| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad 2-8-0 Class D-1 453 builders plate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sometime during 1884, photo by Baldwin Locomotive Works, Chuck Zeiler collection. Builders photos were generally done with 8X10 view cameras, producing an eight inch by ten inch negative which could be retouched by hand to produce an almost flawless image. When printiing, the print was contact printed with the negative, that is, the negative and print paper touched each other and were pressed between a board and a piece of glass, then exposed to light. As a result, the print yielded exceptional detail, as seen here. The detail of the builders plate can be read, even off a photograph of the entire locomotive. |