630 exiting Missionary Ridge Tunnel, East Chattanooga, TN
September 9, 2017 – Southern Railway steam locomotive 630 bursts from the east end of Missionary Ridge Tunnel with a loaded passenger train during the 2017 Railfest at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, as it heads for the station at East Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Completed in 1858 the tunnel is the primary reason TVRM runs on the three-mile section of the former Southern Railway. As railroad equipment grew too large to pass through and the single-track tunnel became a traffic jam for an otherwise double-track railroad, Southern Railway abandoned the three mile portion of the line and built a new section around the end of Missionary Ridge, avoiding the tunnel altogether.
The museum restored rails through the tunnel in 1971 and continues to use the pre-Civil War Tunnel on a daily basis.
Southern Railway diesel locomotives 5000, 3170, 2594 at Chattanooga, TN
September 9, 2017 – Southern Railway diesel locomotives 5000, 3170, 2594, with a freight train, sits on the Chickamauga Creek bridge at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum during the museum’s 2017 Railfest night photo shoot.
Southern Railway steam 4501 westbound to Chattanooga, TN
September 9, 2017 – In the quietness of the early morning the sound of the approaching steam locomotive is heard before it can be seen. Anticipation builds as Southern Railways 4501 pulls into view with a loaded passenger train west, around a sweeping curve, on the return trip to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum at Chattanooga, TN during 2017 Railfest.
2017 Railfest Operations at Chattanooga, TN
2017 Railfest, Chattanooga, TN – I’m often torn when I decide to shoot video trackside, because I invariably hate “missing” a good photograph, but Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Railfest lended itself so well to video that I made an effort to get some footage using my iPhone 7 Plus. The below, slightly over 13 minute, video is a bit longer than I normally do, but I think it flows pretty good and I hope you enjoy getting a glimpse into the event.
It’s a selection of videos from the 2017 Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Railfest Operations, Chattanooga, Tennessee of Steam and Diesel operations around the museum and between Chattanooga and East Chattanooga.
September 2, 2017 – Southbound Paducah and Louisville local with nine units
September 2, 2017 – A southbound Paducah and Louisville Railway local heads south out of Princeton, KY and meets a northbound empty coal at GV Junction in Gilbertsville, KY, where they did a crew swap.
Young railfan at East Chattanooga, TN
September 9, 2017 – I was thinking that this scene would make for a nice shot if only I had a central subject, other than the platform and passenger cars, when I heard the patter of little feet running up behind me and this little boy ran past me, at the East Chattanooga, TN Depot sign at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, into the scene and looked back! The fact that he was dressed as an engineer made it even better!
How many of us can recall what it was like to be a child this enthused by a steam train or any train for that matter! I hope the child in all of us never goes away when it comes to our passion for photographing, riding, watching, observing or anything else that has to do with trains!
When out shooting your rail photography don’t forget to record the people and not just the trains! One without the other won’t exist, especially when it comes to historic preservation!
Southern Railway steam locomotive 630 at Missionary Ridge Tunnel , Chattanooga, TN
September 9, 2017 – Southern Railway steam locomotive 630 heads into the west end of Missionary Ridge Tunnel with a loaded passenger train during the 2017 Railfest at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, as it heads for the station at East Chattanooga, Tennessee. By the way, I love long lenses!!!
Completed in 1858 the tunnel is the primary reason TVRM runs on the three-mile section of the former Southern Railway. As railroad equipment grew too large to pass through and the single-track tunnel became a traffic jam for an otherwise double-track railroad, Southern Railway abandoned the three mile portion of the line and built a new section around the end of Missionary Ridge, avoiding the tunnel altogether.
The museum restored rails through the tunnel in 1971 and continues to use the pre-Civil War Tunnel on a daily basis.
Reflections on a night shoot at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
September 9, 2017 – This is a shot of the first organized night photoshoot I’ve done on a train related subject other than my own. It was great! The photographer standing next to the light stand is Norfolk Southern Photographer Casey Thomason who did the lighting for the Railfest night shoot event and helped to make it happen with the support and help of the fine folks at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN. Outstanding job by all!
What’s pictured here is a small portion of the photographers that participated in the event where we shot several different views of Southern Railway diesel locomotives 5000, 3170, 2594 with a freight train and a Tennessee Alabama & Georgia Railway passenger train on the Chickamauga Creek bridge at the TVRM museum.
While everyone jockeyed around for space, for their version of the “perfect shot,” the event got underway about 9pm and it was close to midnight before everyone went their merry way after we did many rotations of the front line of photographers getting their chance for a clear shot.
This photograph I shot hand held, as I was letting a friend that wasn’t aware there was a night shoot during Railfest, use my tripod on the rotations. Casey was doing a 3 second countdown before firing the flashes and so I timed my exposure to start at the 1 second mark which opened my shutter right as the flash went off. Exposure was 1 second at f/8 at ISO 800 on my Nikon D800 at 42 mm on my Sigma 24-70mm lens and shot as a RAW file.
BNSF 9221 leads a loaded coal train…
September 8, 2017 – BNSF 9221 leads a loaded coal train down grade alongside Norfolk Southern DeButts Yard in Chattanooga, TN as it heads west on the Chattanooga Terminal.
Southern 4501 at Missionary Ridge Tunnel, Chattanooga, TN
September 10, 2017 – A gentle cool breeze and birds can be heard in the surrounding trees until till the shrill of a steam whistle and sounds of an approaching locomotive breaks the quietness as it approaches the west end of Missionary Ridge Tunnel.
Next thing you know, it has covered the 900 feet and then Southern Railway steam locomotive 4501 breaks out of the east side of the tunnel as it heads to Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s East Chattanooga station and shops, with a train load of passengers, during the 2017 Railfest.
