Rules: - Screenshot should be in some way (can be very tenuous) linked to a theme. Otherwise anything goes. - You can enter up to 3 screenshots, posted as separate posts. You can delete and replace if you wish. - Entries to be submitted by 12pm Friday, August 6th (EST). - Previous week's winner to decide winner (can't enter themselves). - The winner chooses the new theme for next week (and becomes the new judge). We've had a lot of historical themes lately, so why not go for something more...futuristic? This week's theme will be: 'Retro'. In other words, try to encapsulate this into a screenshot, though it can be pretty loose. This will be judged by me, that one Northeast guy and 80s buff, NEC Railfan...
A trio of Conrail SD40-2s pause in the Port Jervis, New York yard with a long loaded coal train bound for the Newark, NJ area's gigantic factories and power stations on a crisp October 1992 day. Once a new crew boards, the train will be set to run down the Bergen Line to a yard in Hudson County.
.................. as viewed from the other end. Rather grand you must admit, or should that be Grande?
Retro, 80s, but necessarily super-historical huh? Fun theme and a challenge. Let's see if I can pull it off thinking out of the box a bit. Remember back in the day when kids actually were required to draw something with crayons and paint? Remember when at school on various mother's days, grandma's days, national holidays etc you had to draw something for the occasion? Here's my retro entry 01: My grandpa did in fact drive trains and I was a kid in the 80s. Though this image is cheating a bit, as he was not British and he drove steam locomotives in the 40s and 50s. By the time I was a kid, he was already an official at the ministry of transport in the rail department. Also, I never had even remotely that level of drawing skills at school...
Well, entry 01 was very 1980s but didn't really have the pink&purple neon synthwave feel of the the reference image provided by NEC Railfan. Thus, retro entry 02 will go in the exact opposite direction: Spoiler: SPOILER (original image below -not part of the entry)
Hmm... Well the theme actually just said "retro", not "retrofuturistic neon 1980s synthwave", so there's quite a bit of leeway. For example, you could make a steam train screenshot and use it to make a spoof of a 1980s magzine cover of "Steam Railway" or "Steam Days". ... just a suggestion.
Retro: of a style, fashion, or design from the recent past. So I guess it depends what you consider the "recent past"
Well, the rule-of-thumb definition of "history" is "everything before you were born". To my knowledge however there's no rule-of-thumb definition of "recent past". I think we can all come a most sensible gentleman's agreement that by "near past" we will understand all events that happened after the January uprising.
OK, so I'll add a bit of neon to this weeks competition. Class 43 HST crosses the famous Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar by Brunel.
I was thinking of making a poster for an event, but ended up with a leaflet. Here is my retro entry 03:
A set of Conrail units race along the meadowlands west of Hoboken's Croxton Yard on a sunny spring afternoon in the mid 90's. Route Used: New York Division - Bergen Line Locomotive Used: EMD SD70MAC
An old Amtrak poster from the early 1990's advertising their San Diegan service between LA and San Diego. Route Used: Pacific Surfliner Locomotive Used: EMD F40PH
An NJT F40PH-2CAT coasts along a bridge through northern New Jersey's "Meadowlands" with a commuter service to Suffern (on the Bergen Line) during a warm Saturday afternoon in July of 1997. Note the ditch lights, which were recently added as per the FRA's safety regulations.
Very good shot. If it wasn't for the loco, the landscape and the concrete bed would make me think his is west Ukraine,
Hate to be a stick-in-the-mud, but August 6th is Friday. So... is the deadline Friday EOD or Saturday EOD? I'm asking as, due to my professional life, I will be out of internet communication on Saturday and will be back only on Sunday evening (Euro hours).
Alright, so I guess this was a weird theme for this week, and I'm sorry if I caused any confusion/annoyance. So my picks are: In 3rd place we have Random Railfan with a really nice shot of some Conrail SD40-2s, it was a combination of both one of my favorite schemes and routes. In 2nd is Ardaisher with a beautiful image of the classic retro futuristic sunset featuring a Class 87 - a UK favorite. But in 1st place, I'll have to give it to Buynot with the F40 and Amfleets, quintessential 80s Amtrak, sporting more favorites in paint schemes and rolling stock. There were also some other shots that I want to give special mention to. Another of Ardaisher's amazing edits with prominent 80s diesel power. Another appearance of Big Blue by Buynot on the Bergen. Classic Seaboard and Chessie sharing a coal train by JGRudnick, with the Geep on the rear wearing CSX's new stealth job. Overall, great job to everyone who competed, it was very hard to judge this one. But now I pass off the role to Buynot.
Wait I won?! I thought for sure Ardaeishir would've taken the top spot. I'll have the new thread up shortly. EDIT: New thread is up now! https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/unofficial-3rd-party-screenshot-comp-week-20.43147/