railroad

Martinsburg Roundhouse and Bunker Hill Train Shows in West Virginia - 2023 /  by Todd Henson

Today I wanted to share some views of the Martinsburg Roundhouse in West Virginia, an historic railroad site and National Historic Landmark. The photos cover two days in 2023, both when the Bunker Hill Train Club held their model railroad train shows within the roundhouse. We visited the show on April 15 and September 30th.

My goal, of course, was to create some photographs of the site and event that some of you might find interesting. And I did create quite a few, so this is a photo-heavy post. On the first trip in April I had no idea what to expect so I brought my 16-80mm lens, a fairly general purpose lens. It was a very good choice for that location. But even at 16mm I found myself very cramped when inside, so when we returned in September I opted for my 6.5mm fisheye, knowing it would add some distortion but hoping I could capture more of the scene.

Outside Views of the Martinsburg Roundhouse

Below are a number of views of the outside of the roundhouse complex. Towards the end you can see there were two roundhouses at the site but in the early 1990s an arsonist destroyed the second of the two and all that remains of it are parts of the walls and the tracks on the ground.

Arriving at the Bunker Hill Trail Show on April 15, 2023, held at the Martinsburg Roundhouse in West Virginia.

Walking towards the buildings of the Martinsburg Roundhouse. (April 15, 2023)

One of the buildings at the Martinsburg Roundhouse. Nonni's was serving lunch that day. (April 15, 2023)

A view of the Martinsburg Roundhouse. Inside is the Bunker Hill Train Show. (April 15, 2023)

Walking around the Martinsburg Roundhouse. (April 15, 2023)

A view of one of the side rooms/buildings at the Martinsburg Roundhouse in West Virginia. (April 15, 2023)

Outside details of the Martinsburg Roundhouse. (April 15, 2023)

The remains of the second roundhouse at Martinsburg. (April 15, 2023)

Only part of the walls and the ground remain of the second roundhouse in Martinsburg. (April 15, 2023)

Inside Views of the Martinsburg Roundhouse

Inside the roundhouse we get to see views of the Bunker Hill Train Shows and some of the various vendors and visitors. We also get to see some of the core structures of the roundhouse and the adjoining buildings and shops.

A wide view inside the Martinsburg Roundhouse at the Bunker Hill Train Show. This is a wide angle multi-image stitched panorama. Click any photo for a larger view. (April 15, 2023)

A fisheye view of the interior of the Martinsburg Roundhouse while hosting the Bunker Hill Train Show. (September 30, 2023)

A fisheye view of the interior of the Martinsburg Roundhouse showing the actual rotating center. (September 30, 2023)

Another fisheye view inside the roundhouse. (September 30, 2023)

Looking across the rotating center inside the Martinsburg Roundhouse in West Virginia. (September 30, 2023)

Another view of the rotating center inside the roundhouse. To get this view I held the camera above my head and angled it down, experimenting until I found the right angle. (September 30, 2023)

Even with the fisheye lens I wasn’t able to capture the entirety of the ceiling inside the Martinsburg Roundhouse. (September 30, 2023)

The domed ceiling was interesting enough to me I photographed it both days, this time with a 16mm (non-fisheye) lens. (April 15, 2023)

The interior of one of the rooms/buildings attached to the roundhouse. It was empty on April 14, 2023, but on September 30, 2023 it had some local vendors inside. (April 15, 2023)

At the very end of the previous photo is a door leading to this very dark workroom. This was a fisheye view with attempted perspective corrections in Adobe Lightroom. (September 30, 2023)

Details inside one of the shops at the Martinsburg Roundhouse. This was a fisheye view with attempted perspective corrections in Adobe Lightroom. (September 30, 2023)

Another detail view inside one of the shops at the Martinsburg Roundhouse. This was a fisheye view with attempted perspective corrections in Adobe Lightroom. (September 30, 2023)

Parting View of the Martinsburg Roundhouse

And finally, we part with a wider view taken from outside the fence, though I was reaching my arms over it to hold the camera just inside. It shows the back portion of the area. Across the tracks you can see some of the town of Martinsburg, along with the active railroad station.

A parting view of the back side of the Martinsburg Roundhouse complex. (April 15, 2023)

I hope you’ve enjoyed these views of the Martinsburg Roundhouse in West Virginia and two of the Bunker Hill Train Club’s Train Shows in 2023.

Click here to learn more about the Bunker Hill Train Club.

And click here to learn more about the Martinsburg Roundhouse in the City of Martinsburg, West Virginia.

