open house at the nearby Rochester Insti- tute of Technology Model Railroad Club, which I co-founded back in my freshman days (daze?). Visitors got the chance to see the club’s new model railroad under con- struction, featuring scenes from Rochester and hosting many strategically placed Penn Central-era models, of course. On Saturday, the group came down to vis- it the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum (rgvrrm.org), of which I am a board member. To move the large crowd through the museum, we split into the “Red Team” and “Green Team,” harkening back to the days of Penn Central’s self-divided manage- ment. Of particular interest to PCRRHS members was our preserved MDT reefer, which houses a display about the old Despatch Shops once located in East Rochester and the history of Merchants Despatch Transportation. After touring our restored Erie Railroad depot, we boarded a special train consisting of our restored Penn Central N-11e transfer caboose hauled by an ex-U.S. Army GE 80-ton switcher. We gave our visitors a bit of “rare mileage” and also a behind the scenes tour of our restora- tion shops.


By this time, the PCRRHS folks were get- ting tired of seeing me everywhere, so they headed off for their next appointment at the nearby Falls Road Railroad for a special tour and photo session. Even though I was only involved in a few of the weekend activities, I had a fun time and met some great people. For more details about the PCRRHS, please visit their web site at www.pcrrhs.org. As I’ve said before, the next time someone asks you to be a presenter, don’t be afraid to say yes. Clear communication with your host will help prevent misunderstandings that can ruin an otherwise enjoyable experi- ence. Sharing your passion for trains is one of the more rewarding aspects of this hobby. Just like Alex Craghead said last month in his DEPARTURES column, one of the more en- joyable aspects of this hobby are the connec- tions we make. —OTTOM. VONDRAK


Trolleys and Subways at Night Last year we received photos from Joey Kel- ly


of a night photo session held at the


Seashore Trolley Museum in Kenneb- unkport, Maine. I really liked the shots and told Joey that if the event was repeated be sure to let me know. He immediately re- sponded that it would indeed be held again, this time on November 2, 2013. I circled the date on the calendar, and made my way up the Maine coast once the date arrived. Timing conspired to force me into making the trip in a quick weekend up and back, so I plotted a route to Maine that would let me pick off a couple of Amtrak shots that I had wanted to do. There is a shot in Hartford, Conn., from the station platform that fea- tures the Nutmeg State’s capitol building in the background. Unfortunately, the shot is looking straight south, making lighting tricky. I had done the shot with the mid- morning train a few weeks earlier with okay results; this trip would take me through Hartford at lunch time and I could try the midday train. This, as it turns out, did not work out well; the light was extremely harsh and Amtrak was running the shuttle trains between New Haven and Springfield with the cab cars on the north end (the first time I had seen that). Oh, well. . . Up next was a shot I had scoped out on railpictures.net of the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited in Worcester, Mass. The shot featured a nice backdrop of old mill buildings. I easily found the location, but in the four years between when the shot was taken and this day, the middle mill building had been demolished, leaving a large gap in the facade. A splash of fall foliage made the shot worth doing, anyhow. Arriving in Kennebunkport, I did a few


quick daytime shots, then met up with Joey, who was the coordinator for the event. I also met Shawn Duren, who would be doing the lighting. A second flash guy couldn’t make it, so I dusted off my 20-year-old Lumedyne flash (which I haven’t used in a couple of years; it has been supplanted by my collec-


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The Boston section of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited is minutes out of Worcester


, Mass., on its


way to Chicago as it passes a row of old mill buildings on November 2, 2013. Up until a few years ago, this was a solid wall of brick, but the demolition of the middle mill has left a gap in this once-impressive facade.


55


PHOTO BY STEVE BARRY


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