Return to the Quiet Yard

During the short days of last year I would stop by the Ohio Central yard in downtown Zanesville and take photos. At the time the local's locomotives would spend the night downtown, leaving for Newark in the morning. The first thing that attracted me to the yard was the tiny front-porch light on a rebuilt geep. Then I looked around a little more, shooting the rickety tracks and the tank cars that occupied them. I shot a ballast train in the snow, and the peeling and flaking 40-foot C&O boxcar on the edge of the yard.

And then I stopped. The days got longer, and the local began to leave in the early evening- affording great opportunity to shoot in the nice evening light in a variety of locations- but ending my night shooting.

It was raining when I returned Monday night. Something about the drizzle- light, but soaking- drew me back. The local was long gone, but the tank cars gleamed in the misty night. The shots are not as good as the best from last year, but a start of another series. The night's are getting longer, and before long, the local will leave after dark, affording a world of new possibilities.