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A small group of motorcar owners were invited to participate in two motorcar runs in North Texas on Memorial Day weekend 2008. Sunday was an initial test run on a railroad new to motorcar operations. The purpose for the run was to test this line's potential as a future NARCOA run. As part of this run, we tested running times, distances, rest room break facilities and lunch facilities near the turn around point. As motorcar operators, we found this railroad to be an excellent candidate for a NARCOA run. We are currently in negotiations with this railroad regarding a run date in Fall 2008. On this day we ran a round trip total of 126 miles. For a NARCOA trip, we will shorten this distance somewhat. I appreciate this yet-to-be-named railroad for their consideration for this run and for future operations. We have nick-named this railroad "The Green Canopy Route" for the large number of trees on either side of the rails who's limbs touch at the top to form a green tunnel at many places along the line.
Monday's run was arranged by an employee of the second railroad for motorcar operations on a day when the railroad was shutdown for the holiday. Conditions are not favorable at this time for a NARCOA run on this railroad. On this second day of operations we ran a total of 76 miles. Weather for both days was warm to almost hot but with the cars moving the temperature was just fine.
I've intentionally left out the names of the railroads. Please do not try to contact these railroads for motorcar operations. We are working our best to open up this new opportunity and hope to announce a new NARCOA run in the future.
In the meantime, please enjoy the photographs. I've been using a Nikon D40 digital camera with a Nikon 18-55mm lens. This lens is great for general photography, but not so good for motorcar photography out on the rails. I have recently purchased a Nikon 55-200mm lens and this is the first motorcar outing for this lens. This lens includes anti-vibration technology, which I feel helps improve the quality of the telephoto length photographs. I like the new lens well for motorcar photography, but after reviewing the results I will need to learn more about camera operations to make the quality of future motorcar photographs better.
The weekend was great, and I'm looking forward to future runs!
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