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I like to think of myself as a steel mill train aficionado, though one facet of the subject I've never managed to frame up before are ore trains - the start of the entire process. This is mostly because all of the steel plants near me have direct lake access - and thus receive most bulk materials by boat. There are quite a few ore trains that still run in the United States, especially in Minnesota and Northern Michigan - two regions I have yet to visit - but none directly around me. EXCEPT Canadian National's as needed runs from Minnesota down to the Gulf, U724 and empty counterpart U723.
These trains were the subject of a recent conversation I had with a buddy from up north, which reminded me that I had, in fact, caught one last winter on the IC. This is an empty northbound, rolling thru Pesotum, Il. I hadn't yet heard about these trains at the time, and initially mistook it for a unit stone train - evidently it's quite hard to distinguish the modern ore jenny from rock hoppers. Nevertheless, I attempted to chase it for the simple fact that it had neat rolling stock - but, already running out of light, that dream came to a swift end when, in Tolono (the next town north of here), the train would be stopped at the NS as the day met a swift end.
It was still a two hour drive home from here, and about 30 minutes into it we drove straight into a blizzard - heavy snow and winds, whiteout conditions, freezing highway. It was rough! It seemed like every time I visited the IC (which was quite frequently last winter) it would end driving into similar snowy conditions.
The CN still runs these ore trains, and I would absolutely KILL to do another one of my 100+ mile chases of one down (or up) the IC sometime this winter. But as 90% of all unit trains go, they run as needed, so I will need quite a bit of luck and then some...
An aside on the title, for those who care. I absolutely fell in love with the IC around this time last year - and from a photographic standpoint, the line really only works in dead-of-winter January gloom. Bark Psychosis' (my favorite music artist, as some of you may know) album Independency was playing on every single trip, and every track on the album shares a similar sort of vibe with the line. Tooled Up is the particular track I was listening to when I was editing this, take a listen if you can:
Founder's Museum & Pioneer Village
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Phase one. Cutting, filing, drilling, sanding, finishing, hammering.
This is my "dirty" area. I have another spot for assembly and final finish.
Just recently, I added an area for flame! yay!
Nowadays, it's called a hex wrench; it's used for putting hexes on things. Photo taken with off-camera flash, using green paper as background. Focus is on the face of the short end of the wrench.
Tool (noun) - a device or implement, especially one held in the hand, used to carry out a particular function.
Ce tournevis interchangeable nous tourne le dos pour montrer son manche en résine d'un jaune fluo avant de faire une balade dans un monde de rêve en Bokeh. #Macro #HandTool #HMM #MacroMonday
I chatted a bit about pens, inks and stuff over at "The Tools Artists Use" (thanks Bill Turner) Its severe art nerdy as I go on about my favourite pens and what I carry around with me ;)
This was imaged in the west until it passed behind a tree, west is not the best direction from my location. This was taken back at the beginning of September but it’s taken until now to get the enthusiasm up to process it as I’ve imaged and processed this on 3 other occasions but this is the first time with this camera.
Object Description:-
M27 the Dumbbell Nebula is a Planetary Nebula and lies in the constellations of Vulpecula. Its distance is about 1,360 ly with a visible magnitude of 7.5 and a diameter of 6 arcmin so it quit a small but bright object and is easily seen in a small telescope. It is believed that this star went nova about 14,600 years ago.
Note:-
As there is a lot of detail to be had in the Oiii (like most planetary Nebula and Super Nova remnants) I combined it with the Ha to create the luminance Layer.
EQUIPMENT:-
Telescope Meade 6000 115mm and AZ-EQ6 GT
ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool cmos camera
Orion Mini Auto Guide
Astronomik 12nm Ha Filter
Astronomik 6nm Oiii Filter
Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC
IMAGING DETAILS:-
M27 Dumbbell Nebula (Vulpecula)
Gain 139 (Unit Gain)
27 Ha subs@240sec (1h 48min)
30 Oiii subs@240sec (2h)
Total imaging Time 3h 48min
Dithering
20 Darks
20 Flats
PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-
APT "Astro Photograph Tools"
DSS
PS CS2
The Chart, Protractor and the circular slide rule side of a "Whizz Wheel" shown here are the very old school tools of the trade of aircraft navigators.
These day it is all done on a laptop or tablet but I like to teach the old school ways of doing it as it encourages a proper understanding of what is happening when planning a flight
Desk for Macro Mondays
#109 Utensils for 123 pictures in 2023