Bucharest. The town was named after Sinaia Monastery, which, in turn was named after Mount Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula (another set of photographs to scan one day....). King Carol I of Romania built his summer home, Peleș Castle, near Sinaia in the late nineteenth century. The town became an elegant and trendy resort for Romania's wealthy, and the windy mountain roads have an impressive collection of grand old wooden mansions and mountain chalets (somewhat like Zakopane in southern Poland).

In the 1800s, traveling to the summer resort meant taking carriages. The 1800s were a great period of railroad expansion throughout the industrial world, the Russian Empire, and the African colonies. But Romania went through significant political changes and turmoil, and the country only gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. Major railroad construction probably lagged in Romania but I am not sure of its industrialization patterns.

This plaque shows the builder, but I was not able to find information on who sponsored or funded the project. The line ran north from Bucharest to Ploiești, the major petroleum center, and then along the Prahova River valley through the Carpathian Mountains to Brașov.

This odd sedan was equipped with railroad wheels to run along the tracks.

This line is now electrified (see photograph no. 1) and has regular passenger service. The 1913 station is clean and in good condition. We also saw trains with petroleum cars moving through the valley.

The two black and white photographs are from Fujifilm Acros film, taken with a Leica M2 rangefinder camera. The color frames are digital, from a Moto G5 phone.

Successful Experiment: Pentax Takumar 24mm Lens on my Leica M2

Background

When I travel overseas and need to pack light, I often take my Leica M2 rangefinder camera with its compact 35mm and 50mm f/2.0 Summicron lenses (and light meter, filters, and hoods). But recently, I have been thinking wide, which must go along with my increasing girth. Some options:

1. New Leica 24mm f/1.4 Summilux-M lens. $7500 in USA. (Wow)
2. Used (OK, "pre-owned") Leica 24mm f/2.8 lens. About $1800. (Lesser wow)
3. Used Zeiss Biogon 25 mm f/2.8 ZM lens. About $750.
4. New Skopar 24mm f/4.0 lens. About $400

Of course the genuine 24mm M lens or the 25mm Zeiss would be best, but realistically I would not use them all that often. But we have a clean Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 24mm f/3.5 lens for the Pentax Spotmatic in the cabinet. It has a longer register distance to the mount than true M lenses, making room for an adapter. So I bought a $20 Fotodiox M42-Leica M adapter from Amazon and did a test run. (Note: all the M42 thread-mount Pentax Takumar lenses are excellent performers on film.)

Chinese specialty companies make adapters to fit just about any older manual SLR lens to most so-called mirrorless digital camera bodies. This gives new life to many beautiful classic film lenses. Most longer focal lengths, around 50mm or more, perform really well on digital bodies. The wide angles sometimes have problems with digital sensors, but in that I was using film, I was going to use a lens designed for film on the correct sensing media.

Results

The good: The optical results were better than I expected. I do not have a genuine Leica 24, so I have no basis for comparison. Sure, it is not as "sharp" as my 35 Summicron, but so what? Sharpness phobia consumes pseudo-photographers on digital camera web pages. For $20, I am pleased.

The clumsy: Framing is a problem. If I move my eye left and right and up and down the maximum extent across the M2's eyepiece, I think I see most of the 24mm coverage. The lens blocks part of the view, and using the genuine Takumar hood is hopeless. To do: buy a 24mm auxiliary finder. Focus is totally manual.

The heavy: The Takumar with its Fotodiox adapter is a bulky and rather heavy cylinder.

Here are some examples from Romania and Greece. The film was Fujifilm Acros, exposed at EI=80. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film in Xtol. I scanned the film with a Plustek 7600i scanner using the Tri-X 400 profile (the SilverFast software does not have an Acros profile).

Rooftops, view from Kronhaus B&B, Braşov, Romania, 24mm Takumar lens. 

Room with a view, dormer window at Kronhaus, Braşov, Romania. Leica 35mm f/2.0 Summicron lens. 

Room with a view, dormer window at Kronhaus, Braşov, Romania. Takumar 24mm f/3.5 lens. 

Our room at a bed and breakfast in Braşov, Romania, had interesting views over the old tile roofs in the historic center. The two photographs above show the difference in coverage between the 35mm lens and the 24mm. The exposure is a bit different, and I think the 35mm Summicron does a slightly better job at distinguishing subtle tonal variations.

The view of the upper town and the Gothic tower of the Lutheran Cathedral of Saint Mary in Sibiu, Romania, is from the Council Tower. I used a yellow filter on the 24mm lens to darken the sky. The photograph is through glass, which you see in the upper left.

This abandoned hotel, possibly once called the Angela, is in Nerantza, Greece, a few km west of Corinth on the Gulf of Corinth. I have photographed here in 2011, but the 24mm lens with black and white film gives an appropriately gloomy look to this 1960s hulk.

Never-complete hotel, Nerantza, Greece

Conclusions

The 24mm Takumar lens works well on the Leica M2. Framing is clumsy and you need to guess the distance of your main subject, but that is not too critical with a wide angle lens. I already had the 24mm lens, so $20 for an adapter was a bargain way to get wide angle coverage. A 24mm auxiliary finder would be helpful.

