-Agreed.
-Me too.
-Agreed.

Without some context (beyond what's provided in the required fields) a photo is meaningless. Is it that difficult to write a sentence or two? If it's so unimportant that you can't fathom a sentence or two, why the hell did you even bother to take the photograph in the first place? (Let alone edit it and post it.)

A photo with no caption rarely sees the light of day on my computer (beyond the thumbnail); I tend to skip right past them.

Your efforts show, Doug, and are appreciated.
/Ted

This is a pet peeve of mine too.... When someone posts a shot with 'January 2020' as the date for example it drives me nuts.

OK, but if a slide photographer was not highly organized, all they have is the date the roll was processed.

My pet peeves? Small photos. Excessive watermarks. Train's direction of travel not given.

My pet peeve is photographers who post 25+ images of the same special train or event.....and use the same, lame caption for every last one. Then, 6 months later, they'll post a few more....and dredge up the same damn caption. :roll:

Sounds like a non-rail guy I follow on Flickr. Endless supply of the same sunset. And he always gets over 50 faves. But he does post an outstanding shot occasionally.

Good deal! Glad it worked out for you.

Or figured it was different enough to fly?

Loyd L.

Fair enough, but I'm talking about digital photos as per the quote that I had quoted. Pretty easy to get a date for a digital photo take in January 2020.

There could be privacy issues giving the date. I have seen video of harassment of rail fans who are not trespassing even in the US. It is becoming an issue here where alleged trespass can result. Fines here are up to $20,000. I don't know if any railroad management monitors this site but they do for Facebook groups which include employees - public knowledge which group administrators remind us of.

Or maybe the photographer was supposed to be at work and was out accomplishing nothing for his employer.

Sounds rather draconian!
But what is the typical outcome if one is caught trespassing there?

If they get caught by a train it can be rather bad. I hope that this thread can now get back on track. This might help...

https://www.railpictures.net/viewrej...01&key=8415377. OK it's not that sunny but there the sun is never right for a train. I had a another shot in same area with less light accepted years ago receiving good response: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/572367/

Years ago, I would re-submit after a few months and often photo would be accepted with no further editing. Others have been resubmitted with very minor tweaks that wouldn't even be discerned by a viewer such as with this one: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/686681/ Most of these photos are received as well as photos never rejected.

It seems to be more often we are seeing rejected images that the consensus in this forum is that they should have been accepted then are accepted after maybe some minor tweaks to receive the response they deserve. It does now seem that the photo screening preferences are getting too picky for many of us. That's driving away contributors and viewers instead of attracting them.

A footnote, in the context of the subject of this thread, is that a lot, if not most, of the most popular photos I have on this site could have been rejected and many were. If that is common-place, there should be more concern about photos not allowed in than the few that we wonder how they got through. I know virtually all newbie photo up-loaders from this country quickly gave up and RP reputation is actually tarnished here rather than enhanced.

Left empty handed....
 

I mentioned earlier in this thread a peeve on mine, is accepted photos with no description. This accepted shot caught my eye and while I still like the shot, I am left somewhat disappointed once again. Here we have an interesting shot and I have not idea what else is going on (other than the obvious of two steamers rolling the country side). Now to some people the answers to my questions below may be obvious but to those of us whose knowledge base of railroading is still growing, we are left emptied handed. Maybe the poster doesn't now either or maybe there is a language barrier since the poster is from France. If language is an issue, post it in your langue and I will copy and paste to an online translator even if the conversion is not completely correct, at least I may have some answers to my questions and have a better knowledge of what was going on when the photographer took the pic.

Here are the questions that automatically popped into my mind at first glance;
1.) Why does the lead loco have such a smaller tender (if any) than the trailing loco?

2.) What type of cars are they pulling / What is in them?

3.) Since it's a late afternoon fall shot, the fields appear to have been planted with winter grass to control erosion. Am I correct? If so what was the summer crop?

Again, these may seem trivial or obvious questions/answers but there are people who do not know. Complete your masterpiece by giving me a story and a reason to visit you part of the world or as us ole coutry boys would say, "Your neck of the woods".

[photoid=734876]

I caption all my photos posted online but have never thought about including such information, which in most cases might be unknown unless obvious or common local knowledge. The lack of captions could be due to high rejection rates here for foreign train photography. I only submit one photo at a time now due to the inability to simply re-submit a rejected image after correction with all the data fields preserved. I was getting so many multiple rejections at one stage I thought of adding caption info later but realized that, due to time zones, many folks would see the photo before I could add a caption. A caption will increase interest and views (if only to read all of it LOL.) I have been asked quite a few questions about details in my photos here through comments or member contact. Often I don't know the answer and I then post the question in Facebook groups to find the answer. I find the RP community at large very good at answering my questions on photos too (which I might add is usually using English as second language.) In this photo the wagons usually carry coal but are likely empty for what I presume is a photo freight. I would be most interested if freight is being steam hauled nowadays! The caption info should explain why a special is running and who owns the locomotives or other rolling stock. That honors the hard work put in by organizers for such trips and helps viewers find out more about their activities.

While I wouldn't have thought to necessarily answer the questions you posed, a good caption can often be a good starting point to either ask the photographer or do addtional research on your own.

With so much of this hobby revolving around history and documentation, I never understood why some photographers feel there is no need for any caption, or worse, a caption that offers no information whatsoever like is common on some other platforms.

That one I can help with. The lead loco is a tank engine. It carries water in tanks beside the boiler and fuel in a small bunker just behind the cab. Back in the day, it would probably have been uncommon to see such dissimilar locos working in tandem, but in preservation railroads, anything goes. The power you have is the power you have.

Those look like bottom-dump hoppers. No idea what, if anything is in them. On most US steam railroads, if you see hoppers and there is anything in them, it is likely stone for ballast.

That one, I can't help you with. :lol:

I'm just the opposite. I tend to go overboard on captions. :lol:

Thanks for the info and I pay attention to every detail.... While what was grown in the field is sort of irrelevant, my curiosity has me wondering, simply because the shot location is in Germany. I more than likely will never have the opportunity to go to Germany but should that chance happen, it is interesting to know what they grow versus what I have seen and know what is grown here locally, on the East coast of 'Murica.

Oh yeah I've always enjoyed reading the amount of detail and information in your captions. Keep it up!

I like informative descriptions. I'm not a fan of flowery BS enhancement though.

"On a beautiful golden Spring morning, Three powerful General Electric diesel locomotives struggle mightily on a black ribbon of loaded CSX coal hoppers high on an ancient mountain of the Appalachian range near the small hamlet of Tuckahoe, West Virginia. :D

Loyd L.

We should quietly hold a competition on RP to see who can create a 30-word caption with the most adjectives and adverbs. :grin:

Remind me in two or three months when I upload another photo. :D

Loyd L.

Maybe someone can adapt this for caption purposes.

https://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html

I will make use of that generator the next time I have to fire off an RBE (Role Based Exception) to corporate at work. :D

Loyd L.

Not bad. But you need some more weather references. Maybe add "the dark clouds of a threatening thunderstorm on the horizon" or describe just how unusually hot/cold it was.:p
/Ted

I just need some lessons. I'll do better next time I promise! :D

Loyd L.