For the most part, my railroad photography is based around scenic action shots and there isn't a damn thing wrong with that. Who doesn't enjoy a nice clean set of power, coming around a nice big sweeping curve, passing a barn, with screaming fall foliage and blue skies to match. I think that's the shot most of us want when we head out in the morning. But as sweet as those shots can be (and they do rock) that doesn't tell the whole story of railroading. While locomotives, rolling stock and tracks is what bring us out, without people to run and maintain them we would have nothing to shoot. So to mix it up and tell the 'whole' story of railroading I try and grab 'Human Interest' shots whenever they pop up.
Here is one of my first attempts at such a shot, taken in July 2004. On our way to northern New Jersey to visit family and do some railfanning, my father and I stopped in Danbury, Connecticut on a hot summer afternoon with hopes of shooting Metro-North's fading fleet of FL9s. Unfortunately upon our arrival we found a MNRR 'P-boat' on the point (It was the first in many failed attempts to get the FL9s on their home turf for me. In the end I still haven't, but that's a story or rant for another day). Making the best of it, we walked on to the platform to shoot the train as it left and just prior to the departure talked with the engineer/conductor in the control cab. As he yelled to a late commuter to "get going," I put the camera to my eye and pressed the shutter. It was the first of many 'Human Interest' shots.
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