I’ve certainly mentioned it on this blog before… I’m terrible at finishing things. Oh, I am so brilliant at starting them. I always have the most wonderful ideas for things, for projects. But the majority of the time, they never make it out of my head and into reality. And the few that I do happen to act upon, well, many of them are never completed. I am very bad like this.

At least a year ago, maybe even longer, when I first became interested in railroad timetables, I made a little poster showing some of the New York Central’s system timetables over the years. I had just begun to appreciate the functional art that is a timetable, and the little portion of me that endured many art history classes began connecting the stylistic choices with the events of the time. And probably just like every paper I wrote for an art history class, it was comprised of complete and utter bullshit. It seemed to make sense at the time, at least I think it did. Maybe it makes some sense. Hell, maybe it makes complete sense, and logically explains why there were so many stylistic changes on the timetables over the years. I had every intention of posting it, after it was completed. After I, I don’t know, verified some of the grandiose claims that I made? But I never did that. And this sat. And sat. And sat some more, in the dark little recesses of my hard drive, covered in spiderwebs, with crickets chirping merely to hear their own voices, out of complete and utter loneliness.

Today, however, I am crazy enough to post this, mostly because the former project, which I had high hopes for, was calling out to me for some reason. It wants the chance to see the light of day. I doubt I’ll ever do anything with this beyond this post, but if there are any other art-slash-rail-history folks out there that would like to discuss this, I might enjoy that.

There are some wonderful photographs that have been circulating around the internet lately that I loved so much I just had to share. A young Japanese woman, Natsumi Hayashi, has done a series of “levitation” photos, some of which are at various Tokyo train stations. The effect is created using her camera on a timer, and the camera captures her in the middle of motion, frozen in mid-jump. It is a technique that she very obviously excels at, as her photos are so natural she really does appear to be floating. On the technique she says:

I am actually jumping, but if all goes well, I will appear to be levitating the moment the shutter goes off. But if my facial expression appears to look forced then it will only appear as though I’m jumping. That is why the moment I take off I try to appear as calm as I possibly can.

I exert force just at the start of the jump, then I drain all strength from my body. But this method is quite dangerous. As I come back to the ground I have lost my balance and fallen. But that is fine by me. That’s because the photographs only reflect the moments I’m suspended in the air.

I do have a feeling like I need to copycat this, as it looks like it would be incredibly fun to do. Perhaps the new goal for the Tour of the New Haven Line should be to not only get a panorama at each station, but also a levitation photo at each station. On second thought, maybe it isn’t such a great idea – I’ve had the cops called on me for just taking normal pictures… imagine me taking pictures and jumping around like an idiot. But this too is a sentiment that Hayashi is familiar with:

I get very nervous when I shoot in public places. When I am shooting on a subway platform or famous signt-seeing place and jump over 200 times in a row, nearby people start to whisper. No one speaks directly to me, but in a small voice they will say things like, “Is that girl mentally ill?” or “Should we call the police?”

Anyways, enjoy some of Natsumi Hayashi’s levitation photographs, some of my favorites which are posted below. You can find many more on her blog here. You’ll find photography, trains, and cats… hey, that sorta sounds like me!

Old postcard views of the Milton on Hudson station

I don’t find myself on the west side of the Hudson all that often, but back in October I went to Newburgh for my tour of Bannerman Castle, and to Highland for the Walkway Over the Hudson. However, there was one place that I also visited that day which I’ve failed to post pictures of – until now. I’m not very familiar with the West Shore Railroad, but it is my understanding that the Milton on Hudson station, built in 1883, is one of the two extant passenger stations. My discovery of the place was purely by accident… driving down the street my friend saw a sign for a “Historical Train Station” and we decided to go check it out. It was also a coincidence that people were there working on the station the day we happened to stumble upon it. Volunteer and Friend of the Milton on Hudson Train Station Pat Quick saw me taking photos on the outside and asked me if I wanted to see the inside. He graciously took the time to show my friend and I the inside of both the passenger and freight portions of the station. You’ll note that in my photos of the inside of the passenger area, the floor is very shiny – the floors were completed earlier in the day and had not yet dried.

The Milton on Hudson station is split into two portions, one that dealt with freight, and the other side for passengers. Passenger service at the station continued up until the early 1950′s. Although the building had a long life as a rail station, it began a new life in the late 1960′s as a winery. The Kedem Winery operated out of the old station, selling wine and even holding wine tastings. By the late 1990′s the site no longer suited Kedem, and the owner donated the station to the town.

A lot of dedicated people have been working on restoring the 125+ year old Milton-on-Hudson station, and as I procrastinated on posting these photos, a few of them are now a bit out of date. New signs and light fixtures were installed after my visit, visible from the before and after shot below, which comes from the Friends of the Milton on Hudson Train Station Facebook page. The restoration of the station continues – if you happen to have any extra money lying around, as much as I’d love for you to give it to me, donating towards the restoration is a far more worthy cause. The restored station will serve as a community building, and the grounds will be a riverfront park – and I have a feeling that it will be gorgeous, thanks to the efforts of many hard-working volunteers.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Milton station, I suggest you check out this article, which has several old pictures and more postcard views.