Curiously, I could find no discussion or men- tion of Jensen’s hardware or technique. Having been shooting for a quarter century, we can assume that much of his work has been done on film, probably large format, but there’s no way to know for sure. All the subjects in the book were shot
west of the Mississippi River and include high profile steam operations such as Union Pacific’s two locomotives, Milwaukee Road 261, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic, and Durango & Silverton, along with many smaller or less well-known oases of steam such as the Heber Valley, Sumpter Valley, and the Austin Steam Train Association. Jensen’s work proves that size doesn’t matter when steam, steel, people, and a photographer’s discerning eye converge at that perfect mo- ment. The workers who make the trains go are given as much coverage as the machin- ery is, often in candid images of them doing the work of steam railroaders, sometimes in well-posed portraits. The book is beautifully laid out by Jeff
Brouws and features fine duotone printing on glossy paper for excellent reproduction. Photos are generally displayed one per page with well-written captions, but the occasion- al image will run across two pages. The es- says include a brief introduction to steam railroading and its kinetic role as living his- tory, the relationship between rail photogra- phy and historic preservation, and Jensen’s background as a photographer. Anyone who loves the drama of steam
power and appreciates excellent photogra- phy will enjoy this book. —WALT LANKENAU
VIDEO REVIEW
Deshler —Mainline Crossroads Greg Scholl Video Productions, P.O. Box 123, Batavia, OH 45103-0123;
www.gregscholl
video.com; 513/732-0660. DVD only; wide- screen format, standard definition; 3 hours on 2 DVD’s. $34.95 plus $5.00 shipping; OH residents add sales tax.
Ohio is home to many railroad dia- mond junctions that make popular train watching spots, espe- cially when the junc- tion features a wye. Some diamonds that carry a high level of traffic are located at Deshler, Fostoria, and Marion. Greg Scholl visited Desh-
ler on eleven occasions over a four-year peri- od in a variety of seasons to capture the more than 100 trains seen here. They in- clude unit coal, double-stack, auto rack, grain, manifest, unit coke, coiled steel, bal- last, ethanol, track equipment, light en- gines, and other movements. Power is most- ly CSX, of course (in a variety of paint schemes), and ranges from older SD models to the most current. Locomotives from BNSF Railway and Union Pacific show up regularly, and often in the lead on run- through trains. Leased power also makes cameo appearances. The two lines crossing at Deshler are both ex-Baltimore & Ohio: the east-west, double track Chicago main and the north-south line from Toledo to Cincinnati. The photograph- er makes good use of the remaining infra- structure in town including a tower (closed
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RAILFAN.COM
in 1986) and abandoned station, both at the diamond; a forest of older position light sig- nals on the north-south line and older and newer cantilever signals on the Chicago main. A small pond a little southeast of the diamond offers some nice reflections. While some might think watching over
100 trains in the same location could be a bit tedious, there is good visual variety as an- gles are varied by time of day and traffic flow. Due to astute use of scanner informa- tion as well as luck, the cameraman almost always seems to be in the right place at the right time as trains traverse the connecting tracks between routes. Scenes shot east and west of town add contextual views of trains at speed on the Chicago main. A fan-friendly feature at Deshler is Cross-
roads Park, where railfans gather under a spartan shelter to watch trains, cook on the grill, use Wi-Fi and scanner facilities, and camp out. The park’s electronic hookups en- abled every scene in the video to be identi- fied via subtitles as to train symbol, routing particulars, locomotives used, time of day, and so on. This is the main purpose of the program —to explain what one might see at Deshler on any given visit rather than to present a “Best of Deshler” video program showing only the best imagery from many visits without the overall context. Viewers interested in train operations will appreci- ate the subtitles and the inclusion of every train that passed by within the time window of each visit. With all the train movements on the two
disks, some especially nice views stand out. Meets have to rank at the top of the inter- esting sequences and there are several – op- posing trains, trains coming off the connect- ing wyes onto the main line while meeting or being passed by main line trains, and so on. On one visit, five trains pass in 16 minutes. Good use is made of the tower, station, sig- nals, town buildings, and pond as props to vary the scenes, but of course the will be re- peats over eleven visits. The pond ranges from still water reflections to frozen waste- land in winter, and back to liquid in the spring. Some excellent shots were taken in low afternoon light, to include some nice glint views of eastbounds. A wide variety of panned sequences from a slight distance lets the viewer study each train better than just a traditional wedge runby, but there are plenty of those as well. Visual and audio quality is very good to excellent, and the exposures are generally spot on. Camera technique (framing, pan- ning, zooming) is very good and almost all shots are clean of any distractions. A nice, narrated schematic map at the outset ori- ents the viewer and explains the history of the location. Occasional scenes may be a tad dark (e.g. backlit or high light) but often spinning the camera around for the going away shot fixes everything. Good use is made of the telephoto to see the variety of signals still in use and watch distant trains begin a connection track move. The weather is generally sunny, but there are cloudy days and one rainy day. Editing is straight- forward and to keep the program moving, the middle of each train is skillfully edited out. The program was shot in widescreen, so ensure that your viewing equipment is set for this. If you like to see an incredible flow of rail traffic in an interesting rail setting with varied operations, you should enjoy this program. — TOM KELCEC
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