West Virginia

A Visit to the Office /  by Todd Henson

A Visit to the Office

I found this scene at the Martinsburg Roundhouse in West Virginia, an historic railroad site.

I attempted to process the photo to have the look it might have been created in the era of the subject, which is the mid to late 1800s. Granted, it does appear as if some work was done more recently than the 1800s, but I still wanted the processing to fit the original era.

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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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Green Hill Cemetery - Martinsburg, WV /  by Todd Henson

Green Hill Mausoleum within Green Hill Cemetery

During an outing to Martinsburg, West Virginia, in late October of 2024 my father and I found Green Hill Cemetery, a beautiful old 17 acre cemetery atop a hill with a short road leading straight to a mausoleum and most of the graves laid out in concentric rings around the mausoleum. We’d driven up by the mausoleum and just as I’d gotten out of the car to begin looking around and exploring another car drove up and the man inside asked if he could help me, that he was the caretaker of the cemetery. I mentioned how beautiful all the old grave stones were with some very distinctive designs, and how impressed I was with the mausoleum, that I was hoping to create some photographs around the grounds. He offered to unlock the mausoleum and allowed me inside to look around and photograph and shared a lot of the history of the location. It was a fantastic experience and I just wish my memory were better because he shared so many details.

The cemetery is from the 1850’s and was incorporated in early 1854 and dedicated later that year. The design is apparently inspired by a cemetery in Paris, France, viewed by a Martinsburg local artist who created sketches that inspired the design for this location. The stone mausoleum was built in 1917 and is of a Neo-Classical Revival design, featuring stained glass windows and bronze entrance doors that have taken on that beautifully distinctive patina of aged bronze.

A view of Green Hill Mausoleum through the trees.

Getting ready to enter Green Hill Mausoleum. Note, I was using a wide angle lens close to the building which caused some geometric distortions. I attempted to reduce these in post-processing but that resulted in some other geometric distortions. The columns are actually circular, not oval.

Entering the mausoleum leads immediately to a small chapel area. Behind the gates is a fireplace, and a stained glass window is on either side.

Turn left after entering the mausoleum and this is what you’d see, with a beautiful stained glass window at the end of the wing.

On the right side is another wing with a stained glass window at the end. Also visible is the device used to raise or lower a casket into position.

The cemetery itself, given its age and location, is the resting place of war veterans of many different eras, from the Revolutionary War to the present. It’s a fascinating bit of history. Below is a quote from the Green Hill Cemetery website that beautifully describes the cemetery:

Experiencing Green Hill Cemetery is like taking a step back in time. It is a must-see site in Martinsburg, WV. Steeped in history and cultural significance, it’s hard to overstate the importance of this Historic Cemetery. It is truly an outdoor museum. Ornate inscriptions, stained glass and massive mausoleum contrast with simpler monuments and markers, all of which together relate the story of a city and its people. Still an active cemetery, these hallowed grounds still today offer comfort and inspiration to the living, so take the time to visit and discover the hidden treasures of this tremendous Historic Cemetery.

The stained glass window in the left wing of the mausoleum.

The stained glass window in the right wing of the mausoleum.

The stained glass window to the left of the fireplace.

The stained glass window to the right of the fireplace.

The more I looked around the more I noticed the reflections of the stained glass windows.

Here I attempted to frame the reflection and one of the mausoleum name plates.

I spent a fair bit of time inside the mausoleum talking with the caretaker and then attempting to photograph in the very low light (I didn’t have my tripod with me). I wish we’d had more time to spend walking around the outside as there were some beautifully designed gravestones. He mentioned one style that is in the shape of a tree trunk, but cut short to indicate a life taken too soon. The shorter the tree trunk the younger the person was when they died.

Looking out the mausoleum door to the yellow autumn foliage.

Another view out the mausoleum doors.

A view back into the mausoleum with some of the stained glass visible in the background

A look back at the closed bronze doors of the mausoleum. The coloration of the doors differ here because of a warmer white balance.

A detail from the bronze doors of the mausoleum.

A closeup of the door handles of the mausoleum.

I liked the juxtaposition of the distorted old glass, reflections from the cemetery and the stained glass seen inside.

I tried to do the location justice through my photographs. Most focus on the mausoleum where I spent the majority of my time. One day I’d love to return to spend more time photographing the cemetery grounds. On this trip we were fortunate to have some of the colors of autumn, which can be lovely in this part of West Virginia, along with beautifully cloudy weather that helped soften the light and provide some interest in the sky. It really was a perfect time to visit.

A view of graves beside the mausoleum.

A view of the cemetery which sits atop a hill overlooking parts of town.

We were fortunate to have the weather and clouds we did, as well as some of the colorful foliage of autumn.

Another view of gravestones within Green Hill Cemetery in autumn.

A final view of the gravestones at Green Hill Cemetery.

Please be aware if you ever visit the location that it is a private cemetery and on private property and can be closed at any time at the discretion of the caretakers. As always, be respectful.

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