The Train Obsession

I would like to begin this blog post with these words: "Considering the circumstances I think it turned out OK." I know, I know, I'm supposed to be telling you how I always take and process the perfect photo - after all it's a photo blog but I can't do that. Let me tell you about taking this photo.

I wanted to get a photo when the train was rolling into town because that's how you avoid the crowd. The time isn't published but after a few years of experience and living close to the tracks I can guess the time. I had gone to work early so that I could leave early and I got to the tracks on time. It was late summer and it was 87 humid degrees. I was near the river and the canal and the mosquitoes were special that evening. 

I got my spot right on the edge of the ravine (more mosquitoes). I look to my left just as a large lightning bolt lights up the sky. The sky is turning very dark as the clouds roll in. I'm not standing in a good place to be in a lightning storm. I hung in there for about a half hour because the lightning stopped. Just as I was feeling better about the storm being delayed there was a loud crashing behind me. A deer? A pack of coyotes? No, just a very interesting gentleman who decided to crash through the underbrush and not use the walkway. 

I stepped a little further into the ravine and my very interesting gentlemen walked right up to me (I was only one of a few people there and everyone else was on the other side of the crossing) and proceeded to interrogate me about the technical qualifications of my camera. This went on for some time. Being almost in the ravine now it was either jump over it - nope, I had my shot planned - or deal with my visitor which I did until I heard the whistle. Then I pardoned and excused myself enough to nudge my friend within acceptable social distance (this was before Covid) telling him we needed our distance to get our shots like we wanted them. Oh no he said, he was going to use his camera phone and I had picked the best spot. He seemed genuinely very excited about seeing the train.

This engine doesn't roll slowly by. The speed isn't excessive it's just challenging to get a good shot. As the train approached my friend was hollering in my ear over the sound of the engine and he was saying: "We're having fun - yes we're having fun." I am obsessed with this particular train so I did my best to get a few shots knowing that I was distracted and I had a good chance now of winding up in a ravine of really smelly water since there was no controlling my friend's enthusiasm.

The train passed by and I turned expecting that I would have more conversation that I didn't want. My visitor was gone. He was nowhere is sight. He had just been standing next to me chattering away. He wasn't in the underbrush where he had come from, not on the walk, than goodness not splattered on the tracks and that was that. There is no way he could have not been in sight as I walked back if he had walked away sooner. He was gone. The valley is strange that way sometimes so I dubbed him Ghost of Canon since he seemed to know a lot about my camera.

The shot came out just as I thought but there was too much blur. I've messed around with it since then  but it's as good as it's going to get. It's not just a photo it's a story and a strange one at that.