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Mallow to Tralee Railway Line - MP Killarney Junction 46 3/4.
Level Crossing (XT121) in Ballybrack Station, Kerry 4th April 2013.
Top Hills ~ Situated 2,000 feet above sea level on the cool hills of Busay, it is an excellent sight seeing spot which offers breathtaking views of Metro Cebu and the islands of Mactan and Olango. Open kiosks are available for daytime picnics at the summit of this viewpoint. The City of Cebu is the capital city of Cebu and is the second city in the Philippines with the second most significant metropolitan centre and known as the oldest Spanish settlement in the country. The city is located on the eastern shore of Cebu and was the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. Cebu is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies. Cebu also holds the second largest international flights in the Philippines and is a significant centre of commerce, trade and industry in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. Cebu City is the centre of a metropolitan area called Metro Cebu, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-lapu, Mandaue, Naga, Talisay. Metro Cebu has a total population of about two million people. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu City is only a 20 minute drive away from Cebu City. To the northeast of the city is Mandaue City and the town of Consolacion, to the west is Toledo City, the towns of Balamban and Asturias, to the south is Talisay City and the town of Minglanilla. Across Mactan Strait to the east is Mactan Island where Lapu-Lapu City and an aquarium attraction are located.
According to sources, the house was built sometime during the 17th century, which makes it among the oldest residences still existing in the Philippines. It was said to have been built for the family of Don Juan Yap, a Chinese merchant residing in Pari-an. He was married to Doña Maria Florido, who bore him three children. In the 1880s, their eldest daughter, Maria Florido Yap, was married off to the Cabeza de Barangay of Parian, Don Mariano Sandiego. For some time, the structure was used as a boarding house for students who were enrolled in schools and universities nearby. The upper level was divided by wooden wall partitions to create several small rooms for the boarders. These divisions have been removed in order to bring the interiors of the house back to its original state.
Yap Sandiego ancestral house, in 2008, the ancestral house was turned over to Val Sandiego, who is Doña Maria’s great great grandson. Val Sandiego is a well-known advocate of Cebuano heritage and is the renowned choreographer of the Sandiego Dance Company. Under his care, the house has become a lifestyle museum. Up to this day, the Yap-Sandiego residence contains antiques and religious icons.If you wish to visit the ancestral house, the entrance fee is Php 50. It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is located at 155 Mabini St., in Parian, Cebu City. It is only several metres away from the Heritage of Cebu Monument and Colon Street, which is the oldest street in the country.This Ancestral House is in 155 Lopez Jaena corner Mabini Street, in Parian District in Cebu. This place is believed to be one of the earliest residential homes in the country built in 1700. This house was formerly owned by a Chinese trader Don Juan Yap and his wife.
Cebu City is a significant cultural centre in the Philippines. The imprint of Spanish and Roman Catholic culture is evident. The city's most famous landmark is Magellan's Cross. A few steps away from the Magellan's Cross is the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño (Church of the Holy Child). This is a Augustinian church elevated to the rank of Basilica in 1965 during the 400th year celebrations of Christianity in the Philippines, held in Cebu. The church, which was the first to be established in the islands, is built of hewn stone and features the country's oldest relic, the figure of the Santo Niño de Cebú ( Holy Child of Cebu ). This religious event is celebrated during the island's cultural festivities known as the Sinulog festival. Held every third Sunday of January, it celebrates the festival of the Santo Niño, who was formerly considered to be the patron saint of Cebu. (This patronage was later changed to that of Our Lady of Guadalupe after it was realised that the St. Niño could not be a patron saint because he was an image of the Christ and not a saint.) The Sinulog is a dance ritual of pre-Hispanic indigenous origin. The dancer moves two steps forward and one step backward to the rhythmic sound of drums. This movement resembles somewhat the current (sulog) of the river. Thus, the Cebuanos called it Sinulog.
When the Spaniards arrived in Cebu, the Italian chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, sailing under convoy with the Magellan expedition, offered a baptismal gift to Hara Amihan, wife of Rajah Humabon. She was later named Juana, the figure of the Santo Niño. The natives also honoured the Santo Niño de Cebu in their indigenous Sinulog ritual[citation needed]. The Sinulog ritual was preserved but limited to honouring the Santo Niño. Once the Santo Niño church was built in the 16th century, the Christian Malay people started performing the Sinulog ritual in front of the church, the devotees offering candles and indigenous dancers shouting ~ Viva Pit Señor!
Magellan's Cross is a Christian cross planted by Portuguese, and Spanish explorers as ordered by Ferdinand Magellan on arriving in Cebu in the Philippines around April 14 or 21, 1521. This cross is housed in a chapel next to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño on Magallanes Street ( Magallanes being the Spanish name of Magellan ), just in front of the city centre of Cebu City. A sign below the cross describes the original cross is encased inside the wooden cross that is found in the centre of the chapel. This is to protect the original cross from people who chipped away parts of the cross for souvenir purposes or in the belief that the cross possesses miraculous powers. Some people, however, believe that the original cross had been destroyed or had disappeared after Magellan's death, and the cross is a replica that was planted there by the Spaniards after they successfully colonized the Philippines.
The history is that when Ferdinand Magellan first arrived in Cebu on 21 April 1521 he erected a cross in Cebu. The cross there today is not the original. Magellan's Cross is one symbol of Cebu. This chapel's image can be found in Cebu city seal. It is also seen as the symbol of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines. Magellan and his crew were the first Europeans to arrive in the Philippines. They made the first conversions to Catholicism when they converted Rajah Humabon, the local chief, his wife and hundreds of his Cebuano villagers to accept Christianity and be consequently baptized. At the same time Magellan left in Cebu the Santo Nino de Cebu [ holy child of Cebu ] a doll figure made in Europe in the 16th Century representing Jesus Christ as a child. This doll was rediscovered some 45 years later the return to Cebu of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi who came back to Cebu on the order of King Phillip of Spain to make Cebu the first centre of the new Spanish Colony in Asia, called Las Islas Filipinas. This doll also plays an important function in the religious life of millions of people as explained here.
Level corssing on Geoff William's model of Aylesbury, now in the care of the Princess Risborough model railway club.
BEST Valentine's Day present EVER! I took my 99th wooden grain elevator in Alberta that day. High Level is the Northern most grain elevator that I know of. This still looks to be very much in use still. Very odd that it's got the new orange Pioneer logo complete with the yellow top of the "i" while wearing the classic turquoise Alberta Wheat Pool paint.
Well, I think that's my swan song for Alberta wooden grain elevators. It's been a blast and had taken me to the far reaches of Alberta. Yes, there are other wooden grain elevators worth visiting left e.g., Radway, Kitscoty, Vermilion, etc, but I think 99 is an auspicious number for me to say good bye to this chapter of my life. 99 in Chinese culture symbolizes forever, eternity, stuff that lasts a long time in general... hopefully there'll always be wooden grain elevators in Alberta be it preserved as a museum or by private persons on their little farm somewhere. I'll always look back on these road trips fondly.
Thanks for looking!
Wilson out. Who knows what will catch my eye next.
Hilton level crossing across Egginton Road between Hilton and Egginton. 11:46, Friday 6th May 1988
(1/125, F8/11)
Hilton Crossing Ground Frame is a Torton Nomad portable building located by the Down Stoke line equipped with a 1 lever London & North Western Railway SK80 frame and an individual function switch which was opened as a non block post by British Railways on 20th November 1977, replacing a mid 1930s London & North Western Railway hut located on the opposite side of the level crossing. The lever was moved from the outside the previous hut and is electrically released by Egginton Junction signal box. The individual function switch controls emergency replacement switch for Egginton Junction signal box 10 and 12 signals
Ref no 08371
My first plot of Endor ground - mere 6 baseplates. Building a realistic forest plates requires crazy numbers of green elements, but also lots and lots of 'filling' - bricks of insignificant color or shape. I never expected I would find a good use for kilograms of dirt-cheap, dirty and scratched second-hand bricks I had bought couple of years ago :) . But guess what - now I need more.
Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.
Speakers included:
Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia
Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)
Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
Camera: Pentax 6x7 MLU with waist-level viewfinder
Lens: S-M-C Takumar 6x7 75mm F4.5
Exposure: 1/60 @ F5.6
Film: Kodak Tri-X dev. in ID-11 1:3
Light meter: Gossen Lunasix 3
Desert View Watchtower Level 2 murals before the start of conservation work, July 23, 2015. NPS Photo by Michael Quinn
Grand Canyon National Park is working with area tribes and art experts to restore the Fred Kabotie murals and the rock art images, painted by Fred Geary, which have been damaged by water. The first phase of the project is being funded through a grant from American Express obtained by Grand Canyon Association.This grant will help with the evaluation, documentation and testing process that is a critical component of all historic preservation projects. The park intends to preserve the murals while remaining true to Mary Colter’s design. Over the next year, a conservation specialist will analyze and restore the murals with the help of students participating in an intern training program.
On January 1, 2015, the Watchtower was purchased from the concessionaire managing it and designated a National Park Service building. NPS plans to return the Watchtower to its intended purpose, as a tribute to the Native American tribes who have cultural ties to Grand Canyon. The park is moving forward with plans to restore the tower to reflect Mary Colter’s original vision for the building.Visitors first enter through the large, open Kiva Room. Until recently, this room was filled to capacity with a large gift shop. The gift shop has since been removed from the rotunda and reduced to a much smaller footprint. The new Grand Canyon Association Park Store fits into the original space Colter envisioned for a gift shop: a corner off to the side of the rotunda. All the proceeds support the park.
Originally the Watchtower was designed as a space where visitors could see Native American craft demonstrations by weavers and basket makers. The park will bring Native American artists back into the space to share tribal traditions, dances, songs, skills, art and oral histories with the public. The park is also considering turning the old Desert View visitor center into a Native American cultural center.The transformation of the Watchtower back to its original intent is already proving to be a dramatic experience for visitors and park staff.
Modelo: Iowa Dranked Storm
FotografÃa/Edición: MarÃa Lawliet
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/MariaLawlietFoto
500px: www.500px.com/marialawliet
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The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the "Toy Train", is a 610 mm narrow gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal, India. Built between 1879 and 1881, the railway is about 78 kilometres long. Its elevation level varies from about 100 metres at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 metres at Darjeeling. Four modern diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled services; however the daily Kurseong-Darjeeling return service and the daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum (India's highest railway station) are handled by the vintage British-built B Class steam locomotives. The railway, along with the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Kalka-Shimla Railway, is listed as the Mountain Railways of India World Heritage Site. The headquarters of the railway is in the town of Kurseong. Operations between Siliguri and Kurseong have been temporarily suspended since 2010 following a Landslide at Tindharia.
HISTORY
A broad gauge railway connected Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Siliguri in 1878. Siliguri, at the base of the Himalayas, was connected to Darjeeling by a cart road (the present day Hill Cart Road) on which "Tonga services" (carriage services) were available. Franklin Prestage, an agent of Eastern Bengal Railway Company approached the government with a proposal of laying a steam tramway from Siliguri to Darjeeling. The proposal was accepted in 1879 following the positive report of a committee formed by Sir Ashley Eden, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. Construction started the same year.
Gillanders Arbuthnot & Co. constructed the railway. The stretch from Siliguri to Kurseong was opened on 23 August 1880, while the official opening of the line up to Darjeeling was on 4 July 1881. Several engineering adjustments were made later in order to ease the gradient of the rails. Despite natural calamities, such as an earthquake in 1897 and a major cyclone in 1899, the DHR continued to improve with new extension lines being built in response to growing passenger and freight traffic. However, the DHR started to face competition from bus services that started operating over the Hill Cart Road, offering a shorter journey time. During World War II, the DHR played a vital role transporting military personnel and supplies to the numerous camps around Ghum and Darjeeling.
After the independence of India, the DHR was absorbed into Indian Railways and became a part of the Northeast Frontier Railway zone in 1958. In 1962, the line was realigned at Siliguri and extended by nearly 6 km to New Jalpaiguri (NJP) to meet the new broad gauge line there. DHR remained closed for 18 months during the hostile period of Gorkhaland Movement in 1988-89.
The line closed in 2011 due to a 6.8 Magnitude earthquake. The line is currently loss-making and in 2015, Rajah Banerjee, a local tea estate owner, has called for privatisation to encourage investment, which was fiercely resisted by unions.
WORLD HERITAGE SITE
DHR was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1999, only the second railway to have this honour bestowed upon it, the first one being Semmering Railway of Austria in 1998. To be nominated as World Heritage site on the World Heritage List, the particular site or property needs to fulfill a certain set of criteria, which are expressed in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and its corresponding Operational Guidelines. The site must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. The protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations.
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
The DHR is justified by the following criteria:
Criterion II - The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is an outstanding example of the influence of an innovative transportation system on the social and economic development of a multi-cultural region, which was to serve as a model for similar developments in many parts of the world.
Criterion IV - The development of railways in the 19th century had a profound influence on social and economic developments in many parts of the world. This process is illustrated in an exceptional and seminal fashion by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY
Since 1881, the original route has been retained in a remarkable condition. Only minimal interventions of an evolutionary nature, such as the reduction of loops, have been carried out. Most of the original steam locomotives are still in use. Like Tea and the Ghurka culture, the DHR has become not only an essential feature of the landscape but also an enduring part of the identity of Darjeeling.
MANAGEMENT AND LEGAL STATUS
The DHR and all its movable and immovable assets, including the authentic railway stations, the line, and the track vehicles, belong to the Government of India entrusted to the Ministry of Railways. The Northeast Frontier Railway documented all the elements of the DHR in a comprehensive register. Apart from that, it handles the day-to-day maintenance and management. But moreover, several programs, divisions and departments of the Indian Railways are responsible for operating, maintaining and repairing the DHR. This includes technical as well as non-technical work. In principle, the only two legal protection mechanisms that apply to the conservation of the DHR are the provisions of the 1989 Railway Act and that it is a public property which is state-owned and therefore protected.
THE ROUTE
The railway line basically follows the Hill Cart Road which is partially the same as National Highway 55. Usually, the track is simply on the road side. In case of landslides both track and road might be affected. As long parts of the road are flanked with buildings, the railway line often rather resembles urban tramway tracks than an overland line.
To warn residents and car drivers about the approaching train, engines are equipped with very loud horns that even drown horns of Indian trucks and buses. Trains honk almost without pause.
Loops and Z-Reverses (or "zig-zag"s)
One of the main difficulties faced by the DHR was the steepness of the climb. Features called loops and Z-Reverses were designed as an integral part of the system at different points along the route to achieve a comfortable gradient for the stretches in between them. When the train moves forwards, reverses and then moves forward again, climbing a slope each time while doing so, it gains height along the side of the hill.
STATIONS
NEW JALPAIGURI JUNCTION (NJP)
New Jalpaiguri is the railway station which was extended to the south in 1964 to meet the new broad gauge to Assam. Where the two met, New Jalpaiguri was created.
SILIGURI TOWN STATION
Siliguri Town was original southern terminus of the line.
SIIGURI JUNCTION
Siliguri Junction became a major station only when a new metre-gauge line was built to Assam in the early 1950s
SUKNA STATION
This station marks the change in the landscape from the flat plains to the wooded lower slopes of the mountains. The gradient of the railway changes dramatically.
LOOP 1 (now removed)
Loop No.1 was in the woods above Sukna. It was removed after flood damage in 1991. The site is now lost in the forest.
RANGTONG STATION
A short distance above Rangtong there is a water tank. This was a better position for the tank than in the station, both in terms of water supply and distance between other water tanks.
LOOP 2 (now removed)
When Loop 2 was removed in 1942, again following flood damage, a new reverse, No.1, was added, creating the longest reverse run.
REVERSE 1
LOOP 3
Loop No.3 is at Chunbatti. This is now the lowest loop.
REVERSE 2 & 3
Reverses No.2 & 3 are between Chunbatti and Tindharia.
TINDHARIA STATION
This is a major station on the line as below the station is the workshops. There is also an office for the engineers and a large locomotive shed, all on a separate site.
Immediately above the station are three sidings; these were used to inspect the carriage while the locomotive was changed, before the train continued towards Darjeeling.
LOOP 4
Agony Point is the name given to loop No.4. It comes from the shape of the loop which comes to an apex which is the tightest curve on the line.
GAYABARI
REVERSE 6
Reverse No.6 is the last reverse on the climb.
MAHANADI STATION
KURSEONG STATION
There is a shed here and a few sidings adjacent to the main line, but the station proper is a dead end. Up trains must reverse out of the station (across a busy road junction) before they can continue on their climb. It is said that the station was built this way so that the train could enter a secure yard and stay there while the passengers left the train for refreshments.
Above Kurseong station, the railway runs through the bazaar. Trains skirt the front of shops and market stalls on this busy stretch of road.
SONADA STATION
Sonada is a small station which serves town of sonada on Darjeeling Himalayan railway. It is on Siliguri - Darjeeling national highway (NH 55).
JOREBUNGALOW STATION
This is a small location near Darjeeling and a railway station on Darjeeling Himalayan railway. Jorebungalow was store point for tea to Calcutta. This is a strategical place to connect Darjeeling to rest of the country.
GHUM STATION
Ghum, summit of the line and highest station in India. Now includes a museum on the first floor of the station building with larger exhibits in the old goods yard. Once this was the railway station at highest altitude overall and is the highest altitude station for narrow gauge railway.
BATASIA LOOP
The loop is 5 kilometres from Darjeeling, below Ghum. There is also a memorial to the Gorkha soldiers of the Indian Army who sacrificed their lives after the Indian Independence in 1947. From the Batasia Loop one can get a panoramic view of Darjeeling town with the Kanchenjunga and other snowy mountains in the back-drop.
DARJEELING STATION
The farthest reach of the line was to Darjeeling Bazaar, a goods-only line and now lost under the road surface and small buildings.
LOCOMOTIVES
CURRENT
STEAM
All the steam locomotives currently in use on the railway are of the "B" Class, a design built by Sharp, Stewart and Company and later the North British Locomotive Company, between 1889 and 1925. A total of 34 were built, but by 2005 only 12 remained on the railway and in use (or under repair).
In 2002, No. 787 was rebuilt with oil firing. This was originally installed to work on the same principle as that used on Nilgiri Mountain Railway No.37395. A diesel-powered generator was fitted to operate the oil burner and an electrically-driven feed pump, and a diesel-powered compressor was fitted to power the braking system. Additionally, the locomotive was fitted with a feedwater heater. The overall result was a dramatic change in the appearance of the locomotive. However, the trials of the locomotive were disappointing and it never entered regular service. In early 2011, it was in Tindharia Works awaiting reconversion to coal-firing.
In March 2001, No.794 was transferred to the Matheran Hill Railway to allow a "Joy Train" (steam-hauled tourist train) to be operated on that railway. It did not, however, enter service there until May 2002.
DIESEL
Four diesel locomotives are in use: Nos. 601-2, 604 and 605 of the NDM6 class transferred from the Matheran Hill Railway.
PAST
In 1910 the railway purchased the third Garratt locomotive built, a D Class 0-4-0+0-4-0.
Only one DHR steam locomotive has been taken out of India, No.778 (originally No.19). After many years out of use at the Hesston Steam Railway, it was sold to an enthusiast in the UK and restored to working order. It is now based on a private railway (The Beeches Light Railway) in Oxfordshire but has run on the Ffestiniog Railway, the Launceston Steam Railway and the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has long been viewed with affection and enthusiasm by travellers to the region and the Earl of Ronaldshay gave the following description of a journey in the early 1920s:
"Siliguri is palpably a place of meeting . . The discovery that here the metre gauge system ends and the two foot gauge of the Darjeeling-Himalayan railway begins, confirms what all these things hint at... One steps into a railway carriage which might easily be mistaken for a toy, and the whimsical idea seizes hold of one that one has accidentally stumbled into Lilliput. With a noisy fuss out of all proportion to its size the engine gives a jerk - and starts... No special mechanical device such as a rack is employed - unless, indeed, one can so describe the squat and stolid hill-man who sits perched over the forward buffers of the engine and scatters sand on the rails when the wheels of the engine lose their grip of the metals and race, with the noise of a giant spring running down when the control has been removed.
Sometimes we cross our own track after completing the circuit of a cone, at others we zigzag backwards and forwards; but always we climb at a steady gradient - so steady that if one embarks in a trolley at Ghum, the highest point on the line, the initial push supplies all the energy necessary to carry one to the bottom."
The trip up to Darjeeling on railway has changed little since that time, and continues to delight travellers and rail enthusiasts, so much so that it has its own preservation and support group, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society.
Several films have portrayed the railway. Especially popular was the song Mere sapno ki rani from the film Aradhana where the protagonist Rajesh Khanna tries to woo heroine Sharmila Tagore who was riding in the train. Other notable films include Barfi!, Parineeta and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. The Darjeeling Limited, a film directed by Wes Anderson, features a trip by three brothers on a fictional long-distance train based very loosely on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
TELEVISION
The BBC made a series of three documentaries dealing with Indian Hill Railways, shown in February 2010. The first film covers the Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway, the second the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the third the Kalka-Shimla Railway. The films were directed by Tarun Bhartiya, Hugo Smith and Nick Mattingly and produced by Gerry Troyna. The series won the UK Royal Television Society Award in June 2010. Wes Anderson's film The Darjeeling Limited also showcases three brothers riding the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
WIKIPEDIA
Mallow to Waterford Railway Line - MP Mallow 40 1/4.
Level Crossing and gate house preceding Cappagh Station, Waterford 27th June 2012.
Bunchrew Level Crossing with automatic half barriers - converted from automatic open crossing (AOCL) to AOCL+B in August 2013.
Desert View Watchtower Level 2 murals before the start of conservation work, July 23, 2015. NPS Photo by Michael Quinn
Grand Canyon National Park is working with area tribes and art experts to restore the Fred Kabotie murals and the rock art images, painted by Fred Geary, which have been damaged by water. The first phase of the project is being funded through a grant from American Express obtained by Grand Canyon Association.This grant will help with the evaluation, documentation and testing process that is a critical component of all historic preservation projects. The park intends to preserve the murals while remaining true to Mary Colter’s design. Over the next year, a conservation specialist will analyze and restore the murals with the help of students participating in an intern training program.
On January 1, 2015, the Watchtower was purchased from the concessionaire managing it and designated a National Park Service building. NPS plans to return the Watchtower to its intended purpose, as a tribute to the Native American tribes who have cultural ties to Grand Canyon. The park is moving forward with plans to restore the tower to reflect Mary Colter’s original vision for the building.Visitors first enter through the large, open Kiva Room. Until recently, this room was filled to capacity with a large gift shop. The gift shop has since been removed from the rotunda and reduced to a much smaller footprint. The new Grand Canyon Association Park Store fits into the original space Colter envisioned for a gift shop: a corner off to the side of the rotunda. All the proceeds support the park.
Originally the Watchtower was designed as a space where visitors could see Native American craft demonstrations by weavers and basket makers. The park will bring Native American artists back into the space to share tribal traditions, dances, songs, skills, art and oral histories with the public. The park is also considering turning the old Desert View visitor center into a Native American cultural center.The transformation of the Watchtower back to its original intent is already proving to be a dramatic experience for visitors and park staff.
The recent devastating floods seen in their best light - sunlight and the hope of it drying out. Thoughts with everyone affected.
Garve Level Crossing on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line and A835 trunk road, with red light enforcement cameras, before the crossing was upgraded with the addition of half-barriers.
Acrylic on canvas
This is a dream I have had several times in my life, but I was eight the first time I had it. Just the way I dreamt it was significant, I had it for three days in a row, not as in it repeated the same thing for three days. I fell asleep the first night (as soon as I hit the pillow, I was out which is unusual for me) and I dreamt the first part of the dream, then the second night again I fell asleep immediately, and first it replayed (really fast) the main points of the first part so that I would know it was a continuation, and then went on to the second part of the dream, and on the third night it did it again continuing where the second part had left off. Since then I have had it several times and everytime a different aspect of the dream has been enhanced, developed on. I'm going to recount the dream as well as I can in it's entirety as I have dreamt it thus far, more may follow...
