View allAll Photos Tagged Realigning
The Mechannibal is an unstoppable mechanical monster, endlessly destroying, dismembering and absorbing parts of everything that gets in its way
Finally done with uploading my old stuff (I think), so here's something I just built recently.
This build started with the idea for minifig bodies with jetpacks as feet and from there on I just never stopped adding greebling.
I always try to have my models look good from every angle and I'm especially happy with how well it worked out with this one.
Also it actually has some decent articulation (because it’s built around a mixel joint skeleton), mostly in the shoulders, hips, ankles and waist, but it’s a pain, because after moving a limb a ton of tiny parts on the outside need to be realigned to fill all the gaps.
I wish this job had two units or at least the one was facing west but regardless it was still a treat to finally shoot something here. As I've mentioned many times, one of my favorite subjects to photograph are Class 1 branchline locals and until low this little stretch of track had eluded me.
CSXT West Springfield based local L038 is a Mon-Fri local on duty at 1030 that handles work on the mainline as well as the Athol Industrial Track and other chores in the Springfield area. They are seen here in this view looking east from the Hendee Street crossing as solo GP40-2 CSXT 6209 works the Athol Industrial Track 'Old Way' which is just a short stub branching off the Berkshire Sub mainline at CP96 and passing under I291 and reaching only about a mile to serve a few customers.
This little stub is so named because long ago it once reached more than 40 miles to its namesake town along what ultimately became the Boston and Maine's Fitchburg Route mainline. Built as the Springfield, Athol and North-Eastern Railroad it opened in 1873 and was only independent for a few years until being swallowed up by the Boston and Albany in 1880. It remained a in service for a half century until 1934 when the northern 29 miles were abandoned due to a large portion of the route which followed the Swift River valley was soon to be flooded by the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. Five years later in 1939 ten more miles from Ludlow to Bondsville were abandoned leaving only the branchline that survives to this day reaching the large chemical plant in Indian Orchard. I'm not sure as to when this end of the branch was realigned but Interestingly there are actually two Athol Industrial tracks in Springfield, this one known as the Old Way and then the main Athol Industrial stem which also diverges from the mainline at CP96 but stays south of I291 and extends a bit over three miles to the Eastman Chemical plant in the village of Indian Orchard.
Springfield, Massachusetts
Thursday October 17, 2024
Changes are beginning to appear as southbound Santa Fe Train 424 follows a serpentine route through Denver’s Platte Valley on August 23, 1986. Once the site of Burlington Northern’s 19th Street intermodal yard, rail and ties have been lifted, mainline tracks will be realigned and in time, massive re-development of the area will commence.
Dominating the background of this (today totally unrecognizable) scene, are the 20th Street Viaduct, (since rebuilt) and left-to-right, the Longmont Mills Building, (today rebuilt into the Flour Mill lofts and apartments), the Regency Hotel and Dave Cook Furniture, (the large red brick warehouse building).
Leading the daily Denver-Kansas City train is a nicely matched set of blue & yellow Santa Fe GE and EMD power. Up front are B23-7’s 6401 and 6361, (built in April, 1980 and April, 1978) followed by GP38u’s 2330 (built in August, 1970, rebuilt in October, 1984) and 2305 (built in June, 1970, rebuilt in September 1984).
Old Bayview Ave Bridge.
It's been long abandoned, bypassed by the Bayview realignment and high level bridge that towers just to the west in 1929. It's been sitting idle in the valley for almost 100 years without traffic.
Toronto, Ontario
Olympus TG-4
Processed using Apple’s photos editor followed by Affinity’s haze removal app. .
Color fringing, chromatic aberration, is clearly visible on the upper moon limb. It’s time to take the camera to Best Buy for realignment of the optics.
I now have an appointment at Best Buy tomorrow.
The old Arroyo Hondo Bridge built in 1918. Originally part of Highway 101, the bridge was decommissioned in the 1980s after realignment of the highway. Gaviota, California
BR Brush Type 2 D5578 - in experimental blue livery - at Colchester station in August 1960
The loco had entered service in January, in all-over blue, but now has the cab roof painted white, and lighter-coloured window surrounds. The loco remained in this livery - with the later addition of small yellow warning panels - until 1964, when it was repainted in 'standard' BR dark green. It was later painted in a different shade of blue, as Class 31 31160, and was withdrawn at the start of 2000, and scrapped.
Colchester station had started its rebuilding and platform realignment ready for electrification to London, and the pronounced curve in the platform, seen in the distance, will soon be straightened.
There is already a 25Kv EMU service from here to Clacton and Walton, which commenced in March 1959, and one of the overhead supports for this can be seen on the left, by the bay platform terminus just out of shot.
Many Class 31s have been preserved, and a few are still in occasional use on UK mainline tracks.
Restored from an under-exposed grainy blue-colour-shifted (Agfa) original..
Original slide - property of Robert Gadsdon
The World's Oldest Subway Tunnel And Its Advocate. Bob Diamond, a local Brooklyn resident, for years talked about finding the "lost" former Brooklyn and Jamaica/Long Island Rail Road (current day MTA LIRR) "Cobble Hill" or "Atlantic Avenue" Tunnel (not the current alignment). The whole story would take up books, but the tunnel carried trains from 1845-1861, itself a realignment from street running, and is considered the World's Oldest Subway Tunnel. From then until Bob rediscovered it in 1980 and crawled through the 2 foot wide passage, is was mostly sealed up and closed. Bob spent untold hours excavating all of the dirt by hand, eventually running his own walking tours. One of those things that we thought would be around forever, I hadn't prioritized it but finally went down for the tour with Bob on December 6, 2009. We entered through a manhole in the middle of the street and as advertised it was old, dark, dirty and gigantic. About a year later, the city pulled the permit for him to run tours and it has not been restored since. Bob died in 2021, and the future of this tunnel is unknown.
Full album and full resolution pics and prints: www.riverrailphoto.com/lirratlanticavenuetunnel
NGA CAMPUS EAST
NOTE: This image is an HDR, or High Dynamic Range image, and is a combination of three photos.
FORT BELVOIR NORTH AREA, Va. -- An early morning exterior view of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East project here, Oct. 12, 2010. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, part of the North Atlantic Division, is managing design and construction of the $1.7 billion project. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo illustration by Marc Barnes)
NGA CAMPUS EAST
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Marc Barnes
(RELEASED) June 30, 2010 - An aerial view of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Campus East main office building being constructed at Fort Belvoir North Area, Va.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District is managing design and construction of the $1.7 billion facility as part of Base Realignment and Closure 2005 programs at and around Fort Belvoir.
QJ 6977 makes steady progress westward towards Daban on the Jitong Railway between Dariqiga and Chaganhada. This section of the line has subsequently seen extensive rebuilding and realignment.
A shot uploaded purely for interest value captures Deltic 55021 "Argyll & Sutherland Highlander", hustling through the centre road at Retford with an unidentified up express to London Kings Cross.
Interest value because Retford was still controlled by semaphores signals at the time, and the down platform and buildings were still intact. Not long afterwards the building on the left was removed, the platform and track realigned for faster running, and colour light signalling introduced - all part of the East Coast Mainline modernisation plan.
In fact the track layout had already been considerably simplified by the time this shot was taken with the sharp turn-out to the Worksop line just in front of Retford North Signal Box presumably clipped and out of use, and the complex structure of crossovers and points from the Worksop line to the Up Fast and Up Platform lines also removed.
Ilford FP4 rated at 125asa
10th August 1975
The name originally given the "Big Hill" was the original 4.5% eastbound grade out of Field, BC, that directly assaulted the Continental Divide at Kicking Horse Pass, as a better solution could be engineered. Canada Highway 1 mostly follows this original line. The grade was realigned in 1909 with the Spriral Tunnels. This lowered most of the grade to 2.2%. However this section from Field to the Cathedral Tunnel is still 2.4% making it one of the steepest sections of mainline grade in North America. Railroaders still often refer to this mountain as "The Big Hill"....
