This year's summer pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery, located inside Kensington Gardens, was designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. The paraboloid enclosure has been described by the architect as an unzipped wall, and has the look and feel of a linear structure that's been stretched and prized open. The beauty of the design is that despite its sculptural elegance it's essentially a stack of 1800 rectangular fibreglass blocks.

The pavilion is quirky, innovative and interesting enough on the outside, but it wasn't until I was standing inside the structure that I realised how much I was going to enjoy photographing and editing it. This image was captured at the centre of the pavilion, looking directly upwards towards the blocks as they converge overhead, taking in a design that somehow manages to convey opacity and translucence at the same time, creating an atmosphere that's both cavernous and cathedralesque.

I visited on a couple of occasions after the pavilion opened to the public and shot from several vantage points and in different weather conditions, but found that an overcast day produced the right level of soft, even light streaming between the blocks. As several of the design's blocks are scattered throughout the pavilion's interior and being used as seats, I used one of these to steady the camera so that I could capture multiple exposures and later blend them together in Photoshop.

I shot using a higher ISO than I would usually resort to without a tripod, but knew I would weight the postprocessing towards the brighter exposures and would need a very sharp finish for these. My aim was to produce an image that reflected some of Ingels' previous architectural work, which includes creative interpretations of snowfalkes and mountains, and there was an amazing glacial feel to this design which I wanted to emphasise by leaning towards a clean, crystalline, high-key finish.

Once the exposures had been manually realigned and blended via luminosity masks, I gently added portions of the brighter exposures using a combination of radial and reflective gradient masks and setting these to Luminosity and Screen blend modes, brightening the centre of the image while taking care not to clip the highlights. I then inverted these layer masks and applied them to the darker exposures around the outside of the frame, effectively adding a natural vignette to the image using the RAW files. With this phase of editing complete, I applied selective contrast adjustments using Silver Efex Pro, increasing the Soft Light contrast but also lowering the midtone brightness and shadow structure to emphasise a dreamy finish. At the same time, I applied a very sparing amount of Colour Efex Pro's Detail Extractor to bring out the grainy texture inside the fibreglass boxes along the outside of the frame, which I felt was part of what gave the image its tone and character.

I did my best to retain a minimum level of dignity while shooting this image, despite crawling along the ground as I aimed the camera upwards and experimented with different compositions. Apparently failing to blend into the crowd, I was spotted by a delightful lady who seemed to be glowing with excitement. She told me she wasn't supposed to say anything, but that if I was interested in the pavilion's architecture I should speak to its designer, who was standing a few feet away and talking to a colleague, and whom she proudly identified as her son. I wasn't surprised to see Ingels visiting the pavilion so shortly after it opened and given that he's currently developing Google's London headquarters at King's Cross, but there was something quite touching about the fact that he brought his mother to see his latest project. I politely acknowledged how proud she must be, and said I hoped her son was aware of how popular the pavilion had already become with the London photo community. This seemed to thrill her even more, and she began animatedly describing the challenges her son had overcome at the design and construction stages before the project was signed off. At this point Ingels was making his way out of the pavilion, and wishing not to be left behind, she bid me good day. I thanked her for sharing the secret she was clearly struggling to keep to herself, and couldn't help wondering how much of her son's passion for architecture had been inherited by the bubbly and exuberant lady I'd just met.

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The Mersey Gateway Bridge.

The Mersey Gateway Bridge is a toll bridge between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire, England, which spans the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal.

The crossing, which opened in October 2017, has three traffic lanes in each direction and is approximately 1.5 km (1 mile) east (upstream) of the older Silver Jubilee Bridge.

It has a span of 998 m (3,274 ft) and a total length of 2.3 km (1.4 miles) including its approach roads. It formed part of a wider project to upgrade the infrastructure around the Mersey crossings that included major civil engineering work to realign the road network, refurbish and add tolling to the Silver Jubilee Bridge, and build new interchanges.

Click here for more photographs of Widnes: www.jhluxton.com/England/Cheshire/Widnes

Discarded York Rail ties frame two York Rail GP15's on leads to Poorhouse Yard. The conductor is realigning the switches, before recoupling the engines. In the background are the towers of the old Silk Mill which is now Hudson Park Towers.

Cars travel Chain of Craters Road across the Mauna Ulu lava flows which at one time buried and blocked the road. The Chain of Craters Road to the coast (to Kalapana) from Makaopuhi was opened in 1965, and then partly buried in 1969 at the start of the Mauna Ulu eruption. Post Mauna Ulu eruption, Chain of Craters Road was realigned and reopened in June 1979. Since that time the Mauna Ulu flows have been a popular stopping place in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

DMIR 416 South works through Saunders, WI on the beautiful fall day (what are those?) of October 16, 2005. Always was nice catching one of the two former SD45-2s in the lead on Missabe trains. Besides the lack of maroon, Saunders looks much different here with the Missabe siding long removed and the mainline itself realigned.

Most Sundays, the Missabe ran a Steelton Switch from Proctor to South Itasca/Tomco and back. The main duties of this roadswitch run was to interchange with the UP at Tomco and work the tie plant at Ambridge. They also ran this train on Wednesdays and it would into the CN era as shown here. Changes would be on the way with new crew and interchange agreements, along with the switch into the tie plant being lifted. The Steelton Switch was on short time here.

After the 416 set out the taconite concentrate gons for the UP, the 207 would lead north with a single empty centerbeam from the UP. I followed this job all day, not a hard decision as the Steelton Switch was a fun job to chase.

