Adventure is Where You Find it!

The day was done. I had spent a fair amount of it working in the yard and as far as I was concerned, it was time to relax.

    Sitting down, I picked up the current book I was reading. Turning to where I had left off I read a chapter or two before dinner.  Afterwards I cleaned the dishes in the sink and went back into the living room to read some more. After a few pages, I started thinking of other things. Reading wasn’t in the game plan for this evening. The TV didn’t interest me. Having spent the day cutting grass and trimming hedges, I wasn’t in the mood for anything strenuous.

    With a trip planned for the next morning, I figured I could go and top off the gas tank. While I was at it, I could take the camera along just in case I saw a train. While tying my shoes, the idea slipped from “just in case” to “I should look for the train!” I slung my camera around my neck and as an afterthought, grabbed the film camera bag as I ran out the door.

    An adventure! Chasing a train is always fun and will get me outside for a while. I usually have a good idea of where the train will be, and I also have a pretty good idea of where it will be stopping. The Carload Express train often stops in Etna to pick-up or drop off cars before continuing north towards Mars and Evans City.

    I am never exactly sure when the train might be coming through my community. It is almost always in the evenings. During this time of year, the summertime, the sun is often still up as it goes by. As the year slips into the winter months and darkness starts coming earlier, the opportunities to catch it lessen.

    I’ll sit beside the tracks in Etna and read a book while waiting for the train. Rt.28 is right above the tracks and the sounds of the trucks, motorcycles and cars pretty much drowns out any other sounds. The road noise is a white noise, after a while it disappears.

    On this evening, I sat for 10 or 20 minutes before the greatest photographer’s skill, patience, left me. I started the car and went to look for the train.

    I joined the traffic on Rt.28 and drove towards the city.  Crossing the river into the far end of the Strip District, I pulled onto a street that parallels the tracks. A signal tower sits alongside the rails and I was happy to see, the light on it was green. The train would be coming soon!

    I parked the car and found a good spot for a photo. Using the film camera, I checked the lighting, set my aperture, focused and composed my shot. Then I waited.

    It didn’t take long, within a few minutes I heard the rumble of the engines, a deep noise you might not notice unless you were listening for it. Then the headlights of the front engine came into view.

    The adrenaline started pumping into my system. I waited until the train was in the proper spot and carefully depressed the shutter button. Quickly winding the film and refocusing, I managed to get another picture before the train was past me.

The train was on tracks that were above me. The locomotives and cars behind them could be seen, along with the Bloomfield Bridge which sat off in the distance. 

    I got into the car and went to another spot, a place I had considered on my way over. At this location, the train is starting onto a curved bridge leading to the span that crosses the river. Because of the curve and the bridge ahead, the train goes slowly, enabling me to get into position and to get a fairly sharp picture with the film camera. The setting sun was shining on the train allowing me to use a smaller f-stop and get a little more depth of field. I took two more photos. 

    I drove through Lawrenceville and then re-crossed the river into Etna. I returned to where I was earlier in the evening. It was now past 8 and the sun had slipped below the hills in the west.

    Using the digital camera I was able to increase the ISO to allow a deeper depth of field and a shorter exposure time, not to mention the pictures could be in color! Taking pictures here would be no problem.

    Walking down the line a bit to a spot I hadn’t been to before, I lined up my shot. Then I searched for that all important photographic skill that had left me an hour before, patience. 

    I heard the whistle first and then saw the lights of the engine shining on the rails. The train was slowing, there was no doubt that it would be stopping to exchange some cars this evening. I was positioned just past the siding that they would be using. The engines passed me and came to a stop. After the switchman had disconnected the engines from the rest of the train, it pulled up past the switch and the switchman unlocked and flipped it. Then the engines backed into the siding to collect their cars.

    Watching the train back into the siding, I decided that I had enough of trains for this evening. It was time to head home. This adventure was over. Back at the house I loaded the digital pictures onto my computer. While appraising my pictures I heard the train passing the crossing below my house as it continued north. The rumble of the cars could be heard for a while and then silence returned.

    I was ready for bed now, pretty sure that a good night’s sleep awaited me. There was a road trip scheduled for the next day. We would be visiting bookstores, searching for books rather than trains.

    Remember, adventures are all around us, they are everywhere, all we have to do is recognize them. Who knows where or when the next one will be?  

Snowmageddon Chase

     For a couple days now, the forecasters have been warning the Pittsburgh area about the terrible winter storm heading our way.  This naturally sent people running to the stores and gas stations to refill everything that needed stocked. The snow didn’t start in Pittsburgh until late Sunday afternoon.

    By eleven there were a couple inches on the ground and people were wisely staying in their homes. The only vehicles seen on the highway below the house were snowplows. The walk was shoveled in preparation for additional snow that was forecast to come during the night.

    The morning was bright. Birds were working at depleting the seeds in the feeder. The walk needed another shoveling and before I could leave to go anywhere, the car needed cleared of snow and a path shoveled onto the road. After some coffee and breakfast, I went out to play in the snow. There was about 6-7 inches in my yard though in other places I went, it was deeper.

