Drove almost 3 hours north this past Saturday, just to catch a glimpse of this beast making its way across northern Ohio. Not a crazy railfan, but there was something unexplainable about my desire to see this 85yo, 1.2 million pound behemoth up close and personal. A bit gobsmacked about how many had the same inclination.
All three from my IR converted (820nm) Fuji X-e3. Shots 1 and 2 with 14/2.8 Fuji at f/8. Shot 3 with 50/2.0 Fuji at f/8. Plus some processing in LR, as these files require it.
Big Boy braking to a stop in Continental Ohio
Crowding around for a final look just before departure
Nice ones. The IR rendering provides something a bit different, too.
I saw Big Boy some years back (posted pics in archives), and I do recommend folks doing so if they get the chance. July 19 in St. Louis, this time around. I suspect I'll be there.
Bill Gass wrote:
Great shots and great job...
Dam that's a lot of people!
Thank you.
I was impressed by the sheer number and diversity of the crowd. We arrived about 90 minutes early to the Continental stop, and by that time, people had set their lawn chairs up three rows deep on both sides of the track at the main street crossing.
In the second photo, about half of the crowd is jostling about, trying to get the best photos of themselves with Big Boy in the background. Singles, couples, and families with kids on their shoulders, all wanted a digital memory.
The Continental and Fostoria stops were about 50 miles apart, and there are roads that parallel the rails, with great viewing, and crossings for closeups. After leaving Continental, there was a virtual parade of folks leapfrogging, and pulling over for viewing and photos all the way into Fostoria.