Freiston Shore is a tidal saltmarsh which also encompasses the habitats of saline lagoons and wet grassland. Freiston Shore has one of the the UK's largest 'managed realignment' projects, in which the RSPB has worked with the Environment Agency to convert 66 hectares of coastal farmland into tidal saltmarsh. This project will benefit many birds, including nesting redshanks. It will also help to compensate for the loss of such tidal habitats elsewhere in England, and to ensure that The Wash remains the most important estuary for waterbirds in the UK. Now the area is tidal again, the saltmarsh has naturally regenerated, creating valuable wildlife habitat and increasing the level of flood protection for the surrounding area. Freiston Shore protects 683 hectares of saltmarsh and mudflats, which form part of the Wash Special Protection Area. We manage and improve this habitat for the benefit of wintering, passage and nesting birds. A 15 hectares saline lagoon has been created at Freiston Shore its managed to create a rare habitat for the benefit of breeding water birds, especially avocets and ringed plovers. There is also 72 hectares of converted sheep fields and arable land into a wet grassland for the benefit of breeding waders and waterfowl.

The campus began in 1887 as "Ye Forest Inne," a summer vacation retreat for Washington, D.C., residents. The retreat did not succeed financially, and the property was sold and redeveloped as a finishing school, opening in 1894 with a class of 48 female students.[2] The architecture of the campus remained eclectic and whimsical. In addition to various Victorian styles, exotic designs included a Dutch windmill, a Swiss chalet, a Japanese pagoda, an Italian villa, and an English castle.[3] Many of these small homes with international designs were built from blueprints obtained by competing sororities, but all were designed by architect Emily Elizabeth Holman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[4] The campus also featured covered walkways, outdoor sculptures, and elaborately planned formal gardens. Among the administration was Assistant Dean of the College, Miss Edna Roeckel.[5] In 1936 it was renamed "National Park College" and its focus was realigned with more modern education trends; it remained one of the most prestigious women's schools in the country.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this shot in my dad's collection. I knew he had a lot of roster shots of the Western Pacific. But didn't realize he had this gem out on the WP main. From what he told me about the WP was that they ran one train a day, on the eastern end towards, the end. So catching them was definitely a challenge. It's also interesting to analyze this picture for how this area has change. The biggest being this section of I-80 hadn't been built yet. Which changed the landscape. UP has also realigned the track-age as they became one railroad. Tom Ellis photo.

still going through the images from a couple of weeks ago.

yucca, arizona. on the 1952 realignment of route 66. only the sign remains. this area has several abandoned buildings and signs.

UPDATE: the pool part of the sign has been stolen as of March 2019 looking at a photo by Wayne Stadler

{www.flickr.com/photos/waynerd/47673585912/in/photolist-2f...}

thanks to telzey for the texture.

Trip to Red River Gorge produced little by the way of wildlife, but celestial events compensated. Two images of Saturn and Jupiter, a day apart, shows the realignment of moons around Jupiter and the growing distance between the two planets. Because they were higher in the sky on the 22ed, the image on the right was taken earlier, before the sky darkened on the horizon. the wind died put resulting a sharper rings.

Note that the four moons (or Galilean Moons, after Galileo’s discovery of them in 1610 ) are Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. Note they change position with respect to each other and to Jupiter as they orbit Jupiter every 1.75 to 17 days. Good old Galileo, and his hand-made telescope, noticed this and made him realize that the Earth is not the centre of the universe and that it orbits the sun, not the other way around. Many see this deduction as the starting point for modern science. Before these moons were discovered it was believed that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and that every other star and planet orbited it. Galileo was accused of heresy and of spreading Fake News, and paid dearly for it, but his place in history eclipses that of his dumbass accusers.

Nikon D500, 600f4 with 1.4TCII, f5.6. image on the right 1/25 ISO 200, the left ISO3200, 1/200

„ Mit den neuen Logos für R-Modelle und die R-Lines geht auch eine Neuausrichtung der Marke Volkswagen R einher. Volkswagen R bringt Emotionen in die Marke Volkswagen, und das werden wir zukünftig noch weiter ausbauen. An tollen Produkten und einer einzigartigen Customer Experience arbeiten wir strategisch und operativ“, so Jost Capito, Geschäftsführer Volkswagen R.

"With the new logos for R models and the R-Lines, a realignment of the Volkswagen R brand goes hand in hand. Volkswagen R brings emotions to the Volkswagen brand, and we will continue to expand that in the future. We are working strategically and operationally on great products and a unique customer experience, ”says Jost Capito, Managing Director of Volkswagen R.

Freiston Shore is a tidal saltmarsh which also encompasses the habitats of saline lagoons and wet grassland. Freiston Shore has one of the the UK's largest 'managed realignment' projects, in which the RSPB has worked with the Environment Agency to convert 66 hectares of coastal farmland into tidal saltmarsh. This project will benefit many birds, including nesting redshanks. It will also help to compensate for the loss of such tidal habitats elsewhere in England, and to ensure that The Wash remains the most important estuary for waterbirds in the UK. Now the area is tidal again, the saltmarsh has naturally regenerated, creating valuable wildlife habitat and increasing the level of flood protection for the surrounding area. Freiston Shore protects 683 hectares of saltmarsh and mudflats, which form part of the Wash Special Protection Area. We manage and improve this habitat for the benefit of wintering, passage and nesting birds. A 15 hectares saline lagoon has been created at Freiston Shore its managed to create a rare habitat for the benefit of breeding water birds, especially avocets and ringed plovers. There is also 72 hectares of converted sheep fields and arable land into a wet grassland for the benefit of breeding waders and waterfowl.

