Dan Antion

From the Archives–No. 1 – #ThursdayDoors

This is the exit from New Haven’s Union Station to the taxi stand. I always liked this photo.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been spending some time organizing digital photos. I’ve made a good amount of progress, but only on the basic goals. The ultimate goal, to have the best photos in a searchable online storage repository remains elusive. I hope to have things figured out well enough to write about the project on Monday. For today, I’m sure you’ve already guessed, I’m sharing a few of the interesting doors I found in the virtual shoe boxes.

Several photos are from a trip David Pennington and I took on the Green Mountain Railroad in 2006. Our train left from Chester, Vermont and wound its way along rivers and waterfalls. David and I are both fans of trains, so riding in a restored coach being pulled by a historic locomotive was probably enough. The scenery was the icing on the cake.

A few other photos are from the AIIM Conference in Philadelphia in 2006. There’s also a photo from the AIIM Conference in Boston. That conference was two years later, but this is what happens when photos are neglected for a dozen or so years.

Of course the reason for setting these photos aside, in addition to the good memories that brought back, was to prepare a post for Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors – the fun weekly bloghop featuring doors from around the world. Each week, Norm gathers door enthusiasts from all over the planet and asks them to link their doors to his. To see Norm’s doors, and the links to all the other doors, ride the rails up to Norm’s place.

If you’re interested in more details, the pictures are described in the gallery. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great weekend.

The Tadpole Playground and the Frog Pond are two children’s playgrounds inside the Boston Common. I was walking by on my way to catch a train.
Independence Visitor Center in Philadelphia.
For the authors who are reading, this is where books are printed on demand. A huge roll of paper feeds in at one end, it turns a few corners and bound books come out the other end. At the Philadelphia conference, they printed almost 1,000 copies of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for students in the public school system.
When the text of old books is inaccessible, the books can be scanned. The books sit in a V-shaped cradle. They are illuminated from above and photographed by digital cameras on opposite sides. Robotic arms with suction cups, turn the pages. The door to this thing is visible on the side.
I never pass up an opportunity to take a picture of a New Haven Railroad locomotive. My favorite.
AMTRAK Metroliner coach car. That’s the restroom door on the left, but just right of center – that’s a payphone.
This is the exit from New Haven’s Union Station to the taxi stand. I always liked this photo.
Modern hardware store, historic general store, or both?
Ticket Office in Chester, VT. The ticket office appears to be a half door.
Looking out the back door of the Green Mountain Railroad coach car.
As seen from the Green Mountain Railroad on our way north from Chester.
This old boxcar needs some TLC.
Restored coach car on the Green Mountain Railroad.
From the golden era of rail travel.
That’s David inspecting the locomotive.

80 comments

  3. Love the shot from back of train. The “modern hardware/historic general” made me laugh. My husband worked for years in Feinsod’s Hardware, a ServiStar store. The owner had three stores in Port Chester and Rye, NY and Greenwich, CT. Those three would fall under “modern”, but the original store, started by owners dad in a different location in Port Chester, would definitely be classified as “historic general”. It was crammed with everything under the sun, and that man could immediately lay his hand on anything you asked him for. Best store ever!
    🐾Ginger 🐾

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I’ve been in a few of those stores, and I’ve met a few of those old men. Once, the clerk told me they didn’t carry what I was looking for. The old man asked me what I wanted. He said “of course we have that,” and gave me directions right to it.

      Like

      Reply

  6. Good morning, Dan. I’m glad you did this. It’s fun to sometimes have a hodgepodge. I enjoyed seeing the printing pics. But the trains (and inside) were fabulous. My favorite is the view on the rails from the back of the coach. Now that’s a picture that tells a story! I love that one. I’m still trying to put the brakes on my imagination. Hugs!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Enjoyed the new/old hardware store. We had a store in Port Aransas with a sign over the counter. “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.” They usually had it. I loved the train photos, Dan. When I rode the New Haven line, all the cars were olive drab (at least I think they were) I loved the engine shot.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. I always took at least a few minutes to go see the huge honking printers once AIIM combined with . . . On Demand? Damn, I forget. Amazing pieces of machinery and often more interesting than the folks I had to talk to (present company excluded, though I don’t think I knew you then).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • The On Demand show was the best part of the show floor. I remember in Philly, seeing a big roll of paper at one end and bound books spewing out the other. I love big mechanical things. 2006 was my first year presenting at the old AIIM Conference and the first chance I had to meet you guys. Looking back, the people I met through AIIM were (still are) the best, even the ones who have moved on.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. This has also gotten me reinterested in looking into an historic train the runs somewhere around Gettysburg, think it runs an hour to an orchard and then back. Or something. I always tend to get distracted by the battlefield.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. The photo of the man walking in Union Station–I can see why that is a favorite of yours, Dan. Such a perfect capture. Good luck with the photo organization. I’ve been doing that with mine. First I created folders…..it is a never-ending project…..

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • It was a fun ride, Janet. They did a wonderful job on the restoration. Unlike a railway museum (which I also like visiting) this is a for profit operation, so I think the attention to detail has to be higher.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  24. Hi Dan – love the Tadpole playground … who could resist visiting that. But the door with the chap walking through – lots of thoughts there. Train rides … well I’ll leave you to that – though I know I’d enjoy the scenery …cheers Hilary

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  25. “What’s a pay phone, Grandpa?” You know, hanging out with you is getting me interested in trains. I deeply regret the local train shutting down to passenger excursions. And thank you for the pictures of the POD place where the magic happens. :)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • First, I have to explain what a phone call is, then we can talk about land lines and pay phones. The AIIM Conference used to share a show floor with the On Demand Conference. It was weird. On Demand showing ways to print more stuff and AIIM trying to persuade people to go paperless. Watching them turn a 6-foot roll of paper into a couple of hundred books, was fascinating.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  28. Organizing and categorizing images for (supposedly) easy look-up can be such a time-consuming thing. Maybe it’s just me overthinking it but I tend to get lost in the weeds whenever I try to set things up to my liking. I’ve been experimenting for years with different ideas and keywords and I’ve yet to find a system that’s totally to my satisfaction. Or maybe I’m too much of a perfectionist.
    I’ll hope you’ll write a post about it if and when you do end up with something you’re happy with.
    Cheers Dan :-)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I understand Norm. It’s a daunting task. On the other hand, there has to be a better way than wondering what month it was when I saw the Great Blue Heron in the CT River.

      Like

      Reply

  29. Photo clean-up is like a trip down the proverbial rabbit hole. It’s hard not to get drawn into the many memories. I enjoyed the photos of the book printing process. Production lines fascinate me and the ingenuity that’s gone into mechanizing repetitive tasks. I probably would have stood there watching the page turning process for an embarrassingly long period of time.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  30. Love all of the pics, especially the awesome ones of the old train car. They have something similar in the wine country of Northern Cal. I spent many a commuting hour on Amtrak between San Diego and LA….love trains!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  31. There are some great shots in there! I really like that doorway with person in long coat, and very much like the general store, but I love the train shots — especially the one with the rear view. Definitely worth organizing :) Treasure trove, prolly.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Add your thoughts or join the discussion. One relevant link is OK, more require moderation. Markdown is supported.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.