What I have posted here was found back in 1999 buried among the ruins of my
teenage darkroom at Mother's house. I did what I could to make them viewable when
scanning, but some of the negatives were just too far gone to revive even
digitally. Oh for the chance to go back to 1975 and beat some sense into
myself......
I used to ride my bicycle around town to some of the interesting railfan spots
and occasionally I would take my camera along with me. More often than not I
would leave it at home as riding with the Petri slung around my neck wasn't
very comfortable and I was always worried the strap would break and send my
prized SLR tumbling on the street at 25mph. Those fears were justified as
that's exactly how that old warrior met its demise in 1977! I wish I had had
the money to replace it back then, I'd have a lot more of the early days of
Conrail on film today and probably better quality shots than most of those
shown here.
I dedicate this site to my father, Henry Sr, my railfan partner from the
time I was born until he dropped his fire in July of '97.
For what it's worth, enjoy :)
- Henry
Thumbnail Page for Directory teenager
|
|
The sun popped out briefly for this grab shot of an ex-PRR N8 cabin passing under the I-190 in the summer of 1976. Note the fresh paint job
This cabin was trailing the train seen in this photo on the ex-NYC main Compromise Track. Shot as a teenager with a cheap Petri SLR, Kodak Tri-X 400 speed B&W and processed in my attic bathroom image/jpeg, 800x533 (256c) File="crhack.jpg" Size=66242 |
|
|
EMD bicentennial SW1001 at Frontier Yard in 1976
image/jpeg, 800x533 (256c) File="gm1976.jpg" Size=73924 |
|
|
A westbound CR freight at what used to be Tower 50 on the ex nyc/PC Buffalo Main shot from the signal bridge
image/jpeg, 800x509 (256c) File="pc6548-3.jpg" Size=104136 |
|
|
The other end of CR/PC GP9 7307 out on a Buffalo area local in the summer of 1976
Mercifully, this negative escaped damage image/jpeg, 800x529 (256c) File="pc7307-2.jpg" Size=73315 |
|
|
On May 5th, 1977 the ex-NYC Buffalo belt line was still a pretty interesting place to watch trains
While the ubiquitous PC black still dominated, TH&B geeps, EL and LV power had begin to infiltrate this double track connection from Frontier Yard and the Main Line to the Niagara Branch and Canada Here CR/PC GP9 7429, GP38 2377 and an ex-Pennsy GP9B bring a train timetable east from Niagara Yard As a foolhardy 15 year old I jumped on this train after the power passed by and shot a number of photos on the way to Frontier Yard. For the rest of the pics Check here image/jpeg, 800x617 (24bit) File="pcride0.jpg" Size=68529 |
|
|
CR/PC/P&E SW9 8910 on the Niagara Branch in Buffalo, NY in 1976
Note the removed EMD builder's plate below the cab image/jpeg, 800x1118 (256c) File="pe8910.jpg" Size=154325 |
|
|
Amtrak's Niagara Rainbow passing Lafayette Ave eastbound on the ex-NYC Niagara Branch in the summer of 1976
image/jpeg, 800x533 (256c) File="rainbow2.jpg" Size=59667 |