Chasing Trains

Had a blast chasing trains today - specifically, Nickel Plate Locomotive 765, which has been operating on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad tracks for the last couple of weeks, and will be back next weekend, October 3 and 4.

765 is an impressive steam engine: big, inky black, billowing smoke, and thundering down the tracks. It's whistle is pretty distinctive, too, quite different from the diesel engines used by CVSR.

Here is 765 at Brecksville Station. It's being pulled back to Fitzwater Yard by a diesel on the other end of the train. If you look closely, you can see the plume is flowing forward over the front of the train.

Kind of like the look of this old locomotive in black. That's the Rt. 82 bridges in the background, the one some knuckle headed neanderthals wanted to blow up.

One of the CVSR diesels, pulling the regularly scheduled scenic train. It headed south while 765 was at Fitzwater.

765, headed back south. I was standing about 15 feet from the tracks, and the whistle is deafening! The plume's flowing the right way now.

Same shot, color. The old-time sepia works better, I think.

Mid-afternoon, 765 made another run, this time south of Boston Station.  I caught it at the Furnace Run Bridge across from Bolanz Road.

For more details about 765, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_Plate_765. The CVSR website has details about and tickets for the runs next week: http://www.cvsr.com/steam-in-the-valley. If you're a photographer, check out Duane Stephen Loya's 765 page at http://www.zensphotography.com/SteamintheValleySteamDays.pdf.

Sunflowers and Shorebirds

Spent some time shooting in Avon Lake and Lorain with my friend Lisa. The first set of photos is from a glorious field of sunflowers planted in memory of a young girl who died of brain cancer.

It's a beautiful field of sunshine:

Backlight from the morning sun creates a lovely glow.

You can find more information at https://prayersfrommaria.org/Get-Involved/Events/Planting-Hope/.

We decided to hit the Lorain Impoundment, which is a d-shaped area extending into the lake, basically a dump for harbor dredge. It's grassed over now and there's a perimeter path, with a pretty good view of the lake and lighthouse. The impoundment is a birding hotspot, but was pretty quiet when we got there around 10 am. We did flush an eagle, pretty cool, except all I got was a very blurry shot. We walked the perimeter, disturbing an impressive number of grasshoppers, almost like walking through a popcorn popper.

Here's the lighthouse, at the mouth of the Black River:

One kayaker, three fishing rods?

 A Ring-billed gull, slumming among the cormorants:

Great Blue Heron, doing the same.

Sail boat returning to harbor.

Lorain did a great job on the pier - it's paved and has a few benches along the way. Excellent view of the light house, too.

We had lunch at Jackalope's at Spitzer Marina - no idea what Jackalopes have to do with boating. Good meal and nice view of the harbor.

All in all, quite an enjoyable day.