NGA CAMPUS EAST
FORT BELVOIR NORTH AREA, Va. -- Several contractors with Safway Inc., working in the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Campus East facility, disassemble scaffolding here, July 27, 2010. The scaffolding was erected to allow contractors to work safely while installing the arched roof of the building, and is disassembled one piece at a time, and then passed down the scaffolding to tethered workers positioned on each level. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District is managing design and construction of the $1.7 billion project as part of 2005 Base Realignment and Closure military construction programs which are ongoing at or near Fort Belvoir. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Marc Barnes)
With the first car's door open showing an impatient conductor ready to step off his charge, Amtrak southbound Adirondack is about to stop at the hand throw switch at Cantic, the junction point between CN-owned Rouses Point and Swanton subdivisions.
Despite the switch being already lined the good way for Adirondack in order to continue its trip toward the border with New York State, CN dispatcher had another plan.
Behind me, stopped clear of Cantic's three road crossing was CN L529 who's waiting its turn toward Montréal after a long night on the road.
The poor Amtrak crew had to use the Swanton subdivision as a siding, heading into it in order to clear the Rouses Point subdivision and let the two CSX units in charge of L529 proceed northbound before backing clear of Cantic, realign themselves on the Rouses Point subdivision and finally proceed southbound for it's next stop; the US custom at the Rouses Point station.
Not a long time ago, Cantic with its diamond crossing and multiple legs connecting the two subdivisions was all remote-controlled by the CN dispatcher.
Amtrak P69421-10
514
Milepost 5.29 CN Rouses Point subdivision
Lacolle,QC
January 10th 2018
Conrail train ALCG (Allentown – Corning) rolls past Mauser Milling in Treichlers, Pennsylvania, on an early spring day in 1989. The track configuration at Treichlers changed quite a bit over the years, including the one-time double track being single tracked and realigned between the two former tracks. Lineside trees have since encroached on this location
Noted photographer Garland McKee was certainly on my mind when I tripped over the shutter for this one... Having just emerged from Little Tom Tunnel, westbound empties continue grinding upgrade at Banner, Virginia on the N&W Clinch Valley District. The superior rock pile looming in the background carries a realignment of US Alternate 58 across a hollow to reach the top of Pine Mountain.
Appropriately, the date was April 1, 2023.
Track Switch. On Saturday, July 29, 2023, AMTK MP15DC 539 (née-PLE 1597, EMD, 5/1975) led a string of stone cars across the Warehouse Point Railroad Bridge above the Connecticut River on the Amtrak MRS(Mill River to Springfield)/Springfield Line from Windsor Locks to Enfield, Connecticut, becoming the first train to travel on these tracks in several decades. Recent weekend outages on the line prepared for this final step on the part of the project to realign the existing tracks to carry trains over this track on the geographically north side of the bridge while repairs are made to the track on the south side of the bridge. This girder bridge with a truss main span was built in 1866, rebuilt in 1903, and is presently being rebuilt again to secure its future. The train dropped ballast on the new alignment on both sides of the bridge as well as making several extra trips across to help settle the new track in place.
BRAC 133
NOTE: This image is an HDR, or High Dynamic Range image, and is a combination of three photos.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- An early morning exterior view of the Department of Defense Office Complex (BRAC 133) project here, Oct. 5, 2010. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District, part of the North Atlantic Division, is managing design and construction of the $1.08 billion project. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo illustration by Marc Barnes)
NGA CAMPUS EAST
FORT BELVOIR NORTH AREA, Va. -- Brig. Gen. Peter "Duke" DeLuca, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division commander, and Martin Dougherty, a civil engineer working on the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East project, view ongoing work in the atrium of the NGA building here Nov. 2, 2010. The $1.7 billion NCE project is being constructed as part of ongoing 2005 Base Realignment and Closure programs on and around Fort Belvoir. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Marc Barnes)
I managed to capture this drake Goosander flapping its wings to dry or realign its plumage after submerging a few times. If you zoom in on the beak you can see the serrated teeth that help these fish-eating ducks to keep hold of fish. If they did not have these it would be like trying to pick a sardine up with a pair of blunt scissors.
NGA CAMPUS EAST
NOTE: This image is an HDR, or High Dynamic Range image, and is a combination of three photos.
FORT BELVOIR NORTH AREA, Va. -- An early morning exterior view of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East project here, Oct. 12, 2010. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, part of the North Atlantic Division, is managing design and construction of the $1.7 billion project. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo illustration by Marc Barnes)
1/365
I absolutely cannot believe I just wrote that number. I'm crazy, but I'm doing another 365 and my heart has never been more content and enthralled by a decision. When I finished my first 365 project, I knew I wanted to do another one when the conditions were a little bit easier, and today I spent some time realigning my mind back to where my heart and soul were at, and the thought came to mind. I was taking some photographs by the water and realised how much I missed taking photographs every day.
I want my passion back and I want photography back. This project is either make or break, and at least I know what to expect this time around; I'm prepared for the down moments and for the difficult times, for the cold mornings and the crazy weather, for the lack of ideas, for the rush uploads, for the raw and honest emotion that comes out and for the next 364 days.
When I did my first 365 project I didn't have a car, I was at school, I had a half-functioning laptop and I had a damaged camera, if I could do a 365 project then, I can definitely do it now. I'm expecting that this project will be different to my first one, as my whole life is entirely different. I won't be as critical of myself, and I won't do things for the sake of others - this project is about me and my camera.
I hope you can join me day by day in this new journey of falling back in love with photography. My heart is a canvas and I want to continue to paint it my entire life, starting from now.
Every friday I write a blog post and I will be writing much about my journey and my experiences on there. You can find that here.
This 725 feet-high hill (Law in Old English means hill) is some four miles east of Haddington in East Lothian, and is a major landmark that can be seen from many miles around. It is volcanic in origin and is the site of an oppidum - an ancient Celtic fortified town or hill fort - which covered at its maximum extent about 16 ha (40 acres). There is evidence of occupation and signs of ramparts from around 1000 BC. The ramparts were rebuilt and realigned many times in the following centuries. Excavations have shown it was occupied in the Late Iron Age from about AD 40 until the last quarter of the 2nd century (about the time that the Antonine Wall was manned by the Romans). Following the Roman withdrawal to Hadrian's Wall, it was predominantly occupied from about 220 until about 400 when the rampart was replaced by one that was more impressive.
It is the site of the Traprain Law Treasure, the largest Roman silver hoard from anywhere outside the Roman Empire and which included exquisite silver artefacts. These are now in the care of the Royal Museum of Scotland.
Source: Wikipedia
Moving on a few years from the previous image and the view has changed somewhat. The previously hidden bridge over the River Nith had been replaced with a new impressive structure along with a new farm access bridge plus realignment of the track bed as 57305 passes with a diverted Sunday Glasgow to Euston service. A short stretch of the original track was retained, acquired by the owner of the adjacent Portrack House to display some preserved vehicles. During 2019 when covering a 37 hauled railtour I did try to see if this particular standpoint was still on. A notice on the gate stated "Bulls in Field" which were clearly visable, so I chose to give it a miss.
The light from this galaxy left it some 40 million years ago! This is NGC7331, part of the Deer Lick Galaxy Group. Look carefully and you will see even more distant galaxies as small smudges.
Really pushing things with this image. This object lies around 40 million light years away. My tracking is still so-so, so perhaps a mount realign is needed. This object really needs more data as well.
Image Details:
•Imaging Scope: Celestron C8 8” Schmidt-Cassegrain FL2000mm @ F6.3
•Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000
•Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor
•Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Autoguider
•Guiding Mount: Celestron CGEM
•Guiding Software: PHD2
•Exposures: 12*7 minutes at ISO1250
•Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
•Tweaked in LightRoom - Clarity, Blacks, Vibrancy, Saturation, DeNoise
The twilight lingered late that morn...
...casting the skies a lavender hue
when the sun rose over the water...
...the shore sparkled in frozen dew
the serenity of the water sounds...
...the calm of the clouds and mist
an orb of light broke through a cloud...
...it appeared to be heaven kissed
what a more perfect time to realign...
