|
|
So.......It Was You!
By: Gary Knapp
October 28, 2008
 | | Gary Knapp |
It's 2 A.M. March 17, 2004. We are in Port Henry, NY on CP Rails' Delaware & Hudson "North End", relaxin'.....waiting for a train. Very quiet, as the fair size town sleeps away the night, stretching away up into the overlooking hills from the lakeside railroad. After much tweaking and test firings, the lighting system "appears" to be working to perfection, and SD40-2's are nearby north of me with 250's freight southbound. As if on cue, it starts to snow, so I break out the large black umbrella to protect the Canon 10D. There will be short notice on the train's arrival in town, so I do the sure thing, and wait up on my perch atop the stepladder under the black umbrella with tripod mounted 10D, ready to shoot, the scene all framed up in the viewfinder.
I'm listening intently, sometimes you can hear 'em blowing for a crossing outside of town, but all I can hear are the big snowflakes falling on the umbrella over my head... when out of the silence, the emergency siren goes off! I grab the top rung of the stepladder, swaying, what the heck is that? The loud sound resembles a moaning air raid siren, and the fire station is (of course) only a couple blocks away. I look around, no flames reflecting in the sky, can't smell any smoke, maybe it's something in a neighboring town. The siren continues, on and on, for several minutes, while up on Rte. 9N members of the emergency crew speed by, red lights flashing. It was purely luck... the siren was fading, prior to another alarm, and I "thought" I heard an air horn, blowing for the crossing on the north side of town.
Now I'm focused on the scene in front of me, and lo and behold, I was correct! The trees above the curve to the north start to brighten, and engineer Marty Shapiro brings CP train 250 around the hillside north of the station and past my perch on the stepladder.... click! Yes! Success! The lcd monitor on the camera shows what I had visualized, no small feat in night photography. I carefully climb down off the stepladder with hands full, all the while the siren has been blaring away. BUT, I got the shot, and I'm all smiles. A couple of minutes later the siren stops, and quiet returns.
It was after I had gathered the lighting equipment together forty five minutes or so later, prior to loading it up... that the car came by. The driver pulls up alongside me and rolls down the window, "How's it goin'?" he asks, "Great!" I reply, and relate to him my capturing the night photo earlier. He looks at the nearby lighting equipment, looks at me, looks back at the equipment........."what's all this?" "These are remote control flash units", and I quickly explain the system to him. He gives the lighting system a long look, starts to smile, then begins to chuckle. I take this to be a good sign and decide to continue the conversation, "what are you doing up at this time of night?" Wearing a big smile, he responds........"SO........IT WAS YOU!........ I'm up at this time of night because I'm a member of the e-crew here. Our chief lives up the hill overlooking this spot, and his wife had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. As she was passing through the living room, she thought she saw a flash of light from down here. Then she saw another flash of light, and jumped to the conclusion that an ice fisherman had gone through the ice in his car out on Lake Champlain, and was trying to signal for help with his headlights.........so she pushed 'the button'"! "NO!" "Oh Yes!" I start to stammer out an apology, but end up laughing with the man. "No problem, no problem, it was a good test for our response time", he says. "This probably won't happen again", and still laughing, off he drives after wishing me good luck with my night photography. Every night is an adventure photographing trains!
Copyright © Gary Knapp. All Rights Reserved.
This article has been viewed 14133 times.
User Comments on this Article:
Posted by Ray Peacock heartlandrails.com on October 28, 2008:
Interesting story to go with a fantastic photo Gary.
Posted by James Cataquet on October 29, 2008:
Great story.
Posted by Ken Kuehne (Kansas Railfan) on October 29, 2008:
Thanks for relating that amusing story.
Posted by George W. Hamlin on October 30, 2008:
A great photo, complemented by a great story that conveys the feeling of what it was like to have been there in fine fashion.
Posted by Chris Tokarcik on October 31, 2008:
Now you can say that you caused a state of panic. Great story and very nice photograph.
Posted by Bob Lyndall on October 31, 2008:
Your story so reminds me of an event back in the 1990's when I was shooting many of the Great Lakes Lighthouses at sunrise, sunset & in the middle of the night. After several test-firings of my multiple Lumedyne units at the Port Sanilac, Michigan Lighthouse I begin hearing the sound of several emergency vehicles in the area. Next thing I know, the entire Volunteer Fire Department has descended upon the lighthouse. We too all got a good laugh from the event. Picture, without fire trucks, can be viewed here: http://classiclights.org/lh-images-web/portsanilac-640.jpg
Posted by Terry Chicwak on November 3, 2008:
Great photo. It says "Merry Christmas" at a glance.
And the story that goes with it is very cool.
The situations that can happen behind the scenes are almost as entertaining as the shots themselves.
Posted by Andrew Milwee on November 6, 2008:
Great story and amazing photo, Gary.
Posted by Anthony Johnson on November 8, 2008:
Great story Garry. Beautiful photograph to go with it too.
Cheers,
Anthony.
Posted by Cargosprinter on November 9, 2008:
Cool story and nicepicture. Great to see that you guys already have snow overthere.
Posted by Ed Woods on November 9, 2008:
Gary - Outstanding photo. I don't know how often I've heard you referred to as "The Next O. Winston Link" so I won't go there, but if that had been a BLack Locomotive.................. In addition to my interest in Railroading, I am also the Chief of a very busy Volunteer Fire Department, so I understand Completely. Stuff Happens. I'm on the N.E. Corridor and we sometimes get calls that are related to Ice on the Catenary and the Arcing when a Locomotive goes thru.
Posted by Jim Dorst on November 17, 2008:
Gary - great to hear a neat story behind one of your pictures. I often wonder what kind of reactions you get setting up all that equipment after midnight.
Posted by UPWilly on February 12, 2009:
Yes, that is a great picture. I'm still laughing at the story.
Keep on trackin'
Posted by on March 4, 2009:
Great Story and Great Photo Gary. I really enjoy night photography.
Posted by David Wheeler on March 24, 2009:
Gary first off I'd like to congratulate you on making Train's magazine's top 100 photo's of all time. second on this story it is very amusing and a great read and I thank you for sharing it with all of us
- Add Your Comments -
|
'Photo Articles,' the stories and insights of particular railroad photographs, are provided by RailPictures.Net photographers and contributors.
|
|
|
|
