Category Archives: The Viewfinder

Sepia Vibes in Santa Fe’s Railyard

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MPI MP36PH-3C 107 leaving Santa Fe Depot, August 3, 2018

Just south of the Santa Fe Depot in Santa Fe, NM is an area called the Railyard.  This area has been the terminal of a train line since the 1880s, and the Railyard area was in fact the rail yard serving the adjacent train depot.  As was the case in many places throughout the United States, after the construction of the Interstate Highway System, rail traffic diminished and eventually, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway discontinued service to one of its namesake destinations (though service was maintained via the short line Santa Fe Southern Railway until 2008, and then by the New Mexico Rail Runner Express).  The area became blighted due to the significant reduction in the railyard’s importance to the city.  Redevelopment plans were announced in 2002, when it was decided to make the 50 acre area an arts district owned by the City of Santa Fe that would retain the historical, industrial feel that the area had been associated with for so many years.  The area is now host to a Farmers Market, Hispanic cultural center, teen art center, restaurants, performance spaces, shops, art galleries, cinema, and residences.

Southbound New Mexico Rail Runner Express trains to Albuquerque pass through the Railyard immediately upon departure from the historic Santa Fe Depot.  When I was walking through this area in 2018 and saw the water tower adjacent to the tracks, I figured a photo of a train passing through this part of the development would be a stunning one.  Although I rarely do this, I applied a sepia tone to the photo for this post in order to give the photo a vibe that might be reminiscent of the area from a bygone era.

What do you think of the sepia tone photo?  You can compare it to the original version by clicking here.  

The Royal District of Brussels

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As promised in my Rail Photo of the Month for November 2019, I am highlighting another photo from Brussels.  The tram seen here is the same one as in my last post, but now we are looking at the rear of the tram after it passed my vantage point in Place Royal.  You can read more about this specific tram in the post linked above.

La Brugeoise 6-axle PCC tram 7824

The Place Royal was constructed between 1775 and 1782.  Originally, the square was the site of the market that was adjacent to the former Palace of Coudenberg.  The Palace de Coudenberg burned down in February of 1731, and funds were not available to reconstruct the area for 40 years.  Today, some of the most significant museums in the entire city, including the Musical Instruments Museum and the BELvue Museum are located in the vicinity of this square.  Having only about 8 hours total on my layover between flights at the Brussels Airport on this particular day, I visited these museums due to my interest in their collections and proximity to each other, the Grand Place, and the Brussels-Central Station. Conveniently enough, tram tracks also run through the square and the notable architecture in and along the streets that converge here make for some interesting photography opportunities.

For starters, the tram tracks divide in order to ring the statue of Godfrey of Bouillon, who led the first crusade in 1096.  To the right of the tram, we can see the Hôtel des Brasseurs, which now houses part of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.  Looking down towards the south and the background of the picture, some of the building facades along Rue de la Régence, a main thoroughfare are visible.  The Rue de la Régence leads to the Palais de Justice.  At the time of its construction in 1883, it was the largest building in the world and it remains one of the most visible landmarks in the city due to its size.

Photographing the Same Train on Two Continents

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Over the years I’ve managed some neat feats in terms of fleets and/or vehicles that I’ve photographed.  At one time, I had a photo of every vehicle in the active TCAT fleet in Ithaca, NY.  I have photos of most (but not all) of the 46 Jerusalem Light Rail Alstom Citadis 302s.  However, back in January, I accomplished a feat that I don’t think I ever expected to do: photographing the same train car on two different continents.  And just to be clear, this wasn’t accomplished in Istanbul.

In 1998, the Madrid Metro accepted delivery of its 6000 Series cars from CAF for operation on that system’s Line 9.  The 6000 Series were the first Madrid subway cars to feature exterior destination signs and an articulated joint between each pair of cars, and were designed with the needs of Line 9 in mind.  I rode and photographed these cars in Madrid each time that I was in that city, first in 2005 and then again in 2008.

In 2013, most of the 6000 Series cars were sold to the Buenos Aires Underground for about 32.6 million Euro, a purchase that has since been derided as the worst rolling stock acquisition in the hundred-plus year history of the Buenos Aires system.  Buenos Aires purchased these cars to operate on their Line B, despite some significant differences between the specifications of Buenos Aires Line B and the wide profile Madrid Metro lines.  Most notably, the Madrid Metro powers its trains using overhead catenary, as does Buenos Aires for five of its six subway lines, but Line B is the lone Buenos Aires Subte line that uses third rail power.  In other words, Buenos Aires officials ordered a fleet of subway cars with the intention of using them on the one line in their network where there was no way to power the cars without significant modifications being made to both the tunnels and the 6000 Series cars themselves.  The 6000 Series cars were also narrower the other cars that had historically operated on Line B, requiring “skirts” to be added to the cars in order to close the gap between the train and the station platforms.  The 6000 Series trains ultimately entered service in Buenos Aires starting in 2014.