...to let all the troubles float away
clear your head of negatives...
...at the beautiful start of the day
before the day gets hectic...
...before the schedules become rushed
spend a moment in the peacefulness...
...where life is lavender and hushed.
Written by Kelly Schlicht
Staying Local today as the Wilton to Knowsley Empty waste bins pass Ravensthorpe station & Thornhill L.N.W Jn. The transpennine route upgrade works visible on both sides. Also the site of where the new flyover will be when all the tracks are realigned. Then this shot will not be possible anymore as the old Ravensthorpe station and footbridge is removed and relocated.
Toronto sunrise - Toronto Downtown Gardiner Expressway - The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends from the foot of the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) in the east, just past the mouth of the Don River, to the junction of Highway 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in the west, for a total length of 18.0 kilometres (11.2 mi). East of Dufferin Street to just east of the Don River, the roadway is elevated for a length of 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi), unofficially making it the longest bridge in Ontario. It runs above Lake Shore Boulevard east of Spadina Avenue.
The highway is named after the first chair of the now-defunct Metro Council, Frederick G. Gardiner.[2] The six-lane section east of the Humber River was built in segments from 1955 until 1964 by the Metropolitan Toronto government with provincial highway funds. The ten-lane section west of the Humber was formerly part of the QEW. The Gardiner Expressway is wholly owned and operated by the City of Toronto.
The highway has been described as "an out-of-date, crumbling and frequently traffic-jammed freeway".[3] Particularly for the elevated section whose condition has deteriorated over the years, extensive repairs were carried out in the mid-1990s, coinciding with significant commercial and residential development in the vicinity. Due to its limited capacity and high maintenance, the Gardiner has been the subject of several proposals to demolish it or move it underground as part of downtown waterfront revitalization efforts. The section east of the Don River was demolished in 2001, while in 2018 the offramp to York/Bay/Yonge Streets was replaced by an offramp to Lower Simcoe Street, and the segment east of Jarvis Street to the Don River is being realigned as of August 31, 2021.
With General Manager Heuser at the helm pulling on the whistle cord blowing for Rice Rips Road, a westbound passenger extra is about to knock down the approach signal to the end of CTC at CPF 119 in Oakland. The newly aquired FP9's have only been painted a few months and are taking Governer Baldacci for a train ride to officially cut the ribbon on the Danville Junction reconfiguration project. The project consisted of removing the diamond and realigning the mainlines throught the small interchange yard. The project was jointly funded by Pan Am Railways, St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad and the State of Maine.
Oakland, Maine
October 22, 2010
NGA CAMPUS EAST
FORT BELVOIR NORTH AREA, Va. -- An exterior view of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East project here, Aug. 19, 2010. Along with NGA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, part of the North Atlantic Division, is managing design and construction of the $1.7 billion project. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Marc Barnes)
Excerpt from urbantoronto.ca:
The 57-metre, 350-tonne bridge span, designed by Entuitive along with London-based Grimshaw Architects and SBP, will carry the realigned Cherry Street over the Keating Channel. This first span will be joined by a twin, with one side to carry two-way vehicular traffic and the other carrying dedicated two-way lanes for a future LRT line.
This is the village of Luib on Skye looking east to the islands of Scalpay (right) and Raasay (left).
The main road south to Kyleakin used to go to the right here (I've added a note showing a bridge on the old road) but at some point in the 1920s the main road (now the A 87) was realigned to the route shown here round the coast through Aird Dhorcha and Strollamus. I think this was at the same time the road was re-routed along what is now the "old road" through Moll.
NGA CAMPUS EAST
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo illustration by Marc Barnes (NOTE: This illustration is a combination of several photos)
(RELEASED) May 26, 2010 -- An exterior view of NGA Campus East Main Office Building and Parking Garage at Fort Belvoir North Area, Va.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District is managing the $1.7 billion project, which is being constructed as a result of BRAC 2005 law.
NGA CAMPUS EAST
NOTE: This image is an HDR, or High Dynamic Range image, and is a combination of five photos.
