MI Archives - Laughing Frog Images

Great Lakes Boats Gallery Added

Posted on January 21, 2015January 19, 2015 by Kurt

The Great Lakes Boats Gallery has been added to Laughing Frog Images!

No, it’s not little boats on the Great Lakes. What would be called a “ship” if it were on the oceans is called a “boat” on the Great Lakes. I don’t know the story – it just is. Keep in mind that some of these “boats” are 1000 feet long! Kinda changes ones perspective on the word boat, doesn’t it?

On the other hand, an ocean going boat on the Great Lakes is known as a “salty.” Ocean, salt water, well, that makes a little more sense.

There are also tugboats and barges, retired boats serving as barges, and ATBs (Articulated Tugs and Barges) like the Lakes Contender and Ken Boothe Sr. that ply the Great Lakes, and you’ll eventually see some of those here as well.

The St. Clair River between Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair is a renowned boatwatching area.

Those who follow railroading and photograph trains have Trainorders.com.

Those who follow Great Lakes boats and photograph them have Boatnerd.com, whose world headquarters is in Port Huron, Michigan in land once occupied by the Pere Marquette / Chesapeake & Ohio / Chessie System / CSX rail yards and carferry docks.

The Great Lakes Boats gallery compliments the standalone gallery for the Algoma Montrealis – the last Canadian steam ship on the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Boats gallery will feature boats I’ve photographed on the St. Clair River, Detroit River, St. Lawrence River, and Welland Canal over the years. This gallery will take some time to fill out, as some of the images have to be located and scanned.

Check out the gallery for something different!

PH&D Collages added!

Posted on January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 by Kurt

For the 30th anniversary of the end of the PH&D as we knew it, I created five PH&D collages as viewed through my lenses and captured on Kodachrome from 1982-1984.

Four versions of the PH&D collages were donated to and auctioned off at the December 2014 meeting of the Port Huron and Detroit Railroad Historical Society to help them in their fundraising efforts.

Now, all five are available on Laughing Frog Images in the Port Huron and Detroit Color Collages gallery. Any of them will print in full in 2×3 format – any other ratio will result in cropping.

As with the main Port Huron and Detroit in Color gallery, half of the profits from this gallery will be donated to the PH&D HS.

If you don’t purchase a PH&D product from Laughing Frog Images, please visit their page, and consider joining or making a donation to assist them in bringing Alco S-1 #52 home!

Detroit Toledo & Ironton, MI, 1982-84

Posted on November 13, 2014November 8, 2014 by Kurt

We’ve added a new gallery to Laughing Frog Images – Detroit Toledo & Ironton in Michigan, 1982-1984.

Much like the Grand Trunk Western, the Detroit Toledo & Ironton in eastern Michigan was a natural side trip to the pursuits of the Port Huron and Detroit.

Detroit Toledo & Ironton’s Flat Rock Yard was an easy diversion off of I-75 between Toledo and Detroit. DT&I power was showing up on the GTW in Port Huron.

And, back then, in a galaxy far far away in a time long ago, as long as you checked in, stayed off of the tracks and equipment, and didn’t do anything stupid, you could take your pictures in peace.

So, it was easy.

But… easy shooting of the DT&I didn’t always mean that it was in the best light. As a matter of fact, sometimes the light was downright terrible. every once in a while, I got lucky – but it seems like high noon and clouds were the norm fo rme back then. I’ve tried to make all of the images as close to perfect as I can, but in some cases, they’re dark below the frame. Some look like they’re floating on a sea of black. I debated whether or not to include some of them – but I decided to include them, as a dark underframe on a DT&I unit is better than no DT&I unit at all. The Detroit Toledo & Ironton was disappearing during this time, and I tried to make the most of the opportunities I had.

The ultimate question that arises from this gallery is simple: which one is the correct shade of DT&I orange?

As with the GTW gallery, this gallery will likely appeal to model railroaders as well as the ferroequinologists out there.

Enjoy!

Grand Trunk Western, MI, ’82-’84

Posted on November 10, 2014November 8, 2014 by Kurt

We’ve added a new gallery to Laughing Frog Images – Grand Trunk Western in eastern Michigan, 1982-1984.

The Grand Trunk Western in eastern Michigan was a natural side trip to the pursuits of the Port Huron and Detroit from 1982 to 1984.

Their Tunnel Yard office was directly across the Pere Marquette and Grand Trunk Western mains from the PH&D office.

Everything in and out of Port Huron (PH&D, PM (as the ex-PM/C&O/Chessie System was known, and the Trunk) went by or near Tappan Tower at the West end of the yard.

The Trunk had a regular run-through freight with the Milwaukee Road, so you could see Milwaukee power in Port Huron. The assimilation of the Detroit Toledo and Ironton was taking place during this time, as was the assimilation of the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line. Assimilation meant variety, and also lament. There were ex-Rock Island GP38-2’s running around in patched Rock Island paint. There was variety…

The Tunnel Yard engine facility was wide open. Switchers and Geeps lay in wait. One of the shades of GT blue was the correct one! And, there were still some units running around in GT black.

Detroit Toledo and Ironton’s Flat Rock Yard was an easy diversion off of I-75 between Toledo and Detroit.

And, back then, in a galaxy far far away in a time long ago, as long as you checked in, stayed off of the tracks and equipment, and didn’t do anything stupid, you could take your pictures in peace.

So, it was easy.

But… the PH&D was the main attraction, and easy shooting of the Trunk didn’t always mean that everything was always in the best light. I’ve tried to make the images as close to perfect as I can, but in some cases, they’re dark below the frame. I debated whether or not to include some of them – but I decided to include them, as a dark underframe on a GTW unit is better than no GTW unit at all.

That said, I captured a reasonable representation of the GTW in eastern Michigan in that time frame. This gallery will likely appeal to model railroaders as well as the ferroequinologists out there.

Enjoy!

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