I traveled to Buenos Aires in January 2018 and explored the city’s subway network, so naturally, I re-encountered the 6000 Series cars in their new home.  I don’t have logs of which cars I rode in Madrid and which cars I rode in Buenos Aires, but after my trip, I compared the unit numbers in the photos I took in Madrid with those I took in Buenos Aires.  Through that process, I discovered that I photographed car 6006 at the Avenida de America station in Madrid on June 11, 2008, and photographed the same car at Carlos Pellegrini, station in Buenos Aires on January 10, 2018.

Here are the aforementioned photos:

CAF 6000 Series 6006

CAF 6000 Series 6006

Jerusalem Meets Paris

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Alstom Citadis 302 001 on Derech Yafo (Jaffa Road) at Shlomtzion HaMalka, June 2, 2016

The Jerusalem Light Festival has been taking place each summer since 2011.  Each night for just over a week, exhilarating light displays are set up throughout the Old City.  This year, the festival extended up Jaffa Road, the historic main thoroughfare through the newer, western part of the city that now also serves as the right of way for the Jerusalem Light Rail route through the city center.  One of the installations on Jaffa Road was a miniature Eiffel Tower.  Since the light rail operates using French built Alstom Citadis 302 vehicles, it seemed only natural to try getting a photo of the Eiffel Tower replica and a light rail train in the same shot.  This is where my title for the photo, and this post, came from.

Jaffa Road has become a great pedestrian space since road was closed to vehicular traffic and the light rail was constructed on the thoroughfare, so it was difficult to get a shot without pedestrians blocking either the train, the Eiffel Tower model, or both.  Furthermore, the fact it was night meant that I needed to be using settings that ran the risk of a blurry photo if I wasn’t steady while I operated the camera and as the train went by.  (This photo was taken with an ISO speed of 800, a shutter speed of 1/50 second, and an f-stop of 3.5.)  Despite the fact it was about midnight when I was there, trains were running fairly frequently, and I had several opportunities to try getting the photo I desired.  This is the best of my attempts, and I think it is quite a good one.

Incidentally, this isn’t my only photo of the light rail with a connection to this year’s light festival.  Several trains had a band of lights installed along their rooflines and I got a few photos of those trains, too.  One of those photos can be seen below.

Alstom Citadis 302 037 on HaTsanhanim between Damascus Gate and Kikar Tzahal, June 2, 2016

For more photos of the Jerusalem Light Rail, please click here.  Oren’s Transit Page also has photos from some of the other cities around the world that operate the Alstom Citadis 302, including Paris, Madrid, and Rotterdam.

 

Silverliner Sunset

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Silverliner II 9007 at North Broad, April 19, 2012

In 2012, SEPTA finally had enough of its Silverliner V cars to be able to withdraw the last of the Silverliner II and Silverliner III cars from its Regional Rail fleet.  I happened to be in Philadelphia in April and had some time in the afternoon to meet up with a local railfan who I know to chase the remaining cars at that time.  After riding a set from Center City out to Fox Chase, we came back to Temple University to photograph the start of the evening rush hour.  However, knowing where the Silverliner II and Silverliner III trainsets were and glancing through the timetables, I suggested we move up to the North Broad station to get something different.  In the Philly railfan community, North Broad is usually thought of as a morning photo spot, due to its layout relative to where the sun would be positioned.  However, being from out of town, I suggested we give it a shot.  It worked out pretty well.  Not only was the afternoon light conducive to getting decent photos, we had four Silverliner II/Silverliner III sets pass through the station in the span of about 3 minutes, probably representing the entire active fleet at that time.  This is my favorite photo of the set, if you look closely you’ll see not one but two of the four trainsets in this single photo.  Want to see more?  Check out the SEPTA Regional Rail Rolling Stock page and look for photos from April 19, 2012.

