The Road to Nowhere
The Road to Nowhere
The unused tracks of the "Impossible Railroad" run south towards Mexico and over the Campo Creek Viaduct with the Milky Way rising in the background.
The Impossible Railroad was a rail line that ran from San Diego in the west, south through Mexico before coming back up north into the United States near Campo on its way east towards El Centro was dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved.
The rail line construction began in 1907 and was finished in 1919 running into many physical and logistical obstacles along the way. From the rough and inhospitable terrain of the Carrizo Gorge to revolutions in Mexico that stopped construction for a short period of time on the section of track that ran through Mexico. In 1916 a great flood augmented by the failure and collapse of Lower Otay Dam created devastating damage to the Otay Valley and the tracks that ran through there. Its a wonder the line was ever completed. Now the section of line that runs through the United States sits unused, becoming more of a point of interest to local adventures.
After shooting the Milky Way earlier in the evening as it came up over the horizon I retired to my car to catch some sleep until the Milky Way would become vertical in the sky around 1:30 am. I went to sleep at 11am without a cloud in the sky, when I woke up at 1 am and scrambled out of my car I found that the sky was covered with clouds, but I was still able to capture this sky image when there was a small break in the clouds as they moved across the night sky. I was hoping to use my star tracker for a better image of the Milky Way but with all the clouds in the night sky that was not a option and I needed to keep the ISO levels and exposure time down to not blow out the clouds that where picking up all the light from the local light pollution in the area.
Photo Blend
Foreground taken at Blue Hour
ISO 100, 12 mm, f/2.8, 2.5 seconds x 4 photos for focus stacking.
Sky Image
ISO 4000, 12 mm, f/2.8, 25 seconds
The Road to Nowhere
The Road to Nowhere
The unused tracks of the "Impossible Railroad" run south towards Mexico and over the Campo Creek Viaduct with the Milky Way rising in the background.
The Impossible Railroad was a rail line that ran from San Diego in the west, south through Mexico before coming back up north into the United States near Campo on its way east towards El Centro was dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved.
The rail line construction began in 1907 and was finished in 1919 running into many physical and logistical obstacles along the way. From the rough and inhospitable terrain of the Carrizo Gorge to revolutions in Mexico that stopped construction for a short period of time on the section of track that ran through Mexico. In 1916 a great flood augmented by the failure and collapse of Lower Otay Dam created devastating damage to the Otay Valley and the tracks that ran through there. Its a wonder the line was ever completed. Now the section of line that runs through the United States sits unused, becoming more of a point of interest to local adventures.
After shooting the Milky Way earlier in the evening as it came up over the horizon I retired to my car to catch some sleep until the Milky Way would become vertical in the sky around 1:30 am. I went to sleep at 11am without a cloud in the sky, when I woke up at 1 am and scrambled out of my car I found that the sky was covered with clouds, but I was still able to capture this sky image when there was a small break in the clouds as they moved across the night sky. I was hoping to use my star tracker for a better image of the Milky Way but with all the clouds in the night sky that was not a option and I needed to keep the ISO levels and exposure time down to not blow out the clouds that where picking up all the light from the local light pollution in the area.
Photo Blend
Foreground taken at Blue Hour
ISO 100, 12 mm, f/2.8, 2.5 seconds x 4 photos for focus stacking.
Sky Image
ISO 4000, 12 mm, f/2.8, 25 seconds