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Rails and the City
- Thread starter Michael Nagel
- Start date
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Michael,
It's a treat to have this B&W view of the railway yard. What's powerful is the array of tracks converging towards the distant skyline. The foreground is in a way quite odd! Unlike the seeming order of transport aligned mechanically to the linear tracks, the near ground is undisciplined and rather chaotic. So this is a complex image that can give rise to different reactions for the photographer!
It would, of course, be simple to crop away the lower potion at the horizontal line just over 1/3 of the way up, crossing the tracks. That would yield a panoramic view that's immediately satisfying. The cost, however would be the loss of the argumentative disorder that unsettles the image.
For the reckless, one might even add to that disorder by drawing on it!
Asher
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Asher,
Thanks. Somehow I did not pre-think the scenery up to that point when composing, I felt that it was what I intended.
What I had in mind, however, was the post-processing, as I 'saw' in b/w and imagined a 'feeling' to it like 50-60 years ago.
On a macroscopic scale, rail yards and large buildings are like crystals within a city that can create the impression of an amorphous entity when seen from various points of view.
Michael
Thanks. Somehow I did not pre-think the scenery up to that point when composing, I felt that it was what I intended.
What I had in mind, however, was the post-processing, as I 'saw' in b/w and imagined a 'feeling' to it like 50-60 years ago.
On a macroscopic scale, rail yards and large buildings are like crystals within a city that can create the impression of an amorphous entity when seen from various points of view.
Michael
Doug Kerr
Well-known member
Hi, Asher,
To me, the trackwork in the foreground is every bit as disciplined as in the mid-ground, just as an ellipse is as orderly as a straight line, or the second act opening of La bohème as orderly in its own way as a flute solo (at least if we have a competent stage director).
This trackwork (the ladder) is an inherent part of a marshaling yard, since we must have access between its plethora of parallel tracks, used to store or assemble strings of cars, and the few tracks of the lead, the connection to the main line. Without this portion, the rest is just scrap iron.
Now the little truck and the puddle are something else again!
It's fascinating that this shot appears just as I take a break from some work on describing the theory of locomotive valve gear.
Perhaps someone will find a shot of a hump. At one time, humping was as important to railway marshaling operations as it is to life in D.C.
Best regards,
Doug
A treat indeed.
That's an interesting, and understandable, reaction.
To me, the trackwork in the foreground is every bit as disciplined as in the mid-ground, just as an ellipse is as orderly as a straight line, or the second act opening of La bohème as orderly in its own way as a flute solo (at least if we have a competent stage director).
This trackwork (the ladder) is an inherent part of a marshaling yard, since we must have access between its plethora of parallel tracks, used to store or assemble strings of cars, and the few tracks of the lead, the connection to the main line. Without this portion, the rest is just scrap iron.
Now the little truck and the puddle are something else again!
It's fascinating that this shot appears just as I take a break from some work on describing the theory of locomotive valve gear.
Perhaps someone will find a shot of a hump. At one time, humping was as important to railway marshaling operations as it is to life in D.C.
Best regards,
Doug
Doug Kerr
Well-known member
The concept is nicely shown in this aerial shot of the Kijfhoek marshaling yard in Netherlands:
"Mawjik": Kijfhoek rangeerterrein
from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
This is a hump-type yard. The intake fans (with perhaps two humps - small rises in the track, Ablaufberg in German) are to the upper right.
An incoming car (or set of cars) is pushed just over the top of the hump with a shunting engine. They then coast through the fan to the proper track, their speed being controlled by enroute retarders, which squeeze the wheel rims providing just enough friction that the remaining energy will carry the car(s) just to the desired destination (perhaps, in the US, to gracefully automatically couple to its assigned fellow-travelers).
The big sections into which the parallel tracks are arranged are sometimes called "balloons".
Best regards,
Doug
"Mawjik": Kijfhoek rangeerterrein
from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
This is a hump-type yard. The intake fans (with perhaps two humps - small rises in the track, Ablaufberg in German) are to the upper right.
An incoming car (or set of cars) is pushed just over the top of the hump with a shunting engine. They then coast through the fan to the proper track, their speed being controlled by enroute retarders, which squeeze the wheel rims providing just enough friction that the remaining energy will carry the car(s) just to the desired destination (perhaps, in the US, to gracefully automatically couple to its assigned fellow-travelers).
The big sections into which the parallel tracks are arranged are sometimes called "balloons".
Best regards,
Doug
Bart_van_der_Wolf
pro member
I'll have to look in my archives. When I was visiting the Union Pacific diesel maintenance shop in Nebraska during the early 90's, we got a nice overview of the humps there, used to let gravity propel the engines into their allotted tracks.
It's impressive to see those engines leave their range after a periodic overhaul, with the last carriage/locomotive starting to move a minute or so after the front loc started to accelerate.
Cheers,
Bart
fahim mohammed
Well-known member
Michael, I have looked at this image several times. I am attracted to it too! For its realism and stark beauty.
Steel, Iron, the yard, the tracks..not something one would visit for a picnic, but the reality of
modern society hidden from the common view.
The bw treatment is appropriate for the subject, as is the vantage point.
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Asher: I am thinking of a series covering large structures in an urban context, I just have to find the time...
Doug: Thanks and thanks for the explanation. There is a bigger marshaling yard further west to where this was taken in Munich. Maybe I should get there as well.
Fahim: Thanks. I try to see things other people walk past. Obviously some of these things can be very large...
