Railroad-Related

We stopped in Gisbourne, New Zealand on our Holiday cruise 2016-2017. We took a run on the Gisborne City Vintage Railway, which was very enjoyable. More photos at: swansonphotos.com/nz2016

We stopped in Gisbourne, New Zealand, on our Holiday cruise in 2016-2017. We took a run on the Gisborne City Vintage Railway. It was very enjoyable. More photos at: swansonphotos.com/nz2016

We stopped in Gisbourne, New Zealand on our Holiday cruise 2016-2017. We took a run on the Gisborne City Vintage Railway, which was very enjoyable. More photos at: swansonphotos.com/nz2016

We took a great excursion trip on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad, from Antonito, Colorado, to Chama, New Mexico. This is a real steam line, burning coal. The line climbs up to a 10,000 foot pass, and we really enjoyed the autumn colors. The next day, we drove to some trackside areas, and took photos of the train heading uphill from Chama. See: swansonphotos.com/cumbres

This replica, along with the Central Pacific #60, are run at the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Summit, Utah. More photos at: swansonphotos.com/promontory

Pass-by of the Union Pacific 4014 Locomotive (Big Boy) at D'Hanis, Texas, on November 4, 2019. Note the school children waving American Flags. This is a very nice small town, and the people were friendly and helpful. Taken with the Panasonic GX85 and 20mm lens. On tripod, then processed with ffmpeg and openshot. See swansonphotos.com/4014

D'Hanis Texas, November 4, 2019 I try to capture an image of the FRED (tail end device used by the railroads to monitor trains), whenever I take train photos. Worked out very well this time. The 4014 was pulling a short train that included passenger cars, power cars (to provide electricity for the passenger cars), and a road diesel (for signaling and as a backup in case of engine failure). See swansonphotos.com/4014

D'Hanis Texas, November 4, 2019 This is a frame captured from the continuous 4K stream from my Panasonic GX85 camera. The frame was captured with "ffmpeg" and then edited with GIMP. This is the linkage for the drive wheels of the UP4014 "Big Boy" locomotive. The blur of action shows it as the train passed us in D'Hanis. See swansonphotos.com/4014

D'Hanis Texas, November 4, 2019 Frame captured from 4K stream taken with the Panasonic GX85, using ffmpeg. Image then processed with GIMP, especially to make it monochrome. See swansonphotos.com/4014

D'Hanis Texas, November 4, 2019 Frame taken from Panasonic GX85 continuous 4K stream, using ffmpeg. Image then processed with GIMP. See swansonphotos.com/4014

D'Hanis Texas, November 4, 2019. We had seen this remarkable locomotive in action in Iowa the previous August. Fortunately, we were in the area in November, so we set up in the old downtown area of D'Hanis. The people were great, and it is a very nice small town. The school children were taken to the viewing area, and they were waving American Flags as the train passed by. Frame captured from the 4K stream recorded on the Panasonic GX85 using ffmpeg, and then processed with GIMP, mostly to make it monochrome, and to bring out the details of the machinery and wheels. This locomotive tends to be run around 45 miles per hour, so there is just a little bit of movement in this capture. (Sunday Challenge, 4 December 2022: I didn't see the email with the topic, so guessed from current submissions that you wanted a monochrome image. A 1940's vintage machine like this certainly looks quite impressive in black and white.) See swansonphotos.com/4014

D'Hanis Texas, November 4, 2019 See swansonphotos.com/4014

We were fortunate to be in Texas when the Union Pacific 4014 locomotive (Big Boy) was passing through. We set up our camera in the lovely small town of D'Hanis and caught this scene as the train approached. Image captured from Panasonic Lumix GX85 4K frame series with ffmpeg, and procssed with GIMP (including cropping to a square format). See: swansonphotos.com/4014

We were fortunate to be in Texas when the Union Pacific 4014 locomotive (Big Boy) was passing through. We set up our camera in the lovely small town of D'Hanis and caught this scene as the train approached. Image captured from Panasonic Lumix GX85 4K frame series with ffmpeg, and procssed with GIMP. See: swansonphotos.com/4014

We "chased" this remarkable locomotive through Iowa in August 2019, and then enjoyed a pass-by in Texas in November. This video was created using OpenShot from various images taken during these experiences. More photos at: swansongrp.com/4014

Taken at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah, in 2014. This is the bell on a diesel locomotive. They had to put the bells lower down on these, unlike steam locomotives where the bell was right on the front on top. I converted the image to monochrome using GIMP. See: swansonphotos.com/ogden/ogden_rail.html

Taken at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah, in 2014. I converted the image to monochrome with GIMP. See: swansonphotos.com/ogden/ogden_rail.html

Taken in Falls Park, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There is a train trestle over the river, right at the park location. BNSF tracks, but the train is D&I. Image processed with GIMP.