FORT BELVOIR NORTH AREA, Va. -- An exterior view of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East project here, Aug. 19, 2010. Along with NGA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, part of the North Atlantic Division, is managing design and construction of the $1.7 billion project. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo illustration by Marc Barnes)
Union Pacific 7794 East, leads a heavy eastbound 116 car coal-load up the twisting 2% grade of Winter Park Hill. The train could be heard struggling out of Tabernash for 20 minutes before reaching MP60 at Kings Crossing. The freshly shopped GEVO has just transversed a series of sharp 10 degree curves, as well as a tight horseshoe curve. Heavy eastbound trains are brought too a crawl when reaching this spot, and if a train is going to stall it is usually here. The DRGW once thought of realigning Winter Park Hill on a new 1% grade, but it was decided to be too costly.... So today the assault on Winter Park Hill remains the toughest obstacle for eastbound tonnage originating between the Wasatch Mountains and the Rocky Mountain Front Range...
The old Moorgate station, on a bright sunny day in 1959. The entire station had been badly damaged during WWII, and the platforms were completely open to the elements..
From left to right - Metropolitan 'T Stock' on the through line from Liverpool Street, 'F Stock' (probably on an Uxbridge service..) another 'T Stock' unit, LMS Fowler 3P 2-6-2T 40022 - with condensing gear, and a new Birmingham RC&W Type 2 - at that time operating on GN Suburban services.
The destination board on the 'T Stock' still says ''Moorgate St.'', even though the station had not been called that since 1924..
None of the 'F Stock' were preserved, but there are two ex-departmental 'T Stock' cars remaining, at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Quainton, and seen here in October 2018:
www.flickr.com/photos/rgadsdon/45015600024
40022 was withdrawn at the end of 1962, and scrapped in April 1963. None of the class were preserved.
The London-area BRC&W Type 2s all moved up to Scotland, and later became BR Class 26. No less than 13 examples have been preserved, although not all of these are in working order..
The old Moorgate station was demolished in the early-1960s, and the tracks from here towards Farringdon - LT and BR 'Widened Lines' - were realigned and relocated, during the construction of the 'Barbican' Estate..
The current Moorgate sub-surface station, and lines to and from it, are completely subterranean..
Restored from a grainy misaligned truncated original..
Original slide - property of Robert Gadsdon
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles.
It was recognized in popular culture by both the 1946 hit song "Route 66" and the Route 66 television series, which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It was also featured in the Disney/Pixar animated feature film franchise Cars, beginning in 2006. In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the highway symbolizes escape, loss, and the hope of a new beginning; Steinbeck dubbed it the Mother Road. Other designations and nicknames include the Will Rogers Highway and the Main Street of America, the latter nickname shared with U.S. Route 40.
US 66 was a primary route for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and it supported the economies of the communities through which it passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous, and they later fought to keep it alive in the face of the growing threat of being bypassed by the more advanced controlled-access highways of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s and 70s.
US 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, but it was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985 after it was entirely replaced by segments of the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona have been communally designated a National Scenic Byway by the name "Historic Route 66", returning the name to some maps. Several states have adopted significant bypassed sections of the former US 66 into their state road networks as State Route 66 and much of the former route within the San Bernardino County, California, is designated as County Route 66. The corridor is also being redeveloped into U.S. Bicycle Route 66, a part of the United States Bicycle Route System that was developed in the 2010s.
Nackara is a ghost town in the Northeast Pastoral District of South Australia. It was proclaimed the Town of Tregu in 1891 until 1940, where it was changed to Nackara to match the name of the railway station.
Nackara was originally a railway siding on the Peterborough (South Australia) to Broken Hill (New South Wales) train line which was completed in approximately 1888, mainly to transport the ore from the Broken Hill mines to the South Australian ports.
The town was planned to have several streets with suburban style yards, however this never eventuated. The Nackara township never consisted of more than a few railway cottages, a town store/post office (part of a house), a community hall (the Nackara Institute), a Catholic church, a Presbyterian Church, a school, the railway platform, cattle yards, and a cemetery. The planned roads didn't ever eventuate, with only dirt tracks through the very dry paddocks.
