My 2024 CPKC Holiday Train Chase: Fort Edward

What, you thought I was done with this Holiday Train chase?

Silly you.

These shots were taken at Fort Edward, New York, during my last day on my five-day CPKC 2024 Holidy Train Chase. Over 850 miles through New York and Quebec for this trip. And man, I could have gone 850 miles more, if I chose to.

Maybe next year, I’ll try some new locales. 😉

But for this year … I wanted one day full of candid shots. Shots taken with, of all my cameras, my Google Pixel 6 Pro shooter.

Like, for example, how cool is it for Santa Claus to stand with his trusty Holiday Train elves?

Now I’m thinking to myself … wait, Santa has been at every single one of these train chase trips. How does that old fat dude move so quickly from stop to stop?

Then again, he could say the same thing about me. I mean, I’m an old fat dude that moves quickly from shot to shot …

Meanwhile, as the CPKC Railroad Police gave Santa their Christmas lists, I saw another railfan nearby. I thought I traveled a long way for this event; he came all the way from North Carolina, and this was his first Holiday Train chase and show. We talked for a while, swapped stories and anecdotes, and then we heard a horn in the distance.

I checked my watch. Seemed a bit early for the train.

“That horn doesn’t sound like a CPKC horn,” he said.

And he was right. That horn was an Amtrak train making a scheduled stop in Fort Edward on its way north.

But eventually … at around 2:20 p.m. – CPKC Holiday Train 2249 rolled in for its grand entrance.

And I just happened to be along the same angle to pick up the train, the crowd, and the vintage Fort Edward train station.

Then you had the concert, this time performed by the James Barker Band with special guest Clerel.

Aww … I really like this photo. Look at that cute couple in the foreground. You know they’re enjoying the show.

And of course, you can’t go wrong with taking a photo of someone else taking a photo of a concert, can you?

I need to crop this one down – lose the guy on the left who’s glaring at his phone, and lose the girl on the right with the sunglasses. Creative cropping works for me.

Oh, you want to HEAR James Barker Band with Clerel?

I can help you out on that one.

And while I was at it … I figured I’d test out the Google Pixel 6 Pro’s panoramic feature. Let’s see how well this works.

Yeah, that works as well.

Holy cow, this has been fun. Total fun.

And after that … I’m exhausted. Five days on the road. Five days chasing the Holiday Train.

And I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Now there’s only one thing remaining on this journey. On Wednesday, I dropped off some film at McGreevy Pro Lab (my pro lab of choice), so if all goes well, I should have some swank shots to show off both from the Menands show (with my Nikon F2S) and from Fort Edward (I tried a super-ultra-wide capture with my Krasnogorsk FT-2).

But yeah … totally awesome run.

And I can’t wait for next year.

CAN. NOT. WAIT.