Trains in Monochrome

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I've been to the NC Transportation Museum about 8 times now, and besides some very fun family snapshots, I usually feel like I come away with some artistic shots too.  Our trip for Day Out With Thomas on Saturday was no exception.  I used Photomatix to process most of these and then did a black and white conversion afterwards.  See what you think of my daily as well as the rest of these images.

From their website:
Southern Railway #542: The locomotive was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1903. This 2-8-0 Consolidation operated in North Carolina on the Southern Railway around Statesville and Winston-Salem. Repairs were performed at Spencer Shops. Similar class 2-8-0 locomotives were extensively used by the Southern for local freight trains throughout the entire system. In North Carolina they were found from Raleigh to Asheville. Southern owned only 90 of this rare J class locomotive, and the 542 is the sole remaining example. In 1954 the Southern donated the locomotive to Tanglewood Park, near Clemmons, NC. A trade was made in 1991 using the ex-Illinois Central 0-8-0 1984 to obtain the 542 for the museum.  It was cosmetically restored for use in the Letterhead movie as #604 during 2008

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From #542 shown above:

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I didn't take a zoomed out image of this 'train'.  I probably have a shot from a prior visit.  I just thought the 'end' of this car had some very neat metal mechanisms that might lend well to black and white.

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The windows in the Robert Julian Roundhouse always capture my attention.  So much light diffused so nicely! This shot is tinted to black and white although the straight out of camera (sooc) version is pretty much black and white on it's own.

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This shot is sooc.

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I tinted this shot...the brick here did add color.

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This shot is from the Back Shop.  According to the information on the website, this building was once the largest industrial building in North Carolina and that at the peak of activity 2-3 locomotives rolled out of this building each week as new (I assume that means overhauled).  I was reading on one of the historical signs that the Back Shop was strategically located between DC and Atlanta based on how far steam locomotives could travel before needing services which was about every 150 miles.  

They've been working on restoring the Back Shop build itself for years now, and this was the first time I visited that they let us go into a roped off area on one end to actually stand inside the building.  Whoa!  What an experience with the size, light, and just all those lines going around in there!  I hope one day, and I think it's still years away, we'll go and it will be complete with exhibits.

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In the back part of the Robert Julian Roundhouse, you'll find this fascinating end grain block wood floor.

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Yesterday, the kids and I spent the morning putting up more Halloween decorations outside.  We're mostly decorated now, but there are a few more things that we could put out, and the kids are likely to be asking:-)  The mosquitoes were all over us with the high humidity and clouds.  Hoping we dry out a bit here this week.

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