So tenderly,

your story ends.

Nothing more than what you see,

Or what you've done.

Or will become.

Standing STRONG,

Do you belong?

In your skin.

Just wondering.

Gentle now, as the tender breeze blows,

Whispers through my Gran Torino,

Whistling another tired song.

Engine hums and Bitter Dreams grow,

Heart locked in a Gran Torino.

It beats a lonely rhythm,

All night long.

Realign all the stars,

Above my head.

Warning signs travel far.

I drink instead,

On my own.

Oh, how I've known,

The battle scars,

And worn out beds.

Gentle now, as the tender breeze blows,

Whispers through my gran Torino,

Whistling another tired song.

Engine hums and Bitter Dreams grow,

Heart locked in a Gran Torino.

It beats a lonely rhythm,

All night long.

It beats a lonely rhythm. . All night long.

A loaded Fire Lake shuttle passes the ongoing construction of the new Quebec-389 alignment, near Rob Siding.

Quebec-389 connects Labrador City to the rest of the Canadian road network, however probably 100 miles of it are still gravel. The Fire Lake to Mont-Wright portion can be very dangerous, with hairpin turns and blind hills. In rain, the road conditions are less than ideal with the gravel in places, turning into a slick surface. As part of the improvement project, 34.6 miles of road will be realigned, bypassing most of the places the rail line is accessible by road. 8+ miles of existing road will also be upgraded as part of the project, which hopefully the new alignment will be paved, filling the gap of dirt road from Mont-Wright to Fire Lake. Hopefully the existing alignment will remain, since the new corridor appears to only cross the railroad twice, with this site being the second location. Otherwise, only a handful of shots will be possible.

Cartier Railway

Train: 17-6 North

7/6/2025

Rob, Quebec

QCM/AMMC North Subdivision

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”

― Edgar Allan Poe

Sometimes my daydreams feel more vivid than reality which often feels dull in comparison. I think for most of my life I've chased escapism through photography, art, books, movies, anything that allowed me to live vividly through characters and their stories. It got to the point that no matter what I achieved, where I travelled, or who I was with my moments in my everyday between felt grey and incomparable.

I needed to take the time out to realign my priorities, work on my mental health, and consciously shift my perspective on my world so that I can feel and cherish the magic and colour in every moment. I felt that only then could I create from a pure source and share that authentic feeling with others.

It's taking some time and I'm a work in progress still but what I've learnt is that it all starts with a choice. As we grow, and experience all the wonders and pain in this world, we will change, but I believe that the true power comes from how we choose to change, and maybe that's the bravest choice we will ever make.

Also to my Chinese community I wish you a very Happy Lunar Year ✨

-

C r e d i t s

Model is Yinsey Wang

Hair & Makeup: Minaz Mawjee

Skin retouching: Pratik Naik

☆ My Color Toning Actions - www.fineartactions.com

☆ Keep up with me behind the scenes -

Instagram

YouTube

★ Fine Art Actions group - bit.ly/2dp8BwF

★ My Fairytales group - bit.ly/2d74piX

Face Rock ~ Bandon, Oregon

Conrail PN-13 sits on the Waldo Running Track after running around an inbound 62V while an outbound Path train zips by to Newark Penn Station. What was once part of the Conrail Main Line to the West Shore is a shadow of its former self as the line was severed near Waldo Ave in Jersey City during a right of way realignment in the late 90s/early 2000s. This small stretch is now only used to run around trains or for headroom.

Wednesday May 20, 1998

Well I left home this morning at 8:45am…

I left behind family, friends, loved ones, a warm bed etc…for what? For Adventure!

I have to admit, however, that it feels really weird being out on the road alone. It’s now only 6:30pm and already I feel like I’ve been gone days. Today was pretty good though. I took 84 to 81 south through Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia into Virginia - then I took a bit of a detour. I saw signs for the Shenandoah Sky Drive and since I was fed up with driving on the interstate I decided to investigate. It was worth it.

The Shenandoah Sky Drive is a 50+ mile road running through Shenandoah National Park over a series of mountains all above 2000 feet and some as high as 4000. The views of the surrounding peaks and valleys were spectacular! Not to mention the wildlife. I saw a ton of white tailed deer, a wild turkey…and are you ready for this? A black bear! He was standing alongside the road looking at me as if to say “what the hell are you doing in my forest?” I kept on driving - I wasn’t in the mood to be mauled by a bear today. Anyway, my first day on the road was an awesome one. Now all I have to do is find a place to sleep tonight.

________________________________

Setting Forth

Be it no concern

Point of no return

Go foward in reverse

Nature drunk and high

E.V.

__________________________

Looking back, I think this was a fitting way to end my first day out - looking west at the sun setting and all of the seemingly endless country out there before me. It was 1998, I was 21 years old.

__________________________

If your wondering what the heck this is all about, go here.

Taking a quick portrait break to celebrate the winter solstice. The weather tonight may block Saturn, but last night was pretty good. It was nice to be able to photograph this locally. Frankly, the city lights and moon were helpful to take out all the other stars from the sky. I always wanted to photograph this statue in the park, but never new what to use it for until last night. The moon, Saturn and Jupiter are to scale: the statue is not. This is three separate photographs realigned, one of the statue, one of the moon, and one of the planets. Saturn is so small in comparison. I look forward to seeing images from the astrophotographers who have equipment suited to that purpose. Keller, Texas, USA, December 2020

Best viewed large by double left clicking or pressing "L". All rights reserved

Lying on a short spur off the A413 Aylesbury road, just south of Winslow, a small market town between Buckingham and Aylesbury.