Other photography articles

Please click the links for other articles about equipment, informal tests, and film:

• Decay with the Leica
• Decay with the Rolleiflex
• Kodak Panatomic-X film
• Decline of an industrial empire, Eastman Kodak Company
• Leica IIIC camera repaired and perfect
• Another look at the Leica IIIC camera
• 1950s 50mm Dual-range Summicron lens
• 135mm Takumar lens
• Olympus Trip 35 compact camera
• Another look at the Olympus Trip 35
• Fuji GW690II camera ("Texas Leica")
• Yashica Electro 35CC compact camera
• Kodak BW400 film
• Kodak Ektar 25 film
• 250mm Sonnar lens for Hasselblad
• 35mm Takumar lens for Pentax
• Fomapan 100 film
• Kodak Technical Pan film
• Quick test of a Leica Monochrom vs. film

Test of the Leica Monochrom versus the 69-year-old Leica IIIC film camera

Leica IIIC rangefinder body and 5 cm ƒ/2.0 Leitz Summitar thread-mount lens

Dear Readers, a business trip brought me to Washington, DC, in late October (2018). I arrived early on a Saturday and decided to check out the Leica Store on 977 F Street NW. The store is in a strategic location: the Imperial Capital, seat of power and unbridled (and corrupt and uncontrolled) spending, half way between the White House and the US Capital, and near tourist sites like the Mall. The staff at the Leica Store are very nice and were glad to see me using my 1949-vintage Leica IIIC with its 5 cm ƒ/2.0 Summitar lens. I have written about this IIIC before and used it for a month in Nepal during my 2017 trip. Similar to the Leica Store in Hong Kong that I visited in 2014, this one had shelves covered with fantastic camera bodies and lenses, and superb photographs were on the walls.

Leica Monochrom Type 246 with 50mm f/2.0 Summicron-M lens (from US.Leica-Camera.com)

I had always wanted to try the Leica Monochrom, a digital rangefinder camera with a monochrome sensor. It has a body about the same size and shape as my 1967-vintage M2, but has a 24MP 24×36mm B&W CMOS sensor with no color array or low pass filter. Pseudo-photographers on popular photo web sites like Dpreview bash the idea of a monochrome camera, but serious workers around the world do some amazing work with it. Unfortunately, the Monochrom body alone costs about $8000. Hmmm.....

Regardless, Mr. Paul at the store let me do a quick test. We went outside to F street to find a suitable subject. A restaurant next door had white plates and cups that were glowing in the sun.

Leica Monochrom with 50mm ƒ/2.0 ASPH lens, DNG file opened with Photoshop Elements 11 and contrast reduced. Resized with ACDSee Pro to 1600 pixels wide. Click to enlarge.

Fujifilm Acros film, exposed at EI=80, developed in Xtol, Leica IIIC camera with 5 cm ƒ/2.0 Summitar lens.

The Monochrom DNG file has a tremendous tonal range. In the example above, I reduced the contrast to show details under the table, while not allowing the white dishes to become featureless glowing white blobs. But surprise: the Acros film also recorded all the data. I could probably increase the contrast to reasonably match the Monochrom scene. I scanned the 35mm negative at 3600 dpi with a Plustek 7600i scanner using Silverfast Ai's Tri-X 400 profile.

Full-size crop of the sugar packets in the Monochrom DNG file. Note the almost complete lack of grain. 

Full-size crop from Acros film negative.

With a crop of the file to look at the lettering on the sugar packets, you can see that the Monochrom file is essentially grainless. The resolution is amazing. The Acros film file is clearly grainier and has lower resolution. But remember, this is the "primitive" and "obsolete" chemical recording media exposed via a 69-year-old optical instrument. If I mounted the newest version of the 50 mm Summicron lens on my M2 camera, the resolution would be better, and an exposure on the now-discontinued Panatomic-X film might reduce the grain. Regardless, I am happy at how much detail film can record. It is not obsolete by any means (but the prejudice on the part of film-haters certainly is).

Leica SL (from US.Leica-Camera.com)

I also examined the Leica SL. It is a gorgeous piece of Teutonic engineering and solidity, like the film  Leicaflex SL of the 1970s. The viewfinder is superlative. But this thing is a monster and feels as heavy as my Nikon F3 with motor many years ago (and that was a big machine).

Comparison of Leica SL and 1960s M2 (from Camerasize.com)

Sorry SL, I just will not carry you around when I travel, and if I am going somewhere by car, I may as well take my medium format cameras. Also, the minor issue of the cost - $11,300 for body and 50mm lens - is problematic.

In summary, I really like the Monochrom but do not need it now. It is a bit (OK, very) expensive. Black and white film suits my needs presently, and I prefer the way it depicts the scenes that I typically photograph. The Leica SL is just too big and heavy to interest me. Its lenses are as big as Hasselblad lenses. I want to thank the gents at the Leica Store in Washington for the test run.

Here are a few touristy film photographs from the venerable Leica IIIC.

Room with a view: 17th Street NW. Fuji Acros film, Leica IIIC

Sunset at the WWII Memorial, Washington, DC

Checking the scene at the Mall, Washington, DC

Pennsylvania Avenue at the FBI building. I used a Leitz GGr (yellow/green) filter over the Summitar lens

Venerable tree on 17th Street, late afternoon