White Powder, Black Dimonds

By Justin Franz

One from the cutting room floor

Newburg, West Virginia. March 2007. Photo by Justin Franz

In March 2007, Mike Confalone, Joe Posik, Tim Franz and myself made a three day trip to 'Wild and Wonderful' West Virginia to photograph the former Baltimore and Ohio 'West End', today CSXs Mountain Sub. What ensued were three intense days of winter railfanning as we criss-crossed northern West Virginia and western Maryland in search of Color Positon Lights, Interlocking Towers, coal train and of course the wild railroading of West 'By God' Virginia.

Now the whole story of that trip is told in the pages of Railroad Explorer Magazine in 10-page special 'White Powder, Black Diamonds - Four New England Railfans Head South.' The Winter 2009 issue tells the entire story authored by myself and illustrated by all four of us.

The Winter 2009 issue of Railroad Explorer is on sale now for $9.95.

For more information visit www.railroadexplorer.com

Election Day

Photos by Justin Franz

Here are a few shots in and around Missoula, Montana taken today, November 3, 2008. Election Day in America.

More to come later!

MRL 20th Anniversary Excursion

In October 2007, Montana Rail Link celebrated their 20th Anniversary by operating a series of excursions across the system. Here are two images from that day, scanned from Color Kodachrome 64 Slides (and changed to black and white in photo shop, due to some odd coloration from the poor scan)

Enjoy

Train Master David Franz, Northern Pacific Depot, Missoula, Montana

Montana Rail Link 10th Sub, Arlee, Montana

Photos By Justin Franz

Special Thanks to David Franz and Montana Rail Link

Plugging It

For anyone who enjoys great railroad photography the Fall 2008 issue of Railroad Explorer is a must buy. Besides featuring what looks to be an excellent in-depth look at CP Rail's (Now Montreal, Maine and Atlantic) Sherbrooke Sub, there is an excellent photo essay by Tim Franz on his time on the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad in the 1980s. With an introduction by his son, myself, the essay has six awesome images of this shortline. As one who helped in selecting the images I can tell you it's an excellent spread, much of it never before published.

The Fall 2008 issue of Railroad Explorer is on sale now and sells for only $9.95.

Check out http://www.railroadexplorer.com for more information

Lock 11

Photos By Justin Franz

During a lull in action of CSX's Mohawk Sub, I wondered over to Lock 11 along the Mohawk River to document this relic of the past still in use today. Here are the results.

For more information on the locks of the Mohawk River or how one works, check out this site....
http://www.eriecanal.org/locks.html

Your Crumbling Past - Cony High School

School Bus Parking - Not Any More

Photos By Justin Franz

When you leave a place, even if it for only a year, things change. For me that change was the removal of Cony High School in Augusta, Maine, where I attended for four years. For the first three years we were in a 1960s era building that had been added on to the original school dating back to the early 1900s. In my Senior year we moved to a new building, leaving the run down and tired 60s era school behind. The original school has been preserved, yet the addition was taken down early in the Summer of 2008.
By the time I returned to Augusta in May I was quite surprised to see how much was gone and decided to record what was left before it was too late. So late one night recently I headed down to shoot what was left. Here are the results. Within days this section of the building would be gone.

While setting up on the sidewalk an Augusta cop pulled up. Within a few moments he was helping with lighting from his car. Talk about luck!

Preserved: The Old Flat Iron building will survive as a monument to Augusta's past.

Life In The West

Photos By Justin Franz

Missoula, Montana is more then a place. It's a way of life, where people are much more relaxed and actually slow down to enjoy life. That's something I've noticed since leaving Missoula, where I attend school at the University of Montana, just a few weeks ago. Even here in Maine, "The way life should be," people seem rushed and hurried. It's not like that in Missoula; In the west.

I was able to meet Missoula and the people and places that make it up through the lens of my camera for my Basic Photojournalism class and the images that follow are from that effort. It's hard to capture a way of life on film, but maybe with these few images you too will get an idea of what "Life In The West" is like.

PBR: Missoula's Favorite - University of Montana Lacrosse Game - April 2008Montana Rail Link "Dirt Train" - Bonner, Montana - May 2008University of Montana Steam Plant Operator Jack Burns - January 2008

University of Montana Lacrosse Game - April 2008University of Montana student - Clark Fork River - Spring 2008"Philadelphia Phil" - Northern Pacific Depot - Spring 2008Robert Basher - Quality Seamless Gutters - Spring 2008House builder - Depot St - Spring 2008



Montana Rail Link Chief of Safety and Security Pete Lawrenson

Thanks to everyone who didn't have a problem with a college student and a camera (and big time thanks to Lynda Frost of MRL)