Because my copy of PhotoShop exists on my desktop back home – and I was over 300 miles away from home AND wouldn’t be back until Sunday night – I had to wait and WAIT and WAIT to see if the shots I took were truly Competition Season-worthy.
I mean, I had a train chase, I had my college reunion with the presentation, and I had to deal with a tire puncture on Sunday morning (thankfully, Mavis was open on Sunday and they simply patched the tire and sent me on my way).
And when I returned home … I grabbed that SD card and slammed it into the desktop SD slot.
Let’s see how things turned out.
Here’s the reprocessed photo from the shot from Swain. And now it looks like …
I mean … it’s okay … it’s a great photo … but it’s not a Competition Season photo. Not a chance.
Let’s see if the shot from Hornell has some sparkle to it. Processed it … reprocessed it … and …
Again … the picture looks nice … and that flag is a great touch … but it just looks like every other locomotive picture. There’s no story here. There’s no “oomph” here.
I need oomph, god damn it.
Let’s try that last-minute shot from the train trestle at Portage.
And we get … meh. The locomotive smoke on the front of the train looks less like smoke and more like a lens smudge. And those cars under the trestle are too distracting. No no no no no.
I’ve got one photo left. The shot from East Bethany. This has to be the one. I processed the photo as a black and white capture … and …
and …
and …
THIS IS WHAT I WANT!!!
The photo tells a story. You see the rarilfan photographers on either side of the tracks. You see that building in the background that clearly says “The Linden Mill.” And you can see all the grimy, sooty details inherent in Union Pacific 4014. You can see that black, pungent smoke from the smokestack against the white clouds. This is the Big Boy with an earth-shaking rumble and a horn that Marlee Matlin can hear. Yes, I’m going to use that Marlee Matlin reference again.
Say hi to the 2026 Competition Season.
And I’ll take that every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
And if things go well later this week … there might be ONE MORE photo to add to Competition Season 2026.
It will all depend on the cloud cover. And the night sky.
And that’s all I’ll say about that, lest I jinx the attempt.
Chuck The Writer 