For the last train of the day, I chose this viewpoint from on top of a bridge in Noyelles-sur-Mer. The plains in the back lead to the famous natural reserve Baie de Somme. SNCF 67455, Noyelles-Sur-Mer 13.6.2015 The Amiens – Boulogne line looks promising. I’ve seen some interesting spots that I’ll definitely try when I have some time to go out there again. I’m thinking … Continue reading Thinking of next time
The cloudy day had now definitely turned into a nice sunny day. I found this spot north of Noyelles-sur-Mer. This town is the starting point of the Baie de Somme railway. I could hear their train running closeby… but definitely wanted to wait for the train to Paris. While waiting, I also met a friendly couple. The husband used to watch trains at this exact … Continue reading Opportunities
In June 2015, I visited the line between Amiens and Boulogne-sur-Mer for the first time. Carrying timetables of the locomotive-hauled intercity services, all I would have to do was finding decent spots. Exploring the line for the very first time, means looking a lot… and also missing some interesting trains, unfortunately. On the moment I found a good spot, the train had passed 5 minutes … Continue reading Underestimated
Year after year, in September and October, trees’ leaves turn all shades of yellow, red and brown. This phenomenon, which we call Autumn, forms a great subject of photographs that include some minimum amount of landscape. In the northeast of the United States of America autumn can look really spectacular. I’ve been inspired by photos seen on the excellent railpictures.net website. Check out a few examples here: A … Continue reading Idea: Indian Summer
After almost 29 years, the Belgian EuroCity trains will ride a last time on April 4th 2016. On May 31st 1987, the EuroCity network was established as a successor for the TEE network. The EC-trains also contained 2nd class coaches – compared to their first class only predecessors. In order to be labeled EuroCity, the trains need to respond to a certain number of quality … Continue reading Very soon: end of the EuroCity trains
Located in the industrial Ruhr area, a lot of rail-related activity goes on in the Duisburg region. The railway network looks like a giant spread-out spaghetti dish – all over the place and seemingly disorganized. Totally unexperienced in this area, I decided to finally start exploring. It was a rainy Saturday. Thus my main expectations were moody shots in abandoned as well as non-abandoned industrial … Continue reading One day around Duisburg
Nighttime is usually not the moment to shoot moving objects. Darkness makes the use of long exposure a necessity. Unless you use flashes. Today I found an interesting article about the technique of flash shooting moving trains. It gives a lot of useful information: kimandrenaud.com. I have also been experimenting with this technique, inspired by Gary Knapp‘s photos. In january 2015, the port of Antwerp was the … Continue reading Night shooting
Last week I spent a week out of the country. Main destination were the ever magnificent Swiss Alps, hoping to find some snow. Following the sun led us to a lot of different places: the Gotthard line, first time in winter the Rhätische Bahn, meter gauge trains in magnificent landscapes the region between Strasbourg and Saverne, chasing the last months of the Eurocity’s to and … Continue reading 1 week holiday
In 2015, the new bicycle parking at Antwerp’s Berchem station opened to the public. Apart from providing a short run to the tracks during the morning commute (less sweat – woohoow), it also allows a new viewpoint on the tracks coming from Antwerp’s Central station. You can see the trains creep out of the tunnel from the lower levels of the Central station. I had a … Continue reading How hard can it be?
How much luck do you need to see the only weekly freight train, if you don’t even know when it is scheduled? A lot… and the resulting photo is usually a panic shot, while out of breath trying to frame decently ánd get the settings right. No different on April 11th of this year when after shooting an intercités from Paris to Belfort, one member … Continue reading Steel train, with a bit of luck
Railscapes 