Michael
Doug: Thanks and thanks for the explanation. There is a bigger marshaling yard further west to where this was taken in Munich. Maybe I should get there as well.
Fahim: Thanks. I try to see things other people walk past. Obviously some of these things can be very large...
Michael
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Digging out this old thread...
The idea of seeing rail yards and large buildings as crystals within an amorphous city is coming back from time to time.
The angle of view is not as large as I wished (wrong camera) and these are rails among industrial buildings, but the basic idea was there.
Best regards,
Michael
The idea of seeing rail yards and large buildings as crystals within an amorphous city is coming back from time to time.
The angle of view is not as large as I wished (wrong camera) and these are rails among industrial buildings, but the basic idea was there.
Best regards,
Michael
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Yes, Michael, this is a good addition to your series. I find the curve of the railway line on the right bold and an excellent asymmetrically placed spine for the image composition.
Looking forward to more!
Asher
Looking forward to more!
Asher
Doug Kerr
Well-known member
Paul Abbott
New member
A good insightful scene...it is a shame about the truck in the foreground though. You have a nice human element within the shot too.
I think that if you were to crop it to a panoramic effect then the photo would be much better enhanced and concentrated...that figure within the scene would be much more apparent too.
I think that if you were to crop it to a panoramic effect then the photo would be much better enhanced and concentrated...that figure within the scene would be much more apparent too.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Michael,
Getting all of a gigantic spreading rail yard like this is an achievement. You've done the task justice!
If you wanted to remove the truck in the foreground, would your sense of truthfulness help you or inhibit you in actually removing it? Would you be troubled cloning in the missing ground and rail segments? Some photographers would feel changing "what was there, then" is dishonest. I believe that showing what the yard is without intruders is a far better value.
To actually make the truck disappear is far harder than it first appears as it partially covers a cylindrical structure, likely a fuel storage tank for the building to its left. It's possible that you have in your archives another photograph with that storage tank clearly available for cloning, but that I assume is not the case. So, rather than creating some imaginary, (and likely false), object one is not certain of, the foliage in the right foreground could be extended to hide the intrusive vehicle.
I would not crop the foreground at all as to me it keeps the rail yard open.
Asher
Digging out this old thread...
The idea of seeing rail yards and large buildings as crystals within an amorphous city is coming back from time to time.
The angle of view is not as large as I wished (wrong camera) and these are rails among industrial buildings, but the basic idea was there.
Best regards,
Michael
I think it's a nice counterpoint to the earlier photograph, and the underground stations too!
Not so much a crystal as a river - but it still works.
Sam
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Paul,
Cropping it more to a panoramic view would make it a different, equally interesting view but reduce the relationship of the railyard to its surroundings in the background. A choice...
Thanks!
Best regards,
Michael
Cropping it more to a panoramic view would make it a different, equally interesting view but reduce the relationship of the railyard to its surroundings in the background. A choice...
Thanks!
Best regards,
Michael
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Asher,
The truck in the foreground - I think it belongs there and should not be taken away.
The human element is important here and an altered picture in terms of removing/adding objects is something I would no longer call photograph, collage might me appropriate...
Best regards,
Michael
The truck in the foreground - I think it belongs there and should not be taken away.
The human element is important here and an altered picture in terms of removing/adding objects is something I would no longer call photograph, collage might me appropriate...
Best regards,
Michael
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Doug,
Thank you!
Best regards,
Michael
Thank you!
Best regards,
Michael
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Sam,
Thanks! Yes, river is more appropriate for the second one.
Best regards,
Michael
Thanks! Yes, river is more appropriate for the second one.
Best regards,
Michael
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
More rails, not a railyard this time, but the rails leading to the Munich Central Station.
High-speed train arriving (ICE):
Four hours later and the viewpoint is slightly to the left compared to above (look for the triangle-shaped sign with the number 13 for reference):
In the second picture in the background on the left side (better illuminated) you see a small rail yard for train maintenance. There is a special building for high-speed train maintenance.
Best regards,
Michael
High-speed train arriving (ICE):
Four hours later and the viewpoint is slightly to the left compared to above (look for the triangle-shaped sign with the number 13 for reference):
In the second picture in the background on the left side (better illuminated) you see a small rail yard for train maintenance. There is a special building for high-speed train maintenance.
Best regards,
Michael
Doug Kerr
Well-known member
Hi, Michael,
All lovely.
In the first one, it is nice to see the very nicely built double slip switches (on the right).
Not sure what they are called in German - maybe doppel-Kreuzungsweiche (DKW).
Thanks.
Best regards,
Doug
All lovely.
In the first one, it is nice to see the very nicely built double slip switches (on the right).
Not sure what they are called in German - maybe doppel-Kreuzungsweiche (DKW).
Thanks.
Best regards,
Doug
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Hi Doug,
Thank you!
Exactly. If you look in the second one, there is another one to the left.
Best regards,
Michael
Thank you!
Exactly. If you look in the second one, there is another one to the left.
Best regards,
Michael
Doug Kerr
Well-known member
Michael Nagel
Well-known member
Doug,
Thanks.
Here are two pictures of the small railyard as indicated at the last picture.
A little closer and a little later:
People waiting for the S-Bahn:
Best regards,
Michael
Thanks.
Here are two pictures of the small railyard as indicated at the last picture.
A little closer and a little later:
People waiting for the S-Bahn:
Best regards,
Michael