#2472, Phomite Philters and locomotive aesthetics

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Fussy is as Fussy does. I'm sure you know by now to take whatever I say with a grain of salt - or, more often, a spoonful.

I have an entire place setting designated just for my Russo Loco salt rations. :-)

And I ask for more pictures and get two for the price of one, with both the image I asked for, and a new avatar. Wow!

As for the guy riding the diesel, quite honestly he doesn't bother me. The very fact that the diesel's there at all far outweighs the guy ridin' it, to my mind, and neither spoil the image. All of which brings to mind a whole other topic - that of unwanted stuff in the image which you hate at the time, and find that, years later, actually help make the picture.

We often work so hard to keep "modern stuff" out of our shots - cars and other vehicles, people, whether railfans or simply bystanders, equipment which looks "tourist train" rather than vintage, and so on - that we forget that we're also recording events that'll soon take their own places in history. 30 years pass, and, surprise! I no longer hate the cars and people that, at the time, I wanted OUT of my shots. Something to remember the next time you go to apply the "Phomite Philter".

As for 2472 itself, well... Yep, a very classy looking loco. One of the prettier ones out there, in fact. But beauty is, indeed, in the eye of the beholder. I was at a Nevada Northern winter shoot a few years back, and one of the other attendees was bemoaning the fact that #40, the NN's high-steppin' and aesthetically pleasing 4-6-0, was out of service, and all we had was their very utilitarian looking consolidation - #93.

Well, when it comes to steam, I've never really been one for the beauty queens. Give me the workhorse every time.

Workhorse #93 in the Steptoe Valley

Scott