Six targets

Westbound double-stack roars through Fostoria. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

—This photo was taken eleven years ago.
My wife and I (she was still alive then) drove to Altoona to do a train-chase with my Altoona railfan friend, Phil Faudi (“FOW-dee,” as in “wow”).
It had snowed heavily, but driving down was easy. It was mostly expressway back then, but a lot wasn’t.
Pavement was wet, but clear. 3-4 foot snow-berms lined the highway.
In Altoona we headed west up Allegheny Mountain, headed toward a trackside bed-and-breakfast in Gallitzin (“Guh-LIT-zin”) atop Allegheny Mountain.
The snow-berms got much deeper as we headed up the mountain. Road-side the berms were 6-8 feet high.
The Mighty Curve was snowed in, but looked possible.
Hip-deep into the snow-berm. I gave up. Horseshoe Curve was impossible.
We continued up to Gallitzin, which was being cleared by front-end loaders and dump-trucks.
Streets to our bed-and-breakfast were 6-10 foot channels through the snow. Streets were clear, but you only drove in the streets.
When Phil arrived the next day we wondered how we could chase trains in snow so deep.
“I got a couple ideas,” Phil said.
One was Fostoria, location of this photo. Fostoria is the location of that fabulous signal-bridge pictured.
It controls the mainline (Tracks Two and One at left) plus an adjacent siding-track at right (Track Three).
Each track is signaled both ways, rendering a total of six of the old PRR target-signals.
Light was weak, I had to Photoshop© this photo hard to get a usable calendar picture.
Mainly “brightening.”
Still it’s marginal. Shutter speed was down to 1/125th. I shoulda cranked up the ISO (sensitivity).
Below 1/200th you’re asking for trouble. If the train is fast enough, the front of the locomotive blurs.
It’s not too bad, but not as sharp as I'd like. Back then my knowledge of camera operation wasn’t what it is now.
I let the camera work for me. If I set shutter-priority at 1/400th or less, it’ll take the aperture-setting down into “not-enough-light.”
My brother’s camera autos everything, but with marginal light, his shutter-speed will slow enough to blur the locomotive.
So I can control shutter-speed, but I have to pay attention to “not-enough-light.”
The locomotive headlight can also throw off the automatic light-metering. My brother and I both have that problem.
When I took this photo, technica like that wasn’t being factored in yet.
So essentially this photo is a shaddup-and-shoot.
Conditions were horrible, but I got a picture, and Photoshop© saved it.
And it looks like a Union Pacific unit is in the lash-up. Or maybe it’s ex Union Pacific. Norfolk Southern is rebuilding old Union Pacific road-units at its Juniata shops (not “Juanita”).

• “Juanita” is my all-knowing mother’s pronunciation of “Juniata.” I have a train video that makes the same mistake.
• My beloved wife, who accompanied me on every train-chase, and there were many, died two years later (2012).