Empty BNSF Coal Train in Downtown Houston, TX

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon on June 7, 2009 and I knew I was was going to be close to downtown, so I packed both video cameras (equipment list at end), and the still camera. I set up on a dirt road between Sampson and York (see the map) with the main camera facing the curve in the tracks, towards downtown. The train moves by interestingly, due to the gentle "S" curve. It was VERY windy when I shot this - there's a bit of camera shake and wind noise, even though the camera was on a tripod with an external mike with a wind screen... I have the image stabilization turned OFF because the image gets into a weird oscillation with the combination of medium to high zoom on a tripod with the stabilization turned on.

This location turned out better than I expected. The sun is roughly overhead and a little behind the train, but the backlighting wasn't too harsh - I'd really like to shoot this same location early on the morning sometime.

The video runs a little long (~7 min), but wait for, or fast forward to, the very end. There's a weird hiccup with the crossing gates that causes them to go down again after the train is a few hundred feet away.

FYI: Just behind me is an operating turntable at the former HB&T Milby street yard (now UP). Take a look at it on Google maps: 29.745089, -95.340310

I've been wanting to try a using a secondary camera to see how it would work, and it seems to have worked okay.

Details and stats:

Subdivision:
UP Houston West Belt Subdivision

Head End Power:
BNSF 9949 - EMD SD70MAC
BNSF 9924 - EMD SD70MAC
BNSF 6217 - GE ES44AC
BNSF 5989 - GE ES44AC

Nearly exact location of camera setup (from Google Maps):
29.744998917780016,-95.34340560436249

Equipment:
* Primary Camera: Canon HF100
Settings: "P"rogram mode @ 60i; Stabilization turned OFF
* Primary Microphone: Audio-Technica ATR25 w/ wind screen
* Secondary Camera: Samsung SCD80 Settings: Stabilization turned OFF; All others are default
(audio from secondary was unusable, due to the wind)

Edited and rendered in Sony Vegas Platinum Studio 9

FWIW, the colors for the titles are BNSF oranges at the beginning and ATSF yellow and red at the end. Here's where I got the RGB numbers from:
http://www.worldoftrainz.com/Pages/Tutorials_TRS2006/Colors/RailRoadColorsUSA...

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Coal Train
• EMD SD70MAC
• GE ES44AC
• Railroading
• trains
• railroads
• railfanning
• HD Video
• HF100
• Canon
• Sony Vegas Studio 9
• BNSF
• Houston TX

[maniacmarklewin52]

hey was this near amtrac station

[MrTheloraxtrees]

@maniacmarklewin52 Nope, this is Southeast of Downtown, close to the Maxwell House Coffee plant.

[txrvs]

Cool. I work in the building at the center of the background, but too low in the building to be able to see this location.

Your sound is great.

[MrTheloraxtrees]

@txrvs Glad you liked it! Using an external Mic helps the sound a lot.

[bubblegutz2]

Well, Mr Theloraxtrees, I see you still have that wonderful affinity for trains!. Remember the night see we talked to a couple of the engineers on a train not far from where you lived. That was fun!

[MrTheloraxtrees]

@bubblegutz2 Yes - and sitting in a caboose, of all things!

[GPJeff]

Cool video. We rail fan that area. In the mornings you can get a good shot. It's too bad they made the area leading up to this location quiet zones. The trains can sneak up on you!

Jeff

[TLJAWSIMIB]

@MrTheloraxtrees HOUSTON LOOKS DESERTED AND SHIT!.

[eibi86]

*Three miles south east from the video location.

[eibi86]

I go to the University of Houston which is like 3 miles down the track. There are many trains around that area.

[maniacmarklewin52]

wow i know where that is used to work on the corner of york and sampson and the old katy lines still run from that side of downtown to galveston great vid enjoyed

[Bantha121]

@MrTheloraxtrees Knowing houston in the summer, wasn't it like 102 when you were filming this?