#switchengine

[railwayhistorical]

Bad Photo

When out shooting, one can equipment issues, horrible technique, bad processing, and much later on, sketchy scanning. And then one can have all four of these things.

I think this was a trip where I had dropped my camera and afterwards had issues with obtaining normal focus. I think an element must have been knocked loose within the compound lens. Camera shake is evident due to the bad weather and subsequent slow shutter speed. The film development seems to have provided for a color shift (which I tried to remove for the digital version seen here). And ever since I updated my scanning software, I don’t feel that I’m on top of the settings needed to get the sharpest scan.

And yet I still enjoy the photograph. Perhaps this is due to the charismatic locomotive shown, or the equally alluring caboose behind it.

The locomotive is a Fairbanks Morse H-12-44 which was built for the Milwaukee Road in 1954. I believe these were constructed in Beloit, found relatively nearby. (I should say, this unit has been saved and now lives at the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum, Bellevue, Ohio.) And the crummy seen, known as a “rib-sided” affair, is somewhat endemic to the CMStP&P Railroad (if I’m not mistaken). They were first built in 1939 and had long, useful lives on the railroad.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 28th 1977.