I didn't post to railpictures.net for a long time due to rejections.

But, I tried again. By adhering to the basic rules of lighting (no back-lighting, no high-noon shadows) and basic composition rules, I've had a 100% acception rate. OK, it may only be a dozen photos in the last year, but they were all accepted. One was rejected due to "Bad Cropping", but I appealed, basing the argument that the photo wasn't a picture of a train, but a picture of a train, river, mountain. It got accepted.

I post all my "good" photos to my albums on rrpicturearchives.net. If I really like a shot, and think it'll make it onto railpictures.net, I will submit it after careful consideration.

In looking at the photo that started this thread, no, it is not railpictures.net material. High noon and backlit. The subect, while interesting (I think so), may rightfully so be considered not interesting enough for the site. I don't think it is a west-of-the-Mississippi thing, either.

Try looking through the un-moderated photo sites (like rrpicturearchives.net) and see what happens when there are no standards!