Christmas Eve

Cool concept and nice execution!

Thanks Jon! I've never been very adventurous with night photography, but it was such a bright, moonlit night I thought I'd try out the digital camera I always carry with me.

We normally swap driving duties at Reid River, but my co-driver was happy to carry on a little further while I experimented with some long exposures. I went down to the trailing end of 2821, through the doors to the other side and just held the base of the camera firmly against the hood side.

The image is a bit grainy, and there was some vibration from the loco's 7FDL12 engine, but it was about as good as I could get. The train was rolling through the yard at about 25 kilometres per hour.

The angled structure at the top is the dynamic brake resistor grid, and the small green light at the back of the cab shows the air-conditioner compressor is working.

The blurred red sign off to the left is the block limit board at the eastern end of the crossing loop which operates under Direct Traffic Control with commands relayed by radio from the control centre in Townsville.

What a view!

Lucky you. That's a shot most of us can't get. Very cool.