Night photo question / Dc/AC inverters

[cruikshank]

Hope this is not the wrong place to post this. Sorry if it is:

2 questions. My local Black and Decker outlet has several grades of DC to AC inverters to give me AC voltage from 12-24V DC. I would like to photograph trains at night Ala Winston O Rorke ( I may have his name wrong ) I have several White Lightning Mono lights from 10K - 15K light output. 1st would a larger inverter run off my pickup battery power these for a one shot deal? 2) I was told I may really upset the engineers by hitting them with a big flash at night. Here in Wyomissing junction we get lots of traffic at night and I can get within 10' of the tracks without trespassing. I'd appreciate any feedback on what you think about this. This is in the Reading, PA area and would be mainly NS with possible Reading & Northern. Thanks, Dave

 

[UP2CSX]

You're thinking of Winston O. Link, the famous steam photographer of the N&W and even more famous for his incredible night shots.

I really suspect that any inverter putting out less than 2,000 watts is not going to work with a 1,500 watt strobe. You need a lot of voltage to set off the strobes and a car battery for sure isn't going to cut it. Some type of portable generator would really be mandatory with a good quality inverter, like a Xantrex/Heart 358.

As far as doing this on your own, don't even think about it. Link was a company photographer for the N&W and all his night shots were carefully staged with lots of help and crews that were well briefed on the amount of the light they were going to run into. Even if you can set up the shots, blinding the crew is going to not only be a safety hazard but the police are going to be on you in a heartbeat. I don't know what the law is PA but, in California, it would be intentionally interfering with railroad operations, a felony with state prison time. The NS police are very aggresive about enforcing the law near their property. Unless you can work this out completely with the NS and any other railroad you're interested in, I'd suggest you stick with daylight photography.

 

[Railphotog]

I agree with Jim, not a really good idea for an operating railroad. Why not try shooting at a railroad museum or of a display loco? I've done that a few times, and a couple of times during an organized night shoots at a tourist railroads.

And you can get 10 feet from the line - why would you want to be that close in any case? For a shot of an engine/train/whatever you'd need to be 75-100 feet away at least.