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Nov. 1st, 2009 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogAnd then I wrote this one. I still couldn't post it because I couldn't get my computer onto a wireless network at any of our stations long enough to post anything. I can't connect through my phone anymore; something is taking up all the virtual com ports. I think I know what it is, but I don't know how to get rid of it. I'll figure it out at some point. Or I'll rebuild the laptop.
Anyway,
Including the river I just passed over, I've seen three instances of old bridge foundations rising up from a river bed with no bridge to support any more. This pair was particularaly poignant; one oblong column of dark gray blocks still stood strong and upright, while nearer the opposite shore was a low, wide mound of them sticking just a few feet out of the water.
We just left Cumberland, Maryland a few minutes ago. (It's 3:06 as I write this.) We were supposed to be in Union Station in Washington about two hours ago, and we still have another three to go.
That's if the engine that was repaired at Cumberland doesn't konk out again. cross your digits for me. (I know, I know; this will be moot by the time you read this.)
I'm enjoying seeing the valleys and rivers on one side of us, and the steep embankments on the other side with their sometimes sharply slanted rock strat that seem to be driving into the ground like a stake.
Cumberland was home to an interesting, unexpected war memorial. It was very like the Vietnam memoria; four black stone walls inscribed with the names of soldiers who died in Desert Storm. I shot a number of pictures of that, as well as getting some good daylight shots of the domeliners taking up the rear. I exchanged a couple of comments with one of the domeliner occupants, saying that my mom remembers being in one of those on the way to California many years ago. "That's where they come from!" he said. He confirmed that they are charter cars. Signage on the cars and the beacon on the last car say Sierra Hotel. I'm going to look that up when I have internet again.
I had a conversation with another passenger while standing outside the train at Cumberland. He's a photographer who likes to take pictures of trains and police cars as a speciality. We exchanged tales of being hassled by authority while pictures, and talked about the Dixmoore area on the south side of Chicago. He told me that the locomotive rebuilder there used to allow railfans in to tour the place, but someone shot some video when they weren't supposed to, and now they don't allow peopple in any more. The midwest railfanning populace is rather upset with this guy I gather.
Wow! I love it when a big freight train whips by the lounge windows going the other direction, just a few feet away!
I have 62 pictures from New York edited, with tags and text for Flickr written. I did that this morning after breakfast. I started on my set from Kiddieland too; I have thirty pictures picked and edited. I have two hundred more to pick winners from (so far I'm averaging one out of ten), then I'm going to write tags and text for them all. I'm going to have a hella big Flickr update when I get around to it!
I wish I could get a picture of me sitting here in front of these picture windows, typing away; I feel so cool! *squee* We just ran through another tunnel! And of course, now that I'm on the south side of the loungs, most of the interesting stuff seems to be happening on the north side. It was precisely the opposite this morning. *laughs*
Well, back to pictures. I still have three more hours 'till DC; might as well be productive. Oh wow! A tall bridge over a river, followed immediately by a dive into a tunnel, followed by another tall bridge! That was awesome!
By the way; we finlly pulled into Union Station in Washington about five and a half hours behind schedule. I still had an awesome time on the train.
Anyway,
Including the river I just passed over, I've seen three instances of old bridge foundations rising up from a river bed with no bridge to support any more. This pair was particularaly poignant; one oblong column of dark gray blocks still stood strong and upright, while nearer the opposite shore was a low, wide mound of them sticking just a few feet out of the water.
We just left Cumberland, Maryland a few minutes ago. (It's 3:06 as I write this.) We were supposed to be in Union Station in Washington about two hours ago, and we still have another three to go.
That's if the engine that was repaired at Cumberland doesn't konk out again. cross your digits for me. (I know, I know; this will be moot by the time you read this.)
I'm enjoying seeing the valleys and rivers on one side of us, and the steep embankments on the other side with their sometimes sharply slanted rock strat that seem to be driving into the ground like a stake.
Cumberland was home to an interesting, unexpected war memorial. It was very like the Vietnam memoria; four black stone walls inscribed with the names of soldiers who died in Desert Storm. I shot a number of pictures of that, as well as getting some good daylight shots of the domeliners taking up the rear. I exchanged a couple of comments with one of the domeliner occupants, saying that my mom remembers being in one of those on the way to California many years ago. "That's where they come from!" he said. He confirmed that they are charter cars. Signage on the cars and the beacon on the last car say Sierra Hotel. I'm going to look that up when I have internet again.
I had a conversation with another passenger while standing outside the train at Cumberland. He's a photographer who likes to take pictures of trains and police cars as a speciality. We exchanged tales of being hassled by authority while pictures, and talked about the Dixmoore area on the south side of Chicago. He told me that the locomotive rebuilder there used to allow railfans in to tour the place, but someone shot some video when they weren't supposed to, and now they don't allow peopple in any more. The midwest railfanning populace is rather upset with this guy I gather.
Wow! I love it when a big freight train whips by the lounge windows going the other direction, just a few feet away!
I have 62 pictures from New York edited, with tags and text for Flickr written. I did that this morning after breakfast. I started on my set from Kiddieland too; I have thirty pictures picked and edited. I have two hundred more to pick winners from (so far I'm averaging one out of ten), then I'm going to write tags and text for them all. I'm going to have a hella big Flickr update when I get around to it!
I wish I could get a picture of me sitting here in front of these picture windows, typing away; I feel so cool! *squee* We just ran through another tunnel! And of course, now that I'm on the south side of the loungs, most of the interesting stuff seems to be happening on the north side. It was precisely the opposite this morning. *laughs*
Well, back to pictures. I still have three more hours 'till DC; might as well be productive. Oh wow! A tall bridge over a river, followed immediately by a dive into a tunnel, followed by another tall bridge! That was awesome!
By the way; we finlly pulled into Union Station in Washington about five and a half hours behind schedule. I still had an awesome time on the train.