The community consisted of families from the surrounding grazing land, and the railway workers. While the township never grew as planned, the community did have many social events such as picnics, town dances, and concerts, annual horse races, and car races. The town also competed against the other local towns in at least rugby and cricket.
The local population were mainly immigrants (many Catholics from Ireland and several Polish families), and mainly worked as sheep and cattle graziers, railway workers, wood carters, shearers and labourers. There was a vibrant local Catholic community who had annual Catholic Picnics to raise money to erect a Catholic church. The church (Saint Patrick's) was a small church built of stone on the top of the hill overlooking the Nackara township.
The area is too dry to support much livestock, so Nackara never grew beyond around 20 families and the township didn't develop. After the railway was realigned several kilometres to the south around the 1960s, the town died. There are only several graziers left in the area now.
Nackara School and the disused Nackara Institute (community hall) are all that remain standing within the Nackara township. The school is now a private residence. The (corrugated iron) Presbyterian church has gone, the Catholic Church was demolished (around the 1960s), the main store (home and post office) is now stone rubble with a chimney.
Source: Trove (trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47205687)
From the lofty vantage point provided by the US Forest Service's access road, a westbound NS freight train scorches the rails along the floor of the cavernous ravine created by the former Southern Railway's realignment projects of the 1960s on the afternoon of April 5, 2025, near Dead Ox Hollow, KY.
After washing and preening an trumpeter swan usually flaps it's wings to shed water and realign its feathers.
This cattle pass is under the old Erie Main line between Chester and Goshen, NY. Later highway construction and road realignment in the 50's left virtually no pasture at this end.
NOTE: after the very helpful suggestions below, I've cloned the offending fence out, as well as realigning the ground and changing the title. Thanks to everyone who suggested crops and ways to fix this - very much appreciated and I think this version is an improvement, which is good news as I really liked this composition when I made it :-) The wire mesh fence /was/ on the right of the shot, where there's now a blank wall, right up against the trunk, and green.
...
I thought I'd post something with completely determinate scale...
This tree is deep within the Canyon de Chelly, in eastern Arizona, a place I very much enjoyed visiting. The slight haze over this shot is snow - visible in the larger version - which fell near-constantly as we drove around the canyon, in and out of the shallow, sandy river, with a Navajo guide.
Needless to say, perhaps, that fence really annoyed me, though having spent several minutes looking for a composition which excluded it, I concluded that the green/orange contrast had something going for it.... still, I'd rather it hadn't been there! The canyon is full of ancient, native American artefacts (buildings and paintings) and many are protected from damage by fences; great if you're photographing the 1,000 year old buildings - they're not really very intrusive - but pesky when what I was concentrating on was trees.
I have a blog article specifically on this brilliant canyon to be published shortly.
She walks where time forgets to breathe,
Among the ruins wrapped in gold and green,
A goddess crowned in curls and calm,
A whisper draped in soft sunbeam.
The arches echo stories passed,
Of queens who dared to dream out loud,
Now here she stands with steady heart,
Unbound by fear, unbowed, unbowed.
Barefoot grace on broken stone,
Each step a vow to rise anew,
The vines may cling, the path may wind,
But she was made to journey through.
A temple lost in ivy’s hold,
Yet still it waits to see her shine,
For every ruin holds a light—
And hers, divinely, realigns.
She does not rush, she does not stray,
Her compass drawn from soul and sky,
For those who walk with sacred fire
Need not ask how, nor wonder why.
So if you ever lose your name
To noise, or doubt, or past’s decay—
Let her remind you with one glance:
You’re not lost.
You're just…
finding your way.
This gas station and store combo sits west of Barstow and east of Hinkley in the Mojave desert. It was operated by a Mrs. McCormick and her son Bud in the 1940's and 1950's. No one seems sure when the doors were locked for the last time, but it's a good bet it was sometime around 1964, when a realignment of the highway routed the stream of customers away from the tiny enterprise. What's left of the place is now home to pigeons, mice, and probably any number of other unseen creatures. Soon, it will belong to the desert again. Thanks to _RedShoesGirl_ for the back story.