It used to be alongside the main road until it was realigned in the 1930s.

About two hours worth of star trails over the historic Goat Canyon Trestle in the Anza-Borrego Desert.

Shot with a Canon EOS R and Canon RF 15-35mm lens. 266 starry sky frames each shot at 27 sec f/5.0 ISO 400. Foreground captured at 30 sec f/2.8 ISO 3200.

I had to hike over six miles each way to reach this trestle. There is no way to drive to it. I also had to bypass a couple of gated tunnels as well as a collapsed tunnel. I began my hike at around 9:30 PM, arrived and arrived at this trestle around midnight. I then hiked down into the gorge, set up my camera, and began shooting at around 12:45 AM. I kept shooting until around 2:55 AM. By the time I managed to hike back to camp at Dos Cabezas, it was nearly 6:00 AM and the first light of day was appearing in the sky. I ended up with very sore feet and a blister on one tow, but I'm currently recovering and feel that this was totally worth the effort!

Goat Canyon Trestle is a wooden trestle in San Diego County, California. At a length of 597–750 feet (182–229 m), it is the world's largest all-wood trestle. Goat Canyon Trestle was built in 1933 as part of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway, after one of the many tunnels through the Carrizo Gorge collapsed. The trestle was made of wood, rather than metal, due to temperature fluctuations in the Carrizo Gorge.[6] By 2008, rail traffic stopped using the trestle.

Designed by Chief Engineer of the San Diego and Arizona Railroad, Carl Eichenlaub, it was built to common standard drawing CS-33 standards. According to the original plans, the trestle would be 633-foot (193 m) long, and 186-foot (57 m) high. Construction began in 1932. Sections of the trestle were assembled at the bottom of the canyon, then lifted into position. Redwood timber, the same type used for railroad ties along the rest of the route, was utilized because Carrizo Gorge's considerable temperature fluctuations could have led to metal fatigue in a steel bridge. To resist Goat Canyon's high winds, it was built with a 14° curve. Additionally, the bridge was built without nails. Construction was completed by 1933, leading to a realignment of the railroad route. For fire suppression a tank car was located near tunnel 16

This trestle is part of the the San Diego & Arizona Eastern (SD&AE) and was completed in 1919 by John D. Spreckels - the same Spreckels who provided San Diego with the Spreckels Theater Building downtown and the organ pavilion in Balboa Park. This railroad also contains the famous Goat Canyon Trestle - the largest wooden curved trestle in the world. It's been nicknamed "The Impossible Railroad" due to the immense logistical challenges involved, but Spreckels was determined to do whatever it took to complete the project. Some trivia: the term "sugar daddy" originated with John's brother - Adolph Spreckels as the Spreckels made their fortune in sugar in addition to railroads. This trestle and the rest of this line are owned by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). The MTS had to purchase this line in order to acquire rights to the train tracks in downtown San Diego as well as other parts of the County. It was an "all or nothing deal".

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

The last time I checked, this spot is grown up with trees on the outside of the curve. Highway construction that required a new railroad bridge over four-lane US 23 plus realignment resulted in (for a time) a clear view of Southern's Appalachia Division main on the climb from the low bridge over Copper Creek to the former station location at Speers Ferry, Va. On November 13, 1993, CSX Nos. 7680, 7913, and 7518 have a 90-car unit coal train hanging off the rear knuckle of the 7518. Three four-motor units are shoving on the rear of the heavy train up the 1.8 percent grade.

The Aberdeen Local descends the western slope of the Coteau des Prairies with the help of a "horseshoe curve" realignment.

Another from this fabulous trip last spring.

Previously relegated to working overnight under the cover of darkness, thanks to pandemic reduced train frequencies on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor for some time now NS local H04 has been working days. On duty at 0900 at Baltimore's Bayview Yard, they normally work to the big Clorox plant in Perryman daily and as far north as Havre de Grace at least once a week.

Here they are seen on the Old Main switching out Plastipak Industries before getting their train back together so they can start back south. The old line is a 1 3/4 mile long stub of the old main line through town that lead to the original 1866 bridge. After the mainline was realigned slightly on the approach to the new and higher 1906 structure still in service the old line into town was retained and more than a century later it still has three rail served customers located on it.

NS 5620 is a GP38-2 that was rebuilt with a chopped nose in 2005 from a Southern high hood GP38AC oroginally blt. Aug. 1971 as CNOTP 2871.

Havre de Grace, Maryland

Friday April 2, 2021

(1 in a multiple picture album)

Once a year, at least, one must go somewhere to get his perspective realigned. I do it in the high country of Yosemite. This dome, I think it is name Poly, is such a huge hunk of granite that it makes me feel small. It sits at the north end of Tenaya Lake.

At times like these I marvel at the tenacity of pine trees. How do they find life on solid granite?

The second of 2 HST Leeds - St Pancras services that pass along this route on a Saturday Morning.

This is the 'Trowell Branch', which sees quite a few passenger services daily, but few of these are HST trains. The line branches off the Erewash Valley Midland Mainline at Trowell, coming into Nottingham at Radford Junction & then Lenton Junction, into the City.

After a couple of years of roadworks, to widen the M1 Motorway, proposals have now been released for the HS2 Railway, which will follow the route of the M1 from the East Midlands Hub at Toton, to Sheffield. A consequence at Trowell is the realigning of the Motorway, for this to happen - watch this space!

Can you see through the cloud, somewhere on that plain?

Higher to the degree that life is but a subordinate strain

Upon the senses that scream for some form of recognition

A realignment of honest persuasion in respect of origination

The demand is high, fuelling such expensive emotional fire

To stoke-up and enflame the policy of such expansive satire

It's us and them; you and me; today on TV

Can you truly believe this is the way it should be?

The parting we never had is brushed aside by such 'superiority'

That hitherto unknown complex, particular to candidates posteriority

Yes, it's about political time that they sought the meaning of Parliamentary remit

And reread their servitude to us, the poor bloody people who can now barely make it

Suffrage under-handed down from policy to electorate to empty congregation

Is getting hard to bear; can we only speak from the gravity of our entombed frustration

Pay, pay, pay little attention to the needs and necessities of people in freefall

Bleed, bleed, bleed the tear-stained hanky dry however taxing and small-

Be the gains and benefits at the expense of ghostly constituency

Keeping one office post whilst losing a dozen other community postal's is political truancy

How dare they take for granted a postal vote that now takes an hour or more to cast

From the shuttered local now begone, is a despair for this nation's weeping soul, disappearing fast

Eco-towns, matchbox estates, beautifully-named semi's that stand shoulder to shoulder awaiting charge

Likeness disguises the sins of so much emptiness within a cramped island at large

Where is the heart that lived so spiritedly within the soul whose name is born unto every new street name

He never approved it, She never digressed thus, They never spoke of this end, But we now live it all the same

A cardboard cut-out exemplifies the nation wheeze; one for the PM, one for the deputy -

-Gone for the celebrity and one for the little boy who lived down the old road stripped of all it's beauty

Hazel coppice, Oak and Birch, Chestnut, Ash and Holly all cleared for the lollipop lady Lime

Standing all alone beside her empty school remaining short of funds for it's inaugural nursery rhyme

Fake clapboard exteriors add a touch of falsehood through the shattered woodland

A split too far opens up a by-pass approved by far-flung councillor's who know not what is the lay of this land

I'm incandescent with the neglect of this island space, it's wanton destruction of a dismantled fabric

Society is ill indeed, it no longer has a leader, has lost it's voice, and relapses into a faithless rubric

Our eternal hope sprung a leak that now costs too much to fix, let alone find

We're awaiting a miracle that only our forefather's could ever belief would rewind

Into the palms of needy hands air clutches at our very emptiness

We've strayed silently away from church and home; Parliament and community, into a dawn-broken loneliness

No reparations can truly foot the bill for a societal spirit standing still amidst the chaotic dwell-

Of rampaging policies that pushed every ounce of humanity to the very brink of hell

Lies, lies, lies the cabinet that could never shut (up) properly and sits uneasily in our front rooms

Those lardy cakes need eating, for even political greed's sell-by-date now finally looms!

by anglia24

13h25: 23/09/2008

©2008anglia24

When swedish state railways SJ were closing down most local traffic outside the Stockholm and Göteborg areas in the late 70s and early 80s, municipalities of Scania stepped in and established local traffic called "Pågatåg" around Malmö with new class X10 EMUs, but still operated by SJ.

X10 3134 "Jätten Finn" forming rst 1168 from Malmö is just stopping at the modernised Dösjebro halt on the branch to Landskrona with the former station building on the left.

The line to Landskrona was later realigned and became part of a new through line from Malmö towards Göteborg now serving Landskrona and Helsingborg as well.

Route 66 | Hackberry 04/12/2009 13h07

A place full of Route 66 memorabilia and vintage cars all over the place. The general store has been turned into a Route 66 museum and no gas is sold at the old pumps in front of it. The store is run by John and Kerry Pritchard.

Route 66 Arizona (recommended site)

Route 66

U.S. Route 66 (also known as the Will Rogers Highway after the humorist, and colloquially known as the "Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road") was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66, US Highway 66, was established on November 11, 1926. However, road signs did not go up until the following year.

The famous highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, encompassing a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). It was recognized in popular culture by both a hit song (written by Bobby Troup and performed by the Nat King Cole Trio and The Rolling Stones, among others) and the Route 66 television show in the 1960s. More recently, the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars featured U.S. 66.

Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, changing its path and overall length. Many of the realignments gave travelers faster or safer routes, or detoured around city congestion. One realignment moved the western endpoint farther west from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica.

Route 66 was a major path of the migrants who went west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and supported the economies of the communities through which the road passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive even with the growing threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System.

US 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27, 1985 after it was decided the route was no longer relevant and had been replaced by the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway of the name "Historic Route 66". It has begun to return to maps in this form. Some portions of the road in southern California have been redesignated "State Route 66", and others bear "Historic Route 66" signs and relevant historic information.

[ Source and more information: Wikipedia - Route 66 ]

Snaking through the uppity urban jungle of Near South Side, IC 1012 leads CN L536 south onto the double track portion of the Illinois Central at Kelley. Kelley is a relatively new control point on the east edge of the downtown core. From Kelley to the Air Line and Cermak, the Chicago and Freeport Subs are single tracked, done as part of a multiyear bridge replacement and track realignment project between CN, Metra and the city of Chicago.

VFC-13 was established as Fleet Composite Squadron THIRTEEN (VC-13) on 1 September 1973[1] at NAS New Orleans, Louisiana when the US Navy reorganized the US Naval Reserve and the Naval Air Reserve Force (NAVAIRESFOR). The squadron first flew the Chance-Vought F-8 Crusader, and had 17 officers and 127 enlisted men within its ranks, most were former members of VSF-76 and VSF-86. In April 1974 they transitioned to the A-4 Skyhawk.

The demand for west coast adversary squadrons and other fleet support missions resulted in the squadron relocating to NAS Miramar, California in February 1976. In the summer of 1976, VC-13 added the two seat TA-4J to the single seat A-4L in their aircraft complement. In 1983, the squadron returned to strictly single-seat aircraft when they transitioned to the A-4E, and in 1988 they upgraded to the more powerful A-4F.

On 22 Apr 1988, the squadron was redesignated Fighter Composite Squadron THIRTEEN (VFC-13)[2] and briefly transitioned to the F/A-18 Hornet, which further enhanced the squadron's ability to perform its adversary mission by providing an even more capable and realistic threat aircraft. When Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action resulted in the transfer of NAS Miramar back to the US Marine Corps and its redesignation as MCAS Miramar, the Navy relocated the Naval Fighter Weapons School, or TOPGUN, to NAS Fallon, Nevada as part of the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC). VFC-13 transferred to NAS Fallon in April 1996 and also transitioned to the F-5E Tiger II.

The unit's mix of 23 F-5E, F-5F and F-5N aircraft are all painted in a variety of colorful adversary schemes of blue, gray, or brown camouflage. In January 2006, VFC-13 established a permanent detachment of 12 aircraft at NAS Key West, Florida for East Coast training. Subsequently, in the fall of 2006, the VFC-13 Key West detachment was re-designated as a separate squadron, VFC-111, with an assignment of one F-5F and 10 F-5N. In parallel, the eleven aircraft strength of VFC-13 at NAS Fallon was increased to 17 F-5s.

VFC-13 provides adversary training for Navy and Marine Corps Active and Reserve fleet and replacement squadrons, carrier air wings and Marine aircraft groups, USAF units, to include Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, and Canadian Forces. The Fighting Saints have received two consecutive CNO Safety Awards, the Golden Wrench Maintenance Award, and in 1994, the Battle "E" award.

Fighter Squadron Composite (VFC-13) Saints is a US Navy fighter squadron that provides adversary training for U.S. Navy air wings at NAS Fallon, Nevada.

Explored: October 15th, 2010.

The CN1501 Geometry car made an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa today. Here it is on the CN Osage Sub's new sweeping S-Curve at the new Cedar-Wapsi Rd interchange on US218. This curve and a identical one on the North side of Cedar Wapsi Rd are a realignment of the tracks, to accommodate on/off ramps for the new interchange. The railroad ROW was too close to US218 to allow only surface intersections. Many of those intersections were closed after this interchange opened, due to the high number of fatal accidents which occurred at them

Over the weekend CN activated the realigned Main 2 on Steelton Hill, thus completing Phase II of the project. Here a Q train grinds up the 2.0% grade.

Many years ago now I made the conscious decision to stop "taking" photos and instead started "making" photos. In subtle ways I think this choice has played an important role in my growth as a photographer and helped steer how I look at and think about my photography. In that vein, I think I am going to make a new decision regarding how I think/talk about my photography. I am no longer going to call it "work". It just isn't at all accurate. My photography is never work. Sometimes it takes effort or dedication or perseverance but it isn't work. Often there is sweat and sometimes blood involved but it still isn't work. Photography outings may leave me exhausted physically but not in the same way work can. Nor do I look at it as work in the business sense. Sure I market or license or sell the occasional image, but I could scarcely have less interest in doing so. It is not my day job... or even my night job. I try to get out of my own way when opportunities come to me, but given the choice between "building my business" or spending a Sunday out waiting on a 10 minute exposure to finish while watching clouds drift across the sky and listening to the breeze blow the tree branches over my head... well, I'll be somewhere out there 10 times out of 10.

So why do I call what I do work then? Largely because it has never occurred to me to think about the use of that word before now. And if it isn't work, then what is it? I am not really sure. Often it is a form of play. Sometimes it is an affirmation. While at other times it is a way to be alive. It is definitely passion and it is also curiosity. It is about beauty and wonder. It can be any of those things but also more, or other. But I know it is not work. I gotta stop calling it that. And there is no harm in simply calling it photography. It is that, without a doubt. Calling it photography is certainly more accurate for me than calling it work.

So you might ask, why does it matter? Well, "matters" works on a scale. There are big things that matter a lot and then there are little things that matter a little, and of course there are all sorts of in between. I cannot tell you that this will matter all that much, but it feels a bit more right. And just as when I stopped taking photos, it may require some time before I can really sense how such a minor realignment in speech and thought will play out. And beside, many grand tapestries are woven of very small threads so even if this is but a small thread it plays a role in a much larger picture which is my life as a photographer. And that to me definitely matters.

Anyway, just some thoughts to share that occurred to me on my lunch break today. Been carrying these around for the past several hours now and had to set them down somewhere. This caption seemed as good a spot as any.

Horseman SW612

Kodak Portra 160

The "ruling grade" is by definition the grade that determines how much motive power must be assigned for a train to make it over a particular stretch of railroad. Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT always the very steepest grade; a segment of steep grade is in some cases quite short and abutted by a gentler (or even downhill) grade that helps diminish its effect. A key example is the short segment of 2.2% westward grade through the Frank Slide realignment on Crowsnest Pass's eastern approach. The *effective* ruling grade is not really 2.2% - if it was, westbound trains would be assigned much more motive power than they get for that route. That grade is short enough that trains can overcome it with less motive power than would be necessary for a long, sustained 2.2% ascent - so long as they get a running start.

On the Oregon Trunk, the ruling grade is without a doubt the 1.5% (compensated) climb from the Deschutes River at South Junction up through the narrow, rocky confines of Trout Creek Canyon, and beyond to the top of the grade just shy of Madras. Unlike the brief steep stretch at Frank Slide, the Trout Creek grade is a long, steady climb. If a southbound train is going to stall anywhere on its journey from Wishram to Klamath Falls, this is undoubtedly where it will occur.

I had photographed the 7486 south just before 10:30 a.m. at the classic "Twin Bridges" north of Maupin, after which I hopped in my car to pursue, hoping to get ahead maybe once before Maupin. But the Vancouver-to-Fresno freight was making every bit of the allowable track speed up the gentle grade along the Deschutes, and the effort soon became futile. And my fiancée, Dawn, was still sound asleep at our cabin in Maupin.

I rolled into Maupin minutes before 11 a.m., and we were soon moving our handful of bags into the car - Dawn was eager to get out of the "spider cabin". By the time we left Maupin at about 11:30 I had given up hope of seeing that southbound again... until about ten minutes later, when I heard a detector over the radio from somewhere deep in the canyon. The train was still about 10 miles shy of South Junction, its progress slowed by a few stretches of tight curvature in the upper Deschutes Canyon. I asked Dawn to quickly check some mileposts in my crusty old Altamont timetable, and after running a few quick calculations in my head, it seemed feasible that maybe, juuuust maybe, we could beat this train to Trout Creek Canyon.

45 minutes of driving later, we were dropping down the steep notch towards the Trout Creek Ranch. I pulled off on the very narrow shoulder of the road and quickly turned the car engine off to listen for an approaching train. Immediately I could hear the thunder of a train battling the grade. He was close, alright. Ditching the tripod and handing the keys to Dawn so she could chill in the comfortable A/C of the RAV4, I started scrambling up the slope in the 90+ degree heat. Within about 30 seconds I was high enough up to see over the fill and towards the far side of the horseshoe curve. The head end of the VAWFRS was already entering the bottom of the horseshoe. But thanks to the ruling grade of the Trunk, he was CRAWLING - certainly less than 15, and probably closer to 10 MPH. That would provide me just enough time to scramble higher up the ridge to a favorable photo angle.

The train's three GEs - two on the point and one out of sight on the rear - are all down on their knees in a synchronized battle against gravity to lift their tonnage from the depths of the Deschutes Canyon to the high plateau country of central Oregon. It might not have sounded as good as the EMDs and Alcos that accomplished the same job on this grade a half century ago... but it was still damn impressive.

In April of 1983, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, US Highway 6, and the small town of Thistle, Utah were destroyed in a landslide which dammed the Spanish Fork River, accumulating nearly 65,000 acre-feet of water behind a 300 ft. natural dam. By April 17, 1983, three days after the slide closed the railroad and US Highway 6, crews with bulldozers were working feverishly to stop or at least reduce the flow of the landslide. Efforts to save the original highway and rail alignment were officially abandoned later this same day. The railroad would be realigned through a 3000 ft. tunnel through nearby Billy's Mountain, opening for traffic on July 4, 1983. By late in the fall, the lake was essentially drained and by winter, a new alignment for Highway 6 opened for traffic.

CSX W014 climbs the grade up the Allatoona realignment as it heads south down the W&A.

realign your mind

change the molecules of your being

let a bang be the beginning

a grand reminder of the big bang

#1 on explore - thanks!

I'm off tomorrow for a 'Calatrava-tour' in Liège, Belgium, so see you on sunday :)

thanks for all the 'pre-'birthday wishes yesterday :)

Technique/Processing:

HDR made using Photomatix (for a change) from 5 exposures

Info:

Route 28 is a nominally south-north route in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, running from the town of Orleans on Cape Cod via Boston to the New Hampshire state line in Methuen. Following the route from its nominally southern end, Route 28 initially heads south to the town of Chatham then turns west to follow along the south shore of Cape Cod. In Falmouth, Route 28 turns north and continues through the western reaches of Plymouth and Norfolk counties. It then cuts through downtown Boston before heading north via Lawrence to the New Hampshire state line, where it continues as New Hampshire Route 28. Route 28 travels through 28 municipalities.

The original form of Route 28 was as a New England interstate route established in 1922 to run from Buzzard's Bay to New Hampshire. The route itself was overlaid on several early turnpike roads constructed in the early 19th century. Except for an extension into Cape Cod in 1926, the overall highway layout and routing is largely unchanged from its original design. Route 28 has been realigned in several places when newer, higher quality roads were built. At a length of nearly 152 miles (245 km), Route 28 is the longest state-numbered highway in Massachusetts.

Route 28 is supplanted by interstate highways throughout most of the state, and is used mainly as a secondary and local highway. Throughout Cape Cod, particularly in Hyannis and Yarmouth, it passes through heavy development and is the primary navigation route along the south side of the Cape. This causes congestion and gridlock, especially during the summer months, when traffic is at its heaviest. The dense development makes future plans to widen the highway difficult or impossible.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Route_28

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You can license my photos through Getty images

A scene that has been repeated thousands of times, a southbound BNSF loaded coal train powered by a pair of SD70ACes enters the 1918 United States Railroad Administration (USRA) realignment off the original Santa Fe main and onto the Rio Grande main at Spruce, Colorado, on July 27, 2020.

I have uploaded six photos of downtown Albuquerque. I hope you will take a look at all of them.

National Old Trails Road, also known as the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, was established in 1912, and became part of the National Auto Trail system in the United States. It was 2,448 miles (3,940 km) long and stretched from Baltimore, Maryland (some old maps indicate New York City was the actual eastern terminus), to California. Much of the route follows the old National Road and the Santa Fe Trail.

Although the western half of the road was signed by the Automobile Club of Southern California in mid-1914, according to their in-house magazine Touring Topics, the routing remained under much discussion until 1917. In particular, the western alignment was debated, with an early proposed routing going though Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California, up to San Francisco, California. Eventually, however, the alignment below was agreed upon, which followed earlier Indian trails, preexisting railroad tracks and, in some cases, new construction.

Throughout its life, the road was upgraded and realigned in order to improve the route. But, by 1926, significant portions in the west remained difficult to drive on, and much remained unpaved. Only 800 miles (1,300 km) were paved in 1927. Surprisingly, most of the road that traversed the California desert was widened and paved (or "oiled") by the late '20s, reportedly by a process pioneered by a local road superintendent, and indeed some of this blacktop still can be found to this day.

In 1926, the section west of Las Vegas, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California became U.S. Route 66, as was a section in the St. Louis, Missouri area (Manchester Road). After U.S. Route 66 was decommissioned, in eastern California portions of the road were renamed with the old name, and signed accordingly. Most of the modern-day "National Trails Highway" follows latter-day U.S. Route 66, however, and not any of the alignments that actually were part of the original road (the main exception being the section of road between Barstow and Victorville, which follows the almost exact routing of the 1925 realignment of the road). The last alignment of National Old Trails Road in California (and the first alignment of U.S. Route 66) followed a distinct course from the modern-day route between Daggett and Essex, California, and now only survives as a series of now-disconnected jeep trails and abandoned tracks in various stages of decay. The modern day Route 66 in California is a result of a series of realignments that were undertaken in the early 1930s.

Just a few of the numerous warehouse buildings, most connected by rail, in this (mostly) abandoned facility. A number of these buildings are being used by commercial enterprises for storage.

Savanna Army Depot was a 13,062-acre (52.86 km2) installation, located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, in Carroll and Jo Daviess counties, around seven miles (11 km) north of Savanna, Illinois. It was opened in 1917 as a proving and testing facility for weapons developed at Rock Island Arsenal. In 1921 it became a weapons depot. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the depot as a Superfund site in 1989.[1] The depot was selected for closure through the Base Realignment and Closure process in July 1995 and was officially closed on March 18, 2000. The Jo-Carroll Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA) was established to redevelop a portion of the property for commercial and business usage referred to as the Savanna Depot Park. On September 26, 2003, the United States Department of Defense agreed to transfer 9,404 acres (38.06 km2) of land to become the Lost Mound Unit of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. 3,022 acres (12.23 km2) were initially transferred with the rest to be transferred following environmental cleanup. The portion near Lock and Dam No. 12 was transferred to the United States Army Corps of Engineers and a small part to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Fall 2011 was spectacular in Healy Canyon and in addition to the 4 daily passenger trains that traversed this during the daylight hours 2011 had the added bonus of a company work train that would traverse the canyon numerous times between the money makers. Seen here on the realignment that bypassed the Garner Tunnel, which the maintenance road still enters but does not exit.

The Colorado River served as a major barrier to early settlers and explorers of the region. In 1880 a prospector named Cass Hite established a ford near the mouth of the Dirty Devil River, 2 miles downstream from the present-day bridge location. This ford, named "Dandy Crossing", served as one of the few locations in the region where travelers could cross the Colorado River. The settlement that formed at the crossing location took the name of its founder, Hite. In 1946, a settler named Arthur Chaffin constructed an automobile ferry using an old car engine and a thick steel cable to hold it in place. The ferry operated for 20 years, before the rising waters of Lake Powell inundated the settlement of Hite.

The bridge was completed as part of the realignment of State Route 95, which was approved in 1962 due to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell's subsequent flooding of the original roadway alignment and the original river crossing in Hite.

Henry prior to adopting me at a 'Cats Protection' volunteer's home in early November 2024.

Henry was rehomed and adopted into the Axe household on December 27th 2024.

Henry is a previously abandoned kitty who has had a very difficult start to his life with a very long story behind his circumstances.

Henry is now completely safe in his new forever home and he doesn't need to worry about a thing anymore.

Henry was born circa 2022.

Congenital sensorineural deafness in white cats is very common however and thankfully Henry's hearing is perfect. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_sensorineural_deafness_i...

Note Henry's misaligned claws on his right paw which have been successfully repaired and realigned.

All my white cat's www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/tags/whitecat

My Henry album flic.kr/s/aHBqjBWhvS

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 interior view of the atrium in the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East project here, Oct. 15, 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)

realigned, recoloured, redux@LDN

Pavilion Mountain Grade aka. Kelly Lake Hill . The former BC Rail climbs from Lillooet to Kelly Lake on one the longest grades in North America. The grade thru these S-curves is 1.57%, after adding resistance for curvature, the equivalent grade is closer to 2%. This spot is the transition from the gentler grade from here to Lillooet, and the torturous 2.2% grade from here to Kelly Lake. A early curve realignment can be seen here with old trestle pilings and roadbed wrapping around the outside of the deep cut. The train is empties, and all the xtra power will be used on loaded trains heading back south....