Passing through

Sometimes trains pass through the Cranford train station! WHO KNEW.

Please stand back 2

Last week, I featured one of NJ Transit’s reminders to not get yourself run over by a train: the yellow line.

But apparently the ever-present yellow line isn’t the only safety technique they use to get people to stand back. There are big red signs at Cranford’s station; I assume they’re intended to light up when there’s a train approaching. Never seen these before! I think they’re kinda neat.

Please stand back

On NJ Transit train platforms, by the yellow line, is a stenciled message warning passengers to “PLEASE STAND BACK OF YELLOW LINE.”

This has always bugged me. It’s lousy grammar, isn’t it? “Stand back of yellow line?” It ought to be stand back FROM the yellow line, which is what the automated voice announces whenever a train nears the station. On the other hand, my command of the English language has gone markedly downhill since high school, so maybe “stand back of yellow line” is acceptable now.

In any case: stand back! Don’t get run over by a train!

All clear!

On NJ Transit, conductors look up and down the train and platform after everyone has boarded/disembarked at a station, and signal to the other conductors that no other passengers are coming and it’s okay for the train to pull out. (In daylight, they wave; at night, they flick a flashlight.)

Venules

Upon a quick glance, train tracks coming together remind me of venules— capillaries pooling into a larger vein… headed, I guess, back to the heart of New York.

…Thinking through it, a circulatory system metaphor for NJ Transit could be taken wayyyyyy too far. Perhaps the Northeast Corridor is the aorta, and that’s why it’s red…?

…Then again, I’m a medical animator, so don’t take any of this too seriously.

Lying on the ground

Confession: I haven’t been out shooting much since Hurricane Sandy. It’s seemed pointless. And now that winter’s upon us, well, everything’s dead and ugly in the winter, and therefore winter photography requires more creativity and thinking outside the box than I’m inclined to do at the moment.

“So why, then,” you ask, “do you keep assaulting us with lousy photos and halfhearted posts? Why not just stop blogging, or at least take a break?”

“Because,” I reply, “I’ve always been prone to unmotivated lethargy. It’s the whole reason I started this photoblog in the first place. I’m supposed to force myself to get out and take photos when I don’t feel like doing it. That’s the whole point. And if I stop, I know myself, I’ll never start it back up again. Better to push through!”

Usually, this kind of mopeyness resolves itself within a month or two; I’ll admit this has gone on longer than I should’ve let it. (And don’t worry, the rest of my life is fine— it’s only my interest in photography that’s in a bit of a lull.)

I bring this up now mostly to explain why all my photos this week are going to be outdated and ugly (again)— I didn’t get out to shoot at all this weekend (again). This here is a detail of the abandoned Rahway Valley Railroad.

Near Kearny Connection, 7:39AM

I don’t even know what those electrical thingies are called.

I didn’t like this photo so much when I initially took it, but it’s been growing on me.

Oh, and by the way: here’s the Wikipedia article about the Kearny Connection.

(“Rainbow Connection” has been going through my head while I’ve been pawing around the interwebs for info on the Kearny Connection. Arrrrgh.)

Hottie!

(Profanity after the break.)
(Hopefully this works. I’ve never used jump tags before..)

Snow on a hot glass roof

Melting snow on a glass roof is fun to look at.

(at Summit train station.)

Sometimes trains run (sometimes they don’t)

Um. Just. You know. Icicles on a train. ‘Cos trains have overhangs. And that’s, like, totally where icicles form. (On overhangs.) (Especially if the trains aren’t moving, because they’ve been suspended due to weather or some other silly thing.)