    The township where I live is very good at keeping the streets cleared after a snowfall. Thankfully the near-by communities had followed this lead. The roads I gravitated towards were the back roads. They were smaller roads which followed streams and railroad tracks, roads which tended to have less traffic on them than the larger ones. The car handled what little snow we encountered with no problems. I drove down one road that no plows had visited yet. A mile or two was enough for me but luckily, I encountered another road, just as the plow passed by!

    In Hampton Township I went to my favorite “go to” spot and pulled over and took a small walk down to the stream. I heard some loud bird calls and hoped it might be the heron, but I didn't see it. Walking along the railroad tracks heading back to the car, I couldn’t help but think that this would be a perfect time for a train to come along.

    A truck pulled in behind the car and a man got out with a camera. I said hello and asked if he was shooting “snow scenes” or “train shots”. When he replied "trains", I asked if one was coming soon. He said it would be here in a couple minutes! I started to hear the rumble of engines as we were talking. In less than a minute a train being pulled by three engines rounded the bend. What luck! He took some shots and returned to his truck and raced off after the train.

    A couple pictures later, I did the same. The train had passed the first crossing and as I took to higher roads above the tracks, I couldn’t see or hear it. I figured I’d have to chase it all the way to Mars. (Pennsylvania, not space!) Not far from Wildwood Road, I encountered it again. 

    The train had slowed down to wait for a signal that would allow them to continue on. Workers were clearing the snow and ice off of a switch further ahead. I learnt this by talking to the photographer I had met before.  He works for the RR in the publicity department and was taking some snowy rail shots of the train.

    After taking some more exposures I continued on looking for other subjects. Hunger and the need for another cup of coffee brought me back to the house. My feet had stayed dry but the bottoms of my jeans were soaked. It felt good slipping into some sweatpants and slippers. It was no big deal, sometimes you have sacrifice your comfort for your hobbies! 

    Note: As I am writing this, I hear the whistle of the train. The three engines are returning after dropping off their load. Instead of rushing out and chasing after them, I’ll simply take another sip of my coffee and watch as the lights below start to flash, the engines will be here in no time. I’ll simply stay inside where it’s nice, dry and warm. Maybe I'll read a book!

Sometimes You're Lucky...

    I had slept in. Getting out from underneath the warmth of multiple quilts, blue skies greeted me. The sunshine was working its way down into the valley below. The first thing that ran through my sleep addled head was, “This would be a great day to chase a train!” Then the idea of visiting the bathroom overcame that. First things first I guess!

    Occasionally, the railroad below the house runs a train in the morning hours. Last week one came through around 10:30. Since it was raining, I stayed inside, nice and dry and watched it through the window. A day or two later, one passed by around noon but I was on the road and didn’t have time to turn around and chase it. “There will be others! It just wasn’t meant to be today.”

    With these two recent runs in my mind, I got dressed and put the camera gear near the door. I still had a few hours until anything would show up…if it did at all.

    The coffee cup was filled and steaming as I sat down at the desk. The shadows on the hillside had all but disappeared. I got lost for a few minutes watching the cars go by, small bunches then nothing, cars coming out of the shopping center and piling up behind each other while they waited for the light to change. Like little organisms under a microscope, all going in different directions, all with different purposes in mind. I checked my e-mails and then called a friend to see what was new in his world.

    In mid-BS, I heard it. Rather soft but still that distinctive sound that I know and love. Ending the call, I grabbed my gear and ran out to the car.

    “Drat, I left my keys in the house.” By the time they were retrieved, the sounds of the train were getting louder. Arriving at the stop sign in the neighborhood, the train was blowing its whistle at the crossing below the house. “This might be a close one!”

    The next problem encountered was road construction at a near-by intersection. Luckily, I was waved right through, only to find myself behind eight or nine cars waiting for a traffic light.

    When the light changed, most of the cars went straight and I followed two down Mt. Royal Boulevard. Thankfully they had no problem with going a few miles above the posted limits. Nearing Allison Park, the train could be seen traveling on the tracks below the road. “Yes, this would be tough!”

    The cars in front to me went straight at the stop sign leaving me with open road for the rest of the chase. I turned and stepped on the gas…only to come into another construction site. The train could be seen in the valley, three engines pulling a line of gondolas, streaming away from me.

    The flagman turned his sign and I crept passed the workers and then hit the gas, hoping that there weren’t any policemen sitting along my route. Bryant Road came up and soon I was turning into a small pull-off. 

    The train was nearly there, the sound of it was getting louder as I ran from the car to a spot between the trees. I saw the headlights coming out of the shadows around the bend as I checked the camera settings. I found my spot and quickly focused and snapped a shot as the train roared by. Repositioning myself I took a couple more as it continued on its way.

    It was a fun run, I doubted if any of the shots would be anything special but I did enjoy the chase, which is half of the fun! “Sometimes you get lucky…and then there are all the other times

    Returning home, I found out that the first shot I took came out OK. The chase wasn’t a waste after all, in fact, it was a great way to start the day, or for that matter, the week!

    I’m sometimes asked why I continue to chase trains that I have already taken pictures of…perhaps this cartoon might shed a bit of insight on it.

"I just love the feelings I get from them!"