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Martinsburg Train Station, West Virginia - April 2023 /  by Todd Henson

Martinsburg train station in West Virginia

Back on April 15th of 2023 my father and I went to a model railroad show held at the old Roundhouse in Martinsburg, West Virginia. While there I photographed the still active station and a couple passing trains. I’d hoped to show these photos closer to when I’d created them but time got away from me. Speaking of time, if I had more I’d likely have researched and written a little history of the station for you, but I’ll have to save that for another time. Until then, I hope you enjoy these photos.

After photographing the wider view of the tracks and the station I heard an incoming train so I set my camera to shutter priority mode and slowed the shutter speed way down to 1/15th of a second to see if I could capture some motion in the passing train. But I didn’t have a tripod, so I leaned the camera against the back of the car and held it as steady as I could as the train passed by.

A train moving away from us, showing the motion of the train.

As luck would have it, as one train moved away from us towards the station another approached from the direction of the station, so I raised the shutter speed just a touch to 1/25th of a second and made a few frames of the oncoming train.

The lights of an oncoming train seen against the motion of an outgoing train.

The train approaches

The motion of the oncoming train as it passes us by.

Finally, before the train had completely passed I decided if I could show the motion of the train I might also freeze that motion, so I raised the shutter speed to 1/6400th of a second and succeeded in freezing the motion of an oncoming train. Granted, it wasn’t moving all that fast.

A moving train frozen in time.

All in all, it was a great day!

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Crossing Powell’s Creek /  by Todd Henson

Crossing Powell’s Creek

At the end of November I met my father in Leesylvania State Park to go for a morning hike. The park is crossed by a north-south railroad line and you can sometimes watch as trains traverse Powell’s Creek Crossing, a bridge over the creek. We had just passed under the bridge and were about to enter the woods when we heard the rumbling of an oncoming train. I didn’t think I’d get back to the bridge in time to photograph it but decided to try anyway. And as luck would have it I arrived in plenty of time to stand and photograph the train as it crossed the bridge. This ended up being a fairly long train pulled by two CSX locomotives.

The History

Powell’s Creek Crossing, a concrete deck railway bridge over Powell’s Creek

The history of this rail line stretches back to 1864, when they began constructing it, and in 1872 it opened for service. At the time it was a wooden trestle bridge, but in 1928 they replaced it with the current concrete deck bridge to allow for larger and faster trains. Previously the trains were limited to 20 miles per hour in this stretch due to the wooden trestles and curves in the line. So they straightened the curves and replaced the wooden trestles. Powell’s Creek Crossing was the last wooden trestle bridge on the line.

The Photograph

On this particular morning the sky was completely clear and the sun was shining from behind me, illuminating the bridge and the train as it crossed. I had on my wide angle zoom lens so I was able to photograph a large part of the bridge, showing a bit of the shoreline on each side. I often like showing a bit of motion blur with moving trains to show they are, in fact, moving. I didn’t have my tripod with me on this hike, but the train was moving fast enough that a shutter speed of 1/50 second was still enough to capture a small amount of blur while holding the camera steady enough to keep the bridge sharply in focus. And because I was using a wide angle lens and the train was moving away from me the front locomotive, which is further away from the camera, appears to have less motion blur than the car closest to us, which I also like.

The Processing

As I mentioned, it was a perfectly clear day, not a cloud in the sky, and it was still early enough to show a nice blue sky. I was hoping for a little punch to the photograph with contrast between the sky and the train so I had on a circular polarizing filter to darken the sky and make that blue even richer, as well as possibly reducing any reflections from the train. However, I made a very common mistake. I didn’t take into account the wide angle I was shooting at (16mm on a cropped sensor) and my angle from the sun. If you look at the original unprocessed color version below you can see the result of this mistake. Notice how the blue in the sky changes, very rich and dark in the central portion but getting progressively lighter on the left and right. Sometimes circular polarizing filters create this effect when shooting very wide angle. I won’t get into the technical details of why, but it’s something you should be aware of. Try it sometime if you have both a very wide angle lens and a circular polarizing filter. Change your angle to the sun and see how the tones in the sky change.

The unprocessed original color version of the photo

The color, itself, didn’t do much for me in this photograph so I decided to convert it to a monochromatic image. In Adobe Lightroom I converted it to black and white and did my typical post-processing. Then I added a split tone to give it just a touch of color, to warm it up a bit. This involved adding a yellowish tone to the highlights and an orangish tone to the shadows. I also corrected the sky tones caused by the polarizing filter, trying to create a more consistent tone in the sky that gradually lightened towards the horizon. I think this monochromatic treatment really helps the train and the bridge stand out.

Click on the image below to cycle between the final monochromatic and original color versions.

What do you think? Did the monochromatic treatment add something to the photograph? Or do you prefer the color version?

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