One of my sidetrips on the first leg of a vacation this summer was to
Scranton, PA (USA), the relatively new home of Steamtown. I (and my 4
year-old son, Gus) spent a while photographing one of the Big Boys. Shot
some Delta 400, used the OM1 and a 50. Walked right up to it and got lots of
detail shots of those 6 foot high wheels. What a machine that sucker was.
(Though unlike Walt I have to admit I am also quite fond of diesels,
especially the classics.) In a nice twist, our second vacation took us to
Vermont, including Bellows Falls, original home of Steamtown and the place
where as a child I first saw Big Boy. There we took a ride behind the Green
Mountain Railroad's beautiful ALCO RS. One of my son's favorite books is an
old history of the Rutland Railroad, which pictures the very same ALCO #405
in several photos. Gus' head fairly exploded when, on the ride, we crossed
in front of a covered bridge -- the very same location of his favorite image
in the book. The coming together of his favorite book, his favorite engine
(he calls it Percy after the little green engine in Thomas stories), AND his
favorite scene (aka "Percy's covered bridge") was almost too much for him to
handle. He excitedly fired off a few shots with his little Nikon P&S as we
"flew by" at 20mph. This was a summer I'll remember a long, long time.
Matthew Born
On 8/18/04 9:35 PM, "Listar" <listar@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> There is no machine on the face of the earth that seems as much like a living,
> breathing thing as a steam locomotive. They grunt and sigh and hiss and are,
> at least to my mind, one of the most wondrous machines ever made. To this day,
> I remember every detail of these magical behemoths. I still take special trips
> just to ride on a train pulled by a steam locomotive.
>
>
> Walt
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