11th Jan 2022
It was during the Christmas break, that I decided to go down to Wexford, for a photoshoot after sunset.
There is a railway line running along the quay in the town, from Wexford’s O’Hanrahan Railway Station (named after one of the 16 executed leaders of the 1916 Rising), down to Rosslare Harbour. It is along this quay, that the trains will be travelling at walking speed, and there is an opportunity to get up close to one of the trains, although it cannot be stressed enough, the need to keep off the track, especially if there is a train approaching, and to cross the track only at designated points.
Being around Christmas means a week or so after the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, so I saw it as the best opportunity for light trails of trains passing the quay. The only thing I needed now was a day on which the rain would stay away, and there to be a reasonably gentle breeze.
Of course, there was no point going down there on Christmas Day or St. Stephen’s Day (25th and 26th of December respectively), because no trains were running in the country. The weather forecast in Wexford looked doubtful for the 27th so I decided to leave it till the following day. The forecast looked promising, so I took the chance.
My research before heading down told me that the sun would start setting at about 4:30pm. In terms of the trains, there is one train going through the quay, towards Rosslare at about 4:20pm – while there is still some daylight. That train was coming back up through the quay at about 6:20pm. Then the next train was due to pass through the quay, towards Wexford at 9:15pm. These were the two opportunities for getting images of light trails of trains going through the quay after dark.
The trains normally running on the Dublin to Rosslare Europort service are one of two classes – the 22000 class, and the 29000 class. One of a few things these classes have in common is that they are DMUs, or diesel multiple units. This means that at least some of the carriages that make up the trainset are self-propelled, and all the units can carry passengers.
As well as the head- and tail-lights, and the lights from inside the train, these trains also have electronic display boards on the sides of the carriages, all of which produce their own light trails in a long-exposure image after dark.
I arrived in Wexford shortly after lunchtime, to give me enough time to scout the area for pictures after dark, and especially the images of the two trains passing along the quay after dark. Having watched the 4:20 train pass down the quay towards Rosslare, it became clear that, when I am shooting the train from the harbour side of the track, and I don’t want the view to the buildings to be completely blocked by the train as it passes, I would need to keep a considerable distance from the track.
On the part of the quay between the harbour bridge and the crescent, this is usually not practicable. The type of lens, be it a wide angle or telephoto lens, doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. Also, another thing to consider is that there are some buildings along the quay that have light shining onto the façade, and consequently a 30-second exposure will white-out that building.
From about 4:30 onwards, it starts to get dark (we are into the last week of December, which is about a week after the shortest day of the year), and while I am waiting for the train to come up the quay from Rosslare, I go around the quay to get some shots of the Christmas decorations, and making my way towards the spot I have chosen, from which to take the long exposure image of the first train.
At about 6:20, the train from Rosslare passes through the quay. I get both a long exposure shot, with my SLR camera, and also a video clip, with my GoPro, which I intended to use in my YouTube video. The train passes, I examine the image on the camera’s display, and it looks overexposed. However, I have to wait until I get home, and download all the files onto the computer, before I know how the images turn out, and if they are presentable.
It’s another three hours before the next train passes, so while I’m waiting, I decide to go for a bit of a walk through some of the streets in the town, and see what images I can get of the streets, with the Christmas decorations. And of course, the Harbour Bridge. Specifically, light trails of traffic thereon.
At the same time as I take the still shots, with the SLR camera, I record some B-roll with my GoPro. As 9:15 approaches, it’s time to head to the spot I have chosen for the second train shot of the evening. This train runs from Dublin, through Wexford, on its way down to Rosslare Harbour. I get the shot, and and once again, I fear it was overexposed when I see it on the camera’s display. Will I have to come back to Wexford to try again, entailing a trip of nearly 120km?
Fortunately I have an ace up my sleeve, in the form of the RAW format. I always shoot in RAW and not JPEG, albeit at the expense of more memory taken up. And this is one of these situations where I’m glad I do. When I get home, and put the files onto the computer, I can make some adjustments. In this case, the adjustments I make seem to render the need for a return trip unnecessary, and make the images I took, more presentable.
Not that this will be the last time I travel to Wexford, just as it wasn’t the first time I went there. When I went there in 2012, there were sodium street lights on the quay, which have since been replaced with LED type lights. That surely had an impact on how the pictures turned out this time, as opposed to nine years ago.