Lincoln, NE area shots

[papio]

Good to see you quit "slacking" Jurgy

 

[njurgensen]

Good to see you quit "slacking" Jurgy

I needed a reason to break from my hibernation. I may love weather, but I don't like snow or cold.

I get bored easy and with a full tank of gas, decided to explore. The good spot to watch traffic in Lincoln along the Creston Sub has been converted to a car lot nowadays and combined with the fact I now live in the clear south of Lincoln, I decided to check out the St. Joe Sub. I first made a stop in Hickman. I had seen a nice little track-side parking lot for the town park there and decided to check it out.





It turns out it's a really nice spot! Only problems are no signalling in sight and traffic isn't exactly parade-worthy. Still, a nice place to find myself once the weather warms up more.

Next, I looked around Roca since it was on my way back. Again, I found another little park that I decided to sit in. This time, there was a signal about a quarter-mile to my south that turned out to be beneficial to watching traffic. Sat there no more than a few minutes and the dark signal soon glowed "clear" for the southbound (railroad east). The lashup on the coal train hurt my eyes though. Too many ugly EMDs. DPU was an ugly EMD too.





Was nice to find a couple new spots to check out. May have to venture farther south one of these days to Firth, where the double track is split to allow for easier grade climbing.

 

[Trainfanne54]

Nice shots Nathan.

 

[brad_in_omaha]

FYI, another local railfan caught a bunch of Metro North commuter cars outside the Kawaski plant, might keep an eye out for them heading to Omaha.

 

[njurgensen]

FYI, another local railfan caught a bunch of Metro North commuter cars outside the Kawaski plant, might keep an eye out for them heading to Omaha.

I will have to keep my eye on them then. I'm going back to work at the golf course across the road from Kawasaki at about the time they head out for Valley and points onward.

Coming home from work. Got caught at a crossing on the St. Joe sub. Nothing too spectacular. Another Citi-Rail though. Seems like you see these everywhere as of late. Day before I saw a railroad bull parked by the crossing with lights flashing. Looked like a few people wandered too far off the adjacent trail (ex-UP).





Finally purchased my first DSLR. If I wasn't so overly picky with my photography and photography skills, I'd probably have some stuff to share. Might head to Ashland Sunday evening to get some practice. We'll see what comes of it.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Congratulations on the new dSLR. Nothing beats time behind the shutter as far as improving your photos.

 

[Trainfanne54]

Good shots Nathan.

 

[NETrain8444]

Hey I'm gonna be in Lincoln this Saturday for the UNL spring game and was wondering if the Amtrak station is open to the public and if I would be able to railfan there.

Thanks,
Colin

 

[njurgensen]

Hey I'm gonna be in Lincoln this Saturday for the UNL spring game and was wondering if the Amtrak station is open to the public and if I would be able to railfan there.

Thanks,
Colin

I've never tried it, but from what I've heard it is closed off. Not too many good places to fan in the city anymore. A few streets adjacent to tracks (St. Joe Sub) around 3rd/4th and D streets area but traffic isn't exactly non-stop. 1st street crossing on east end of Hobson Yard is pretty busy with 2 track St. Joe Sub and 4 track Ravenna/Creston Sub separating. If you find somewhere legal there, it'll probably be your best bet.

 

[njurgensen]

Okay....my big reveal (sort of). My first photo with my new DSLR I deemed worthy of sharing. I'll take any advice/critiques I can get as I'm new to this genre of photography with a DSLR.

Sat at the Ashland wye for a little over an hour and caught 5 trains including a coal drag led by CN 5449 and IC 1036. The photos of that train did not turn out well in my opinion but I may try to salvage them at a later time.


Untitled by Nathan Jurgensen

Was an hour-ish well spent!

 

[papio]

That's a decent shot Jurgy, thanks for sharing it.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Good shot. What camera/lens combo were you using?

 

[njurgensen]

That's a decent shot Jurgy, thanks for sharing it.

Good shot. What camera/lens combo were you using?

Thanks! Taken with my recently acquired Canon 7D and the EF-S17-55mm lens I'm borrowing for the time being.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Thanks! Taken with my recently acquired Canon 7D and the EF-S17-55mm lens I'm borrowing for the time being.

I have a 7D. Since it has a crop frame sensor, I recommend a wide angle "L" series zoom in the 16-55 mm range for train photos when you decide to upgrade from the EF-S lens.

 

[njurgensen]

I have a 7D. Since it has a crop frame sensor, I recommend a wide angle "L" series zoom in the 16-55 mm range for train photos when you decide to upgrade from the EF-S lens.

I'll be sure to look in that direction when I'm buying new glass. Need to look into wide angle for my weather photos anyways.

Thanks for the feedback and advice!

 

[njurgensen]

Sat at the Ashland wye for a little over an hour and caught 5 trains including a coal drag led by CN 5449 and IC 1036. The photos of that train did not turn out well in my opinion but I may try to salvage them at a later time.

Decided to give the aforementioned photo a shot at salvage while editing some weather photos from Friday. Most the issues were operator issues.

CN 5449 and IC 1036 by Nathan Jurgensen, on Flickr

And here's one of the weather photos I was editing.

Untitled by Nathan Jurgensen, on Flickr

Thanks for looking!

 

[Bill Anderson]

Good catch on the lightning strike. We don't get enough thunderstorms in the Puget Sound region for me to practice taking photos of lightning.

 

[CGW101c]

Great job on both photos. I can feel the cold air from the down draft and the smell of the rain. I like that one a lot. Tom

 

[njurgensen]

Great job on both photos. I can feel the cold air from the down draft and the smell of the rain. I like that one a lot. Tom

Thanks Tom! Looking to head out west on Friday (5/15/15). Storms look to be nasty again.

Naturally, I get a new smartphone (Galaxy S6) and the first shot I take is of a BNSF train entering Hobson. In order to frame it decently, I zoomed a bit. Digital zoom on a smartphone camera is something I will try to avoid from now on. Wouldn't mind returning for some sunset train shots with my 7D later this summer.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Wouldn't mind returning for some sunset train shots with my 7D later this summer.

Please do and post them here.