Trip Report

Colonial Beach in Winter /  by Todd Henson

A little snow remained at the Colonial Beach Municipal Pier

In mid-January my father and I went for a drive and found ourselves at Colonial Beach in the Northern Neck of Virginia. This is a popular summer destination for some folks but isn’t very popular at all during the colder months of winter, which means I found it far more appealing in winter. Snow had fallen about a week before and though most of that had melted there were still some small amounts on the pier and beach.

Under the gazebo looking out at the pier

Snow and gulls on Colonial Beach pier

Over to the left was what I called cormorant pier for all the cormorants perched along the length

It was a cold day but not frigid. And there were hardly any people about, though we encountered many gulls and cormorants as you can see in the photos. The weather forecast had called for a small chance of rain in some areas of Virginia, and though we didn’t run into any it did result in some nice overcast conditions and clouds with a bit of character. Overall I found it a very calm, quiet and beautiful day and I’m glad we decided to pay the beach a visit.

Colonial Beach Municipal Pier and the Potomac River

A final look at winter at Colonial Beach

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Bunker Hill Train Club Open House - 12/14/2024 /  by Todd Henson

This view shows how their layout wraps around the upstairs space.

My father and I stopped by the Bunker Hill Train Club Open House held on December 14, 2024 in their club house in Bunker Hill, West Virginia. During these open houses they invite the public to stop by and check out what they do and to view their model railroad layout on the second floor.

It’s quite a layout and reminded me of spending time with my father at the model railroad clubs he was a member of when I was much younger. I always loved the details they built into the layouts, and you’ll find similar details in the Bunker Hill Train Club’s layouts. I loved how theirs weaved back and forth along the second floor. And as is always the case, model railroad layouts are forever a work in progress. Even when they appear finished there’s a good chance they will continue to go through updates and renovations. It was fun seeing all the different stages, from completely bare sections they were getting ready to work on to sections that appeared very complete.

On a technical note, photographically, I decided to use my walk-about lens, a 16-80mm f/2.8-4 lens. I chose that one because I had no idea what to expect going into this, so I wanted a range of focal lengths. Even though the layout appeared plenty bright from a human perspective, these indoor events are inevitably dark from a camera perspective, so I had the ISO pushed up to between 1600 to 2000 (thankfully Lightroom now has some very good noise reduction). I used fairly wide apertures of f/4 and f/5 both to allow some shallower depth of field for more artistic views of the scenes but also to keep the shutter speed high enough to handhold the camera. I didn’t bring my tripod because I guessed there would be limited space and plenty of other people moving around, and I don’t have a flash and wouldn’t have brought one anyway to avoid annoying or blinding people. All this resulted in shutter speeds between 1/30 to 1/125 of a second. It might have been fun if I could use a tripod to slow the shutter speed down to show some motion in the trains or to try panning with a train to create motion blur in the background.

I hope you enjoy these views of a working model railroad layout created by an active model railroad club. I really enjoyed seeing their layout and getting the opportunity to photograph it.

You might recognize the name Bunker Hill Train Club as they are the ones I mentioned when we visited their train show held at the Martinsburg Roundhouse in 2023, where I also photographed some trains passing by the active train station. Check out those previous posts for more railroad-related photography.

Click here to learn more about the Bunker Hill Train Club. Consider stopping by one of their open houses (and if you do consider leaving a small donation to help keep the hobby and activities alive). And if you happen to live near there and are interested in trains and model railroading then consider becoming a member of their club.

Thanks much to the people of the Bunker Hill Train Club for opening their doors and allowing us a view inside.

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Route 11 Potato Chip Factory /  by Todd Henson

Route 11 Chips factory in Mount Jackson, Virginia

Every so often my father and I stop by the Route 11 Potato Chip Factory to pick up some chips. The factory used to be located, of all places, along Route 11 through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, but they eventually outgrew the location and moved their factory to 11 Edwards Way in Mount Jackson, Virginia.

You can stop by to purchase chips and other related products, and you can also see the chips being made when the production line is active. It’s an interesting process to watch. And note, I’m not in any way affiliated with or sponsored by them. We’re just another customer.

It’s not a building I’d normally spend a lot of time photographing, but on this day I really liked the clouds and how the sun lit up the building, so I decided to create a photo.

Living in Virginia I’m used to seeing these chips all around. But I’m curious how widespread or local they are. Have you ever found them in your area? And have you tried them?

A sampling of Route 11 Potato Chips

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