Delaware & Hudson PA 17, stopped by fallen ice, probably near the Willsboro tunnel along Lake Champlain. Today, it's in sunny Mexico, no ice there.

http://www.railroadexplorer.com/media/i ... _sized.jpg

This doesn't look real to me. The perspective, colors, and shading seem distorted. I'm guessing someone is paying with Photoshop, or a similar program.

Scott

Oh, it's real all right. Strobel worked for D&H (and Alco) and was probably riding that PA. The crew is using what they had for tools-- an axe from one of the emergency tool boxes in a coach. In the spring thaws we get in these here parts, ice comes down in cuts on nice sunlit spring days like this one. And the line near Lake Champlain runs north and south--this looks like a southbound train.

Mr. Yarger should weigh in on this.

I agree with scott,
That is a Photoshop special.
I do Photo paint with picture quite abit at times. With Corel 5, its a very good program .

Now if you look at the picture real close you can see on left side of the locomotive, it looks like a push botton box on a stand. Also what is the yellow spot on the front of the locomotive. Now if you look real closes on the top of the locomotive you will see a hand rail and the trees in the back ground . if you look you can see, the bottom of the trees do not mach up correctly with the tops. So this picture was made up.

Len.

.... I wouldn't be surprised if Howard was at one point. >;-)

Two things leaning in favor of this being a real photo:

*The website is for Railroad Explorer, a "salon" magazine of rail photography. In my limited dealings with Mike Confalone, the editor, I've found him to be a staunch defender of film and an opponent of Photoshopping trickery.

*The scenario pictured is not preposterous at all. I'm not sure where or when, but I do believe I've seen at least one other photo of this very incident, from a different angle and minus the chopping employees, and a photo of a similar ice fall blocking a different train at a similar location along the Lake Champlain line during the same Alco era. (Remember, fans were out chasing these PA-powered D&H trains every chance they could get in the mid-1970s, as it was one of only three or so intercity trains that still looked like a pre-Amtrak train, and the other two were much farther away for Northeastern railfans: the Rio Grande Zephyr and the Southern Crescent.)

Let's also note that the photo is posted online. I'm certain that if this photo were properly reproduced in the glossy pages of a magazine, we'd be looking at a much sharper and "truer" image than what was posted, with fewer of the features that give this image the appearance of a "tweaked" photo--for example, that very slight hazy cast.

Now, had this been a Southern E8 on the point, or a FEC loco, then someone might have a little explaining to do.

I agree with Howard. I don't see any irregularities in the photo and I am looking at it blown way the heck up in Photoshop right now. Given the source, I'd be shocked if it was fake. That's not say it might not be enhanced. That yellow dot is odd. Looks like it could be a flanger sign or something of that sort which has been poorly retouched. Or someone shot a dot of Photoshop yellow. ;-)

Anyway, why I do I say it is real? You'd have to be a master of photo manipulation to perfect the flying ice chips that go up in front of the unit. No average Pshop jockey could do that, given that you'd have to have perfectly removed the background around each chip (and there are tiny, tiny ones) before layering in the egine.

So, I conclude real photo with some enhancement.

Rob

If you're suggesting that the photo was "created" in Photoshop, you're dead wrong. I'm holding the original transparency in my hand (original Kodachrome from April '75). It's a killer shot indeed.

As Alexander Mitchell pointed out, I frown on any sort of Photoshop manipulation. I'm a purest, plain and simple. This image occupies a full page in the upcoming Railroad Explorer winter edition (due out end of Jan). We ran a similar photo in our premiere issue in 2000 of a Green Mountain Railroad crew tackling ice and chipping it with hand tools. It's a common occurence in the spring around here.

Regarding the web image, that is a JPEG converted from an EPS image drafted directly from the QuarkXpress document. It was run through Photoshop to resize for web use and it was sharpened slightly. That's it...no other manipulation of any kind. It has a certain "look" to it..but it's for web use only. If you get a chance to see the printed version, it's absolutely stunning.

My assumption is that you were suggesting that the two guys and the ice block were "added"...I guess the ax and flying ice chips were icing on the cake too? Nice try.

Mike Confalone
Editor and Publisher
Railroad Explroer Magazine

By the way, my original reply was intented for Mr. "Schuykill Valley".

MC

As a Post Script:

Mr. Steve Barry, Managing editor of Railfan & Railroad, Newton, NJ, posting as "railfanmag" wished to add this photo of the same scene from a different view point: