In The Shadow of Father's Day

On November 29, 1997 we were at Kingston station, trackside with my Dad. That afternoon between 1230 and 1630 we observed VIA Nos 57, 42, 60; CN Nos 308, 395 and lastly 361, which was westbound with CN engines 5434-9612-9464 (above). See my Dad's shadow on the platform as he photographs the oncoming 91-car train? He captioned the photo with the pertinent train information plus "Eric got down the numbers!" It always seemed to impress him that I could scribble locomotive and car numbers as trains thundered by. 

The same day, my Dad's shadow is in another photo he took. This photo's caption "Hide and seek at the station! Eric is giving Erika a lift as Andrew comes around on the other side." While waiting for the next train, we strolled the platform together, sometimes scampering around the spruces of the station landscaping. The shadows meant that all was sunny. If you follow me in this little corner of cyberspace that I call Trackside Treasure, you'll know that this is my first Father's Day with my Dad no longer with us. English writer Thomas Browne, who, like my Dad, dabbled in the worlds of language, science and the esoteric, wrote:

"Life itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows of the living."

And from the Book of Job:

"For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, because our days on earth are as a shadow."

There are many articles available on removing shadows from photographs. Some think that they detract from the photo's subject. I'll leave these just as they are, thanks. You'll see in the top sidebar that I continue to dedicate this year's Trackside Treasure posts, from January to this June through to December, to LCG 1927-2014.