Age of Steam: Color or Black and White?

Was the age of steam in black and white? No, of course not, but the temptation is there, when photographing ancient railroads, to render them in black and white. In early November of 2018 I spent a bright autumn day strolling around the old railroad yards of the Cumbres and Toltec historic railroad, at both ends of the line, that extends from Antonito in Southern Colorado to Chama in Northern New Mexico. The railroad is now a combination of working museum and tourist attraction, but when I visited the tourist season had ended, so I had the place largely to myself. The weather was perfect, with a light cool breeze complementing the sunshine. Most of the leaves had fallen and made for a colorful ground cover. The beautiful light, together with the joyful warm livery of the Cumbres and Toltec line, begged to be processed in color. This is what I did initially, and a selection of images from that day can be seen in this link to my photography galleries (click on the large image to get to the gallery display, and then navigate back and forth with the dots on the sides).

But then I thought that perhaps the age of steam was, indeed, in black and white. So I reprocessed some of the images in bright black and white, with a subtle silver-rich grain and the intent to make them look like glossy prints. Here they are. What works best, color or black and white? Remember to check here for the color versions.

All photographs were shot with a Contax Vario-Sonnar 35-70mm lens and Sony A7R camera, and processed to black and white in Capture One.