Welcome to the RRPictureArchives.NET contributor site of Jordan Rein.  

Hi I'm Jordan Rein and welcome to my RRPA account! I'm 15 years old and I live in Wausau WI. I'm a huge WC (Wisconsin Central) fan. I'm not sure how I got hooked on the WC, maybe because that's the railroad  I grew up with, or maybe it was a model GP9M that I got back in the late 90s. My very first pictures that I took of railroad equpiment where in fall of 2006 with my dads Fuji 35mm film camera. My rail fanning really took off in June of 2007, in search of the WC SD45...but because at that time I was ignorant, I didn't realize that the SD45s where all retired by the time of my first trip of that year.

I started out with a 2.1MP HP Photosmart 635; worst camera ever. My early years of photography where not the best. Not thinking about lighting, croping, exposures, ect, I just shot away with the grainy low quality camera. I caught many good locomotives at that time, and most of the "From the Archives" (An album I'll start soon) are from 2007. Quickly I realized that I needed a new camera, and in December of 2007 I was armed with a Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS and Adobe PhotoShop 5.0. This camera served me well as I went into 2008 taking fairly nice pictures. Early 2008 I wasn't quite thinking about cropping and lighting, but as the months go by my photography experience seems to have come along. By summer of 2008 I was starting to plan real railfanning trips (Besides to Rochelle Ill) and I did a short chase on the WSOR, and a two day trip to get the last of the DMIR. My skills at the begining of the summer where still not the greatest, but by the end they had gotten refined and better than last year. Going into fall of 2008 I was getting more into setting exposures and was moving along. My rail fanning slowed down during the begining of 2009, and still is in somewhat of a slup. Going into the summer with my Kodak already starting to wear out, and realzing that I would need a new camera, I am again on the hunt. A new DLSR is in my sights and I hope to have one obtained by atleast the end of 2009.

Motive power has always been an important aspect for me in rail fanning. A train is not a train, the distinct sound seperates each train, atleast for me. I never got to hear the SD45 in freight service, so the closest thing I could get was the SD40-2, and in 2007, they where plentiful on the Valley Sub. Pairs of duces came and went every day; it was heaven. But at that time I really wasn't paying attention. I'm not really sure when I actually started to dislike the newer power, but I'll say it happened after March 29th 2008 when I was on the CP. A trio of SD40-2s had arrived, and after a little talking with the engineer, they where off. The engineer really put on a show, going from idle-notch 8 in less than 30 seconds. From that point on I loved the SD40-2s. Winter and Sring 2008 stunk for SD40-2s on the Valley Sub, but by summer 2008, the SD40-2s ruled again. I enjoyed full SD40-2 consists for three stright months. Motive power drove me to take my DMIR trip in June 2008, and another in October. I photographed the last "Hurah" of the DMIR, and then it's decline. Motive power still drives me today as I plan to take a trip on the LS&I to see the U-Boats, and in a few days an ICE Iowa/Illinois trip. 2009 started off terriable, CN stored many if not all of their IC 60XX SD40Rs and most of the IC 61XX SD40-2s, leaving no SD40-2s for the Valley Sub. Realizing the power was terriable, I had nothing to look forward to, and I started to slow down my rail fanning. Today the power situation isn't much better.

Well, I guess that might be my "Life Story" (haha) but I hope who ever took the time to read all that enjoyed it. As I start populating my account, you'll see many lower quality shots, untill I have everything uploaded untill this Point. I will organize most of my photos by Month and Location, and I'll have seperate Albums for trips. Most of the 2007 shots will be in the "From the Archives" Album.