Completed in 1858 the tunnel is the primary reason TVRM runs on the three-mile section of the former Southern Railway. As railroad equipment grew too large to pass through and the single-track tunnel became a traffic jam for an otherwise double-track railroad, Southern Railway abandoned the three mile portion of the line and built a new section around the end of Missionary Ridge, avoiding the tunnel altogether. The museum restored rails through the tunnel in 1971 and continues to use the pre-Civil War Tunnel on a daily basis.
Southern diesels 2594, 3170 at the Chickamauga Creek bridge, Chattanooga, TN
September 9, 2017 – Southern diesels 2594, 3170 and 5000 (not pictured) move east across the Chickamauga Creek bridge at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, as they are positioned in place for a night photoshoot during the museum’s 2017 Railfest in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
This was the first night rail photoshoot that I have participated in, other than my own that is, and really had a fun time! Casey Thomason, with the NS Railroad did a wonderful time lighting the event for us and a big shout out to the museum for putting it on! Hope to see more events like it in the future!
This shot actually was a 30 second long exposure. The two engines sat on the bridge just long enough into the exposure before they started to move forward, giving me just a tad of motion blur. Wasn’t planned on my part at all, but I’m very happy with the results! Sometimes life just works that way!
Southern 630 & 4501 at bridge during Railfest, Chattanooga, TN
September 9, 2017 – Southern 630 and 4501 pull and empty passenger train over the bridge just outside the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum at Chattanooga, Tennessee during the first morning of the museum’s 2017 Railfest.
Southern 4501 & 630 at shops, Chattanooga, TN
September 8, 2017 – It’s the afternoon before Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s railfest in Chattanooga, Tennessee and we find the crews busy getting steam engines 4501 and 630 ready for the next days festivities!
Southbound Norfolk Southern on the Tenbridge, Chattanooga, TN
September 7, 2017- My first chilly night in Chattanooga, TN I found myself with several fellow railfans on the banks of the Tennessee River, photographing this mixed freight southbound as it headed across the Tenbridge, on the CNO&TP 3rd District of NS’s Central Division. It runs from Chattanooga, TN to Harriman, TN.SB NS on the Tenbridge, Chattanooga, TN
CSX Q647-25 SB with Ferromex 4663 at Crofton Cut, Crofton, Ky
August 25, 2017 – CSX Q647-25 heads south through the Crofton Cut, as Ferromex 4663 leads the Chicago, IL to Waycross, GA mixed freight south on the Henderson Subdivision, on a beautiful springlike summer day, north of Crofton, Ky
CSX Q587 SB at Mortons Gap, Ky
September 5, 2017 – There’s been a lot of work being done on the CSX’s Henderson Subdivision this summer, as evidenced by the stacks of used ties stacked along the Earlington Cut-off at Mortons Junction in Mortons Gap, Ky. Here we see CSX 0587 (Evansville, IN to Nashville, TN, as it comes off the cut-off onto the main on the way south.
ex-BNSF Units at PAL Yard, Paducah, Ky
September 2, 2017 – Well, today was my day for catching long strings of power! Not only did I catch the Paducah and Louisville Railway local between Madisonville and Paducah, Ky, but when I got to the PAL Yard at Paducah I found this string of ex-BNSF units destined for Progress Rail. There’s 13 of them in all and I couldn’t get a shot where I could read all their numbers.
Paducah and Louisville Railway meet at GV Junction, Gilbertsville, Ky
September 2, 2017 – A southbound Paducah and Louisville Railway local (right) pulls past a northbound empty coal train after a meet and crew swap at GV Junction in Gilbertsville, Ky. The local, with 9 units went on to Paducah, Ky and the coal train continued on north towards Warrior Coal in Nebo, Ky where it would pick up its next load of coal.
PAL local with 9 Units SB at Kentucky Dam, Gilbertsville, Ky
September 2, 2017 – A Paducah and Louisville Railway local heads south across the bridge at Kentucky Dam, outside of Gilbertsville, Ky, with a string of nine units. PAL has decided to start moving any power left in the yard at Madisonville, Ky on Saturdays back to Paducah, KY, hince the train with so much power. The units were 4523, 4510, 4502, 2118, 2111, 2110, 2109, 2120 and 2117.
Kansas City Southern 4771 leads CSX Q029-23 passes Q028 at Trenton, Ky
August 23, 2017 – Kansas City Southern 4771 leads CSX Q029-23 (Chicago, IL-Atlanta, GA) south, with BNSF 4980 trailing, as it passes it’s counterpart, northbound Q028 in the siding at Trenton, Ky, as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision.
I wanted this shot bad and in the rush I failed to check my shutter speed on my Fuji XT-1. The photo ended up being about 5 stops over exposed! While I lost some details in the highlights, mostly evident in the ballast and sky, at least I recovered it well enough to make this post. The key to recovery is that the photo was shot as a RAW file, as all my images are shot and processed as RAW files.
If you don’t shoot in RAW and your camera is able to do so, you’re not using the full potential of your camera’s sensor! When shooting and processing in RAW format you capture every bit of detail and data that your sensor can capture, whereas JPG doesn’t. This photo wouldn’t have seen the light of day as a JPG. Just food for thought!!
If you’re looking for a tutorial for using RAW here’s the one I bought and learned from:
Of course there’s a lot of free classes out there also on YouTube, but this one is the best I’ve found.
If you’ve never visited Creativelive it’s a great resource and if you watch the live broadcast then there’s no charge! Once it broadcasts, or if you want to go back and review the video over and over again then it’s available for purchase as the RAW course. It’s a great resource!