We all knew something had happened, but what exactly we couldn't yet know. I squeezed my upper torso out of the window to see what might have happened. Others down the line of the train did the same, still others jumped from the doorways down to the ballast beside the tracks, their vacant doorways quickly filled by still more inquisitive eyes.

Catching an image of the sun as it appears in 'the perfect spot' is always a matter of playing a game of chance with the weather. As we...