I walk along with a large group of people and everyone is preoccupied with their own thoughts or groups of people. We are all on a "field trip" to an Ancient Temple and somewhere near the front is a teacher/tour guide boredly explaining the mundane facts that they have found about the temple, but where I am his/her voice is barely audible as a monotone drone, and there are hundreds of people in front, beside and behind me. Some of them are engaged in their surroundings, looking with interest at the artifacts along the walls, some are simply following the teacher/guide mindlessly without any real comprehension, others are talking among themselves in various group sizes (from 2 to 6 people). As we all walk along this incredibly wide and long tunnel with its white chalk walls and smell of memories undisturbed for centuries, I notice an opening up above slightly ahead of me and as I become level with it I easily raise myself up through the opening. No one in the crowd notices and the "crowd" me walks on while the conscious part of me explores my new surroundings. When I turn "back" (the opposite way than the crowd below me is traveling) the opening is there and yet not, I walk over it, stepping on it, but don't fall through. But I don't pause to think about that because something else has caught my eye. A few feet from me the passage ends in an alcove; in the alcove are three earthen jars. They are all simply made and undecorated, but the power/energy they radiate is strong. I walk toward them, after briefly looking at them, I reach out my right hand and lightly tap/touch each of them, first the middle, then the one to the right, and lastly the one on the left. As I touch them, each jar lights up as though they were colored glass instead of earthenware, and yet they remain the same... with the glow is a sound, a sort of hummm, simple but all encompassing-- first only the jars vibrate with sound (wish I knew note names, middle, up, down, middle, up, down...) I only touch each jar once but the pattern continues and gradually not only the jar are humming with sound, but the walls are humming (their pattern is slightly different), I turn around and realize that there is a long passage with several ancient things that each glow and hum as I pass them. This passage feels less used, but as I walk along each object adds its own unique tone to the increasingly intricate harmony. They glow purple, yellow, red, purple yellow red...humm, humm, humm... the further I walk the more beautiful and intricate the music becomes: everything, even the dust is vibrating/singing and glowing with ancient power and I add my voice. Then comes a sudden drop, the passage simple ends and the music stops as I stand at the edge looking into an enormous room. Far below me I see the miling crowd from before filling the space, it is a never-ending stream of people, as people leave, more and more enter, listen to the "guide" for a while and move on. The "guide" is standing by an altar of sorts, trying to explain what he/she doesn't understand and no one in the crowd is really listening... A rope appears, or maybe it was always there, leading from my feet to the "altar" (it is more like a fancy railing in the middle of the room, but no one walks to the far side of it) Without any clear plan I step unto the rope, which at first tips me over and I fall back into the crowd me, I don't know how many times, but finally I try again and make it all the way across. I cross to the other side of the altar and the crowd seems to fade as a new environment fills all the space on my side of the altar... It is a space within the temple but also a place all it's own; green hills surround me (but somehow the only thngs that exist are the things I can see) on the nearest hill is a large tree, it is so vividly colored that it looks almost like a cartoon. Under the tree a person is waiting for me; as I come closer she rises easily to her feet and smiles (up until this point in the dream I have been female, but at this point I am male. Throughout the rest of this particular part of the dream my gender changes frequently, and regardless of my gender my companion is the opposite gender, ie if I am female "she" is male, and vice versa. It made sense in the dream) When I reach her she turns and we walk together towards a large river which is now flowing at the foot of the hill. It is deep and wide and incredibly blue; without a word we derobe ourselves and dive into the water. We both swim upstream quickly and with relative ease until we reach a lake, the source of the water. But the source is not a spring welling up from underground, it is a large white tower, with a red roof shaped like an onion, and a spiral going up around it to a small window where all the water pours out and flows down the spiral into the lake which spills over becoming the river. We swim across the lake to the base of the tower, and here we meld into one person. Then we/I begin to swim up the spiral. It would be easier to walk, but I know/intuit that I won't understand the point at the end if I opt for the easy answer. Several times I slip and am carried back, sometimes to the base of the tower, sometimes only a short distance, finally I reach the window, but just as I enter it fades back to the temple. All of it becomes a green sphere of light laying on the alter/railing... The temple vanishes again and something else appears, this time I have to travel through my fears. Hmm, this part came later and I'm not fond of recounting it, but here goes... I wake up in a small gray stone church with a single beautiful stained glass window of a white dove carrying a red, red rose; the stained glass window is the reason I am here, the sunlight spilling through it is beautiful beyond description and I sit and gaze at it for the longest time. I am "only" a very small child, skinny and ragged from a hard life, I have traveled by foot a longer distance than I can remember just to see this window again. This stone building is my sanctuary from the world, here I need nothing and I am safe; until people start to come, lots of people, uninvited people, they enter and look at and touch everythng and they don't even see me, but they are hurting my space with their loud, crass energies and voices, their carelessness. i cry and run away, I want to hide until they have left, so I run into the tower, only the tower is almost completely ruined now, with large gaping holes it sways in the wind and at the top is no sanctuary only more people, strange people who aren't human but something else, I run again, I run outside hoping to find safety in the countryside, but the countryside is gone, filled with more people, people with animal heads and strange leering faces, they lean over me and lurk in shadows, they laugh cruelly and sneer, and speak in voices I don't understand and I scream and can find no way out, then a cave opens before me, a cave that is red as blood with gleaming black stalagmites and stalagtites like teeth, it is like a huge gaping maw and I have no choice but to descend into the depths, and everywhere there are candles burning, all different sizes and shapes, they are peoples lives, when the candle turns out, their life is over... Winged creatures like bats flap around, playing with the lights, sometimes only almost blowing them out, other times snuffing them completely and there are creatures here that catch me and smile like they are friends but then instead they suck my life from me, never enough that I quite die, but enough that I am weak, until finally I come to my candle and see that it has diminished to a faint glow and realize that I have to get out and leave this place before my candle is snuffed into oblivion, where there is darkness, nothing, nothing, nothing... I rest I wait I don't know what for, but then I am back at the church and all the people are gone, save one. He is watching me sleep, and he is smiling. He gives me food and clothes, and I go with him. We travel through countrysides and villages and he teaches me to control my psyche so that I don't have to fear it anymore, until I become stronger than him... I know I am stronger, but I love him so I give it to him, I let him control me. together we have a child, but he will not have it, he will not accept it, he shuns us, and leaves us to die, under an enormous old pine tree I lie with my infant child, my little girl, as the life flows out of us both.
I return to the temple, now there is yellow, orange, red, and blue/indigo next to the green sphere of light. Then there is the ocean; as I stand there I smell the salt, feel the wind and hear the waves breaking on the sand which feels dry and gritty on my bare feet. However, as I walk closer to the ocean I begin to see more in the waves, first they become moving bands of clear water and in them I can see every strand of life, then the bands become light instead of water, different colors of light, the same as the jars glowed, yellow purple red, yellow purple red, I can change it by adding the spheres of light, each sphere first gives a faint image of their lesson, and then adds their color to the ocean of light yellow purple blue green orange red up and down in and out they move and fade and strenghten, until all of them come together into a single white sphere of radiant warm brilliant light, it is bigger than my body, and then it becomes an enormous Conk shell glowing with Energy and Light; I walk toward it and realize that I am no longer wearing the simple white tunic and leggings that hitherto I had been wearing, I am dressed in Light, the same brilliant white light that is emanating from the shell is flowing from me creating raiment that flows and swishes and sways, moving tendrils about me and through me, because it is me. I walk into the conk shell and again I know/intuit that I must be careful and touch only with my feet (or my dress), not my hands, to reach the center. Several times I slip and put out my hand to steady myself and every time I am returned to the outside of the shell. Finally, on my eight try I reach the center, the Source of Light, Creation, Wisdom, Strength, and Love. And entering into it I, myself, become Light and Love, a part of the source and yet still retaining my sense of self. All of this I take with me as I return to the temple once more and must join the people and make my life.
As I wrote before, this dream has come to me several times in my life, sometimes at the beginning of a life lesson, sometimes in the middle, or the end, as if to clarify... I don't know if or when I will dream it again; it feels complete now, but I still have much more life before me in which to learn...
~Ingrid
Mont Blanc (French) or Monte Bianco (Italian), meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises 4,810.45 m (15,782 ft)[2] above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence. It is also sometimes known as La Dame blanche (French for "the White Lady") or Il Bianco (Italian for "the White One").
The mountain lies between the regions of Aosta Valley, Italy, and Haute-Savoie, France and the location of the summit is on the watershed line between the valleys of Ferret