 

Blurred Lines No More

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Siemens Combino 2077 on Rozengracht at Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, NL, May 30, 2016

A few weeks ago, I posted a blurry photo to Facebook that would be a part of the recent website update as a tease, asking if anyone could identify where the photo was from despite the blurry image.  Here is the image in its original form.  The photo is of a Siemens Combino tram in Amsterdam.  The trams form the backbone of the city’s transportation system and are found on many major thoroughfares in the city center.  These streets wind quite a bit due to the city’s layout, which means there are ample opportunities to get photos of the trams with the iconic row-houses as a backdrop giving the photo a sense of place.  I also like the GVB tram livery.  It might be a bit plain (you can think of the NYCTA’s simple blue stripe on a white vehicle as an example of a comparable paint scheme in the US), but I think it looks crisp and sharp, makes the trams easily identifiable on the street, and makes them stand out in photos.  In addition, I really like the way the vertical lines of the tram’s window frames and articulated joints and the row houses are so distinct, while the trees create a break up these otherwise rigid boundaries and the many straight lines in this photo.

Now that the location of this photo has been shared, expect to see some more “Viewfinder” posts with photos from my recent trip to Amsterdam as well as other places I’ve visited in the past few months in the days and weeks to come.

Where Do Your Eyes Wander?

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Bombardier Flexity Outlook “Cityrunner” 3069 on Rue Royale at Warandeberg, Brussels, Belgium, November 21, 2013

When taking a transit photo, sometimes the goal can be to take a picture of the vehicle and just the vehicle, as explained in the explanation of Types of Transit Photos.  However, sometimes a transit photo can be taken with a background that takes the viewer’s attention away from the vehicle in the photo.  For example, in the photo above, are your eyes supposed to focus on the tram as it comes down the street, the buildings lining the street to the right, or the Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg Church and other buildings in the background?  On the two occasions I’ve found myself in downtown Brussels, I’ve found many opportunities to get photos such as this one, where the “focus” of the photo is hard to pin down.  While the tram is certainly what initially inspired the photo, there is certainly much more to see here than the vehicle itself.  What are your eyes drawn to when you see this photo?

The Beginning of the End for the WMATA 1000 Series

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A few weeks ago, I was alerted to a photo that had been posted on Flickr of WMATA Rohr 1013 at a scrapyard in Baltimore.  In other words, the retirement of WMATA’s oldest cars, the 1000 Series, has started nearly 40 years after these cars first entered service.  About a week ago, the Washington Post wrote an article describing the scrapping process, and I’ll offer my thoughts about that tomorrow.  For this post, I just wanted to share a photo that I took of car 1013 back on January 20, 2005 at Farragut North.  At the time, I didn’t think there was a whole lot that was particularly noteworthy about the photo.  It is a pretty standard photo taken of a train that is about to leave the station with a decent view of the station platform and vault as well.  Who knew this railcar would be among the first to be dispatched to the “great train yard in the sky?”

WMATA Rohr 1013 at Farragut North
January 20, 2005

Transit Bloopers

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Last week, I showed a friend of mine a photo posted to a Facebook group of a Ride On bus that was supposedly going to a place called Glennont.  Here is the photo, courtesy of Dave Galp, who originally posted it online:

Good luck finding Glennont on a map of Montgomery County, MD...

Good luck finding Glennont on a map of Montgomery County, MD…

Photo by Dave Galp, used with permission

Did you find the error?  The sign is supposed to say “Glenmont” but the destination was misspelled in a recent update of all the destination sign readings.

At least that one is hard to notice at first glance, I had to look at the photo more than once to realize what was wrong.  The error on the destination sign of this TCAT bus in Ithaca, NY is probably a bit easier to spot:

I took this photo in the fall of 2006 and have yet to figure out how to pronounce the word on that destination sign.

This post is not meant to discredit the hard work of the transit professionals behind the scenes who make sure the overwhelming majority of the signs and brochures that passengers rely upon each day are correct.  However, we are all human and occasionally make mistakes, and in the case of transit employees, those minor misspellings have potentially wide audiences.  So what is the funniest “transit blooper” you’ve seen on a sign or heard in an announcement?  Feel free to share what you’ve seen or heard in the comments (with our without a photo attachment) below!

Water Water Everywhere

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MAN NL-313 27631 on Sderot Rothschild at Tzahal, Haifa, Israel, June 7, 2013

One of my favorite things to photograph are fountains, waterfalls, and other water features.  My stay in Haifa in June 2013 was not my first trip to the city by any means, however it was just before a fairly significant change to the city’s transportation network would take place.  About two months after that visit, the Metronit bus rapid transit network began service.  However, the dedicated lanes that the system would ultimately use were constructed and being used by local buses as early as 2009.  The “Lin” station has a set of fountains constructed in the very wide median between the bus lanes as the road widens to go around a traffic circle and sculpture at the next intersection.  Needless to say, once I discovered this, I made a point of getting a photo of a bus at this location with the fountains in the foreground.  The photo you see here is the result.