Here I am once again greeted by the daily rock train as it roars under the Roberts Rd overpass short of Burke Centre VRE station (the tail end of the train in the distance has just cleared the east end of CP Crestwood @ MP 22.2), headed for Alexandria. I was most pleased that the engineer waved this time instead of blasting me backwards with the horn... Don't get me wrong though, I love the sound, just not in the sense of confirming that it does indeed register at 110dB at 100 feet.
And see? I squeezed the WHOLE train into this shot!
NS 9934 C40-9W NS 9880 C40-9W N/B NS Rock Train NS Piedmont Division, Washington District, Burke Centre @ MP 21.7, Main 2
And yet for this area, this is one of the longest I've seen, outmatched only by a coal train last winter - which stalled trying to get up the hill to this location. See this image and the associated thumbnails for details. Other than that, most traffic around here averages about 8 cars, as much of our traffic is commuter rail.
The lighting here turned out really well, especially with the sort of haze there in the middle-background. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I really like it.
Also, engines should be outfitted with an additional, softer horn, for use in built-up areas, greeting trainspotters, and the like.
That's your typical Northern Virginia summer haze in the background - a nice mixture of heat, humidity, and pollution, I'm sad to say. It's not so bad at night, but from sunrise on into the day, it makes photography rather difficult for longer distances. Supposedly a UV filter helps with this, but I like the layers it adds to things like trees and buildings on city blocks. Sucks for getting decent clouds though, as you can see (and that sky was heavily Photoshopped as it used to be white).
There's actually a way to sound the horn in shorter bursts, I think with less of a turn on the lever, which makes it not as loud. I think this guy was probably more warning me to stay off the tracks as well as acknowledging my being there, but either way, it made me jump.
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