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photo by Wes Carr

The location is Pecos, Texas. Derelict Pecos Valley Southern GE 70-tonner # 8 sits in the sun late in the morning of March 24, 2002. An eastbound UP freight is approaching in the background on UP's former Texas & Pacific line between Fort Worth and El Paso.

I took this during my family's trip out west (to west Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona) in March. I hadn't shot the Pecos Valley Southern in a few years, and I was thinking it would be cool to get a photo of a UP train passing a PVS unit, just to see what a juxtaposition of the two lines would look like. A few years ago I was on the Texas Gonzales & Northern down in Harwood, Texas, and I attempted a few similar shots (of UP trains passing the TXGN switcher) that didn't turn out as well. But I was pleased with how this one turned out.

I can't think of much else to say about this image other than I like the "feeling" it conveys about decaying relics of another era of railroading (note the # 8's broken windows and peeling paint, and also the old loading dock in the foreground) while a train of a financially-healthy Class One zips by in the background.

Taken with Canon EOS-3 body and 28-70 f-2.8 lens on either Sensia or Provia film. Scanned by a local professional lab (BWC Photo in Dallas) to a Kodak photo cd. Edited with Paint Shop Pro.

Incidentally, this was the first image I submitted to the Trainorders.com Image Library when Todd got it up and running last month. It received fairly high marks there... but what do you guys think?

WSC

Critiques

Sam Reeves:

Here is a great framing job by Wes. Mainline power versus shortline power. At first I wondered why the wooden ramp was included in the scene, but then I thought about it. That ramp tends to give character to the scene. Some of the girders are not placed evenly, some are missing chunks, but it all points to that shortline feel. Plus its nice not to have to see a sparkling clean locomotive. The grit and rust also bring lots of character to the little GE tonner . Great Texas WARP shot by Wes.

Sam Reeves


Steve Crise:

Nice shot! Also tells a little story of old and new. I was wondering if you use a polarizer when you shoot. A little over saturation might have made the contrast a bit more exciting by adding a rougher look to it. I might have tried (if possible) a shot of the passing train through the broken window of the cab of the GE. A little flash fill to light up the inside of the cab and who knows...of course that would have been trespassing now wouldn't it. Or to emphasize the hopelessly stationary position of the 70 toner, I might have put my camera on a tri pod and cranked down the stop to f 32 and let the UP train go to a blur. These are just some ideas on how I might have exploited the opportunity had I been there.

Steve Crise


Mike Johannessen:

This is a fairly decent shot, but I think it could have been better. The UP train is very small. I would have probably included just the cab of the switcher and shot the picture when the UP train was closer -- over on the right in your photo. I might also have used either a wide-angle or telephoto lens, depending on how I felt, to emphasize or de-emphasize the distance between the switcher and the UP train. It might also have worked if I did the same thing, but photographed the last few cars of the UP train. Maybe a little bit of blur would have been in order so as to suggest movement of the UP train. You'd also gain depth of field, keeping the switcher (or the UP train, depending on your focus point) sharper. However, it's not really THAT bad. I like it when somebody can turn one of these almost-roster-shot-like wedgies into an interesting photo. If you get a chance, I think it would be an interesting experiment to go back and try some of the things I suggested (provided you don't think they're completely stupid, of course).

MDJ


Paul Birkholz:

I like the depth of this image quite a bit. At first glance I went from the left of the image and the switcher cab and ended at the three units of the UP train. My eye always leads to them too, which I am not sure if that is good or bad. I think this photo is a good example of your narrative or comparing the two rail lines and would work quite well in an article about such. I would have not shot this any differently. Another shot could have been from the side with all or part of the PVSR switcher and the UP train behind.


Frank Caron:

What I like about this image is again the theme of old vs. new. A worn out diesel engine that served it's purpose sitting among the weeds looking on as new and powerful diesels pass by. The weeds, rusty rail and worn down GE are all dynamic elements that make this a good image. I wouldn't change a thing.

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