Swiss Trip Report : RhB Ge4/4i's Last Stand?
18/03/12 18:45 | Switzerland
| 2012
A trip to the RhB for the last week of the Winter
Timetable with its additional trains for skiers,
snowboarders and sledgers. The continued use of a
handful of the venerable Ge4/4is provided the incentive
for this visit and, fortunately, the last three locos
were more active than expected, covering a wide variety
of workings and routes. Other classes weren't ignored
but the Ge4/4is took priority.
go to report
go to report
Spain : FC de Soller in Snow
A handful of pictures and a brief report from the FC de
Soller on the frozen Mediterranean island of Mallorca
in February 2012. This remarkable line continues to
operate its services using 1929 built, wooden bodied
motor coaches and includes street running in downtown
Palma.
go to FC de Soller gallery
go to FC de Soller report
go to FC de Soller gallery
go to FC de Soller report
China : Pingzhuang and Sandaoling Photos
The China photo gallery updates continue with a new
gallery covering the mining railway at Pingzhuang and a
major update of the Sandaoling gallery with photos from
visits in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
go to Pingzhuang gallery
go to Sandaoling gallery
go to Pingzhuang gallery
go to Sandaoling gallery
China : Chengzihe and Didao Photos
Two of the Jixi galleries have been updated with new
photos, covering the Chengzihe and Didao mining systems
in 2010. Jixi was an outstanding place for steam
photography with some of the best industrial backdrops
anywhere in China, attractive scenery and plenty of
action.
go to Chengzihe gallery
go to Didao gallery
go to Chengzihe gallery
go to Didao gallery
China : Fuxin, Fushun and Fula'erji Photos
More updated photo galleries featuring the mining
railways at Fuxin and Fushun and a completely new
gallery of photos from Fula’erji.
go to Fuxin gallery
go to Fushun gallery
go to Fula’erji gallery
go to Fuxin gallery
go to Fushun gallery
go to Fula’erji gallery
China : Beipiao and Beitai Photos
Two new photo galleries have been added to the China
Industrials section, covering visits to the Beipiao
Mining Railway in late 2010 and to Beitai Steelworks in
late 2011.
go to Beipiao gallery
go to Beitai gallery
go to Beipiao gallery
go to Beitai gallery
China : Huanan Photos
02/01/12 22:10 | China -
Steam |
2012
The Huanan photo gallery has been updated with many
more photos from trips in winter 2009 and 2010. This
narrow gauge forestry line was very difficult to
photograph successfully, with frequent closures and
chronically unreliable engines but it had real
character. Now that it’s closed, I’m really
glad that I made the effort.
go to Huanan gallery
go to Huanan gallery
Behind the Scenes
Over the past couple of years a lot of work has gone on
behind the scenes to improve the quality of the photos
on Railography and to streamline the whole website
production process.
Hopefully you’ll have already noticed that the more recent photos are sharper and clearer than before and that the colours are more true to life. This is the result of completely revising my photo workflow. I now use Nikon Capture NX2 to process the RAW images, meaning there’s much less to do in Photoshop. Another new tool is the PictoColor iCorrect EditLab Pro plugin for Photoshop, which makes fine tuning the colour balance much easier. RAW file to finished image usually takes less than 15 minutes now, round about what I could achieve in the darkroom many years ago.
The whole website is now produced using Rapidweaver software. It’s taken a long time to transfer everything over but it should speed up the production of pages and photo galleries while still maintaining the distinctive Railography identity. If you wondered why some pages had an orange theme while others were green, it was so I could easily tell which pages had been moved over to Rapidweaver. Now that everything has been transferred, look out for much more content appearing over the next few months while I try to reduce the backlog of material waiting to be published.
Hopefully you’ll have already noticed that the more recent photos are sharper and clearer than before and that the colours are more true to life. This is the result of completely revising my photo workflow. I now use Nikon Capture NX2 to process the RAW images, meaning there’s much less to do in Photoshop. Another new tool is the PictoColor iCorrect EditLab Pro plugin for Photoshop, which makes fine tuning the colour balance much easier. RAW file to finished image usually takes less than 15 minutes now, round about what I could achieve in the darkroom many years ago.
The whole website is now produced using Rapidweaver software. It’s taken a long time to transfer everything over but it should speed up the production of pages and photo galleries while still maintaining the distinctive Railography identity. If you wondered why some pages had an orange theme while others were green, it was so I could easily tell which pages had been moved over to Rapidweaver. Now that everything has been transferred, look out for much more content appearing over the next few months while I try to reduce the backlog of material waiting to be published.
China : Loco List Update
29/12/11 10:32 | China -
Steam |
2011
The loco lists have been updated with data from reports
posted up to 21 December 2011. Lots of historic data
from the 1980s has also been added. Of note during 2011
was the withdrawal of all but one of the remaining QJs,
leaving only QJ 7129 at Sishui Cement Works in use
until the surprising resurrection of long dead QJ 6652
for use as stationary boiler at Xi’an Bei CRH
depot. There were a surprising number of new locations
reported, although none come close to replacing some of
the great operations lost over the past few years.
Also notable was an increase in the number of locos being preserved in one form or another. Some of the locos concerned haven’t been reported for years, if at all. Where, for instance, was RM 1247 hiding for over 30 years before it resurfaced outside the new Shenyang Railway Museum? What other gems could there be out there waiting to be discovered?
Additions to the historic lists include the first report of an active FD in the north-east, albeit as a stationary boiler at Sujiatun, a pre-production QJ in service, also at Sujiatun, SL6s at Huhehaote, RMs at Xi’an and lots of JFs, JSs and QJs.
Many thanks to all those who supplied reports, sightings, information, links to photo sites or Chinese forums etc. Without your help, the list wouldn’t have reached over 43000 entries covering 7200 locos at more than 600 locations. Keep those numbers coming.
go to Loco Lists
Also notable was an increase in the number of locos being preserved in one form or another. Some of the locos concerned haven’t been reported for years, if at all. Where, for instance, was RM 1247 hiding for over 30 years before it resurfaced outside the new Shenyang Railway Museum? What other gems could there be out there waiting to be discovered?
Additions to the historic lists include the first report of an active FD in the north-east, albeit as a stationary boiler at Sujiatun, a pre-production QJ in service, also at Sujiatun, SL6s at Huhehaote, RMs at Xi’an and lots of JFs, JSs and QJs.
Many thanks to all those who supplied reports, sightings, information, links to photo sites or Chinese forums etc. Without your help, the list wouldn’t have reached over 43000 entries covering 7200 locos at more than 600 locations. Keep those numbers coming.
go to Loco Lists
German Photos : October Trip Update
The German photo galleries have been updated with
photos from my October trip to the Nürnberg area,
featuring class 232s on freight on lines 860 and 870 to
Hof and Schwandorf and electrics on line 990 in
Altmühltal.
go to line 860 Nürnberg - Hof gallery
go to line 870 Hersbruck - Schwandorf gallery
go to line 990 Ingolstadt - Treuchtlingen gallery
go to line 860 Nürnberg - Hof gallery
go to line 870 Hersbruck - Schwandorf gallery
go to line 990 Ingolstadt - Treuchtlingen gallery
Czech Photos : Minor Update
20/12/11 17:50 | Czech
Republic |
2011
A handful of new photos have been added to the Czech
photo galleries, specifically a few shots of the
Letohrad - Lichkov line after electrification and a
couple of recent pics of the Brno - Jihlava line. In an
effort to rationalise the structure of the galleries,
some gallery and photo URLs have changed so some old
links may not work.
go to Letohrad - Lichkov gallery
go to Brno - Jihlava gallery
go to Letohrad - Lichkov gallery
go to Brno - Jihlava gallery
German Trip Report : Return to the Ludmilla Triangle
A return visit to northern Bayern to photograph class
232 and 233 "Ludmillas" working heavy freights on the
scenic, diesel-worked lines east of Nürnberg. I spent
four days on the Nürnberg - Hof and Nürnberg -
Schwandorf lines where they cross the Frankische Alb
before heading south to Altmühltal for a day of
electric passenger and freight action on the Ingolstadt
- Treuchtlingen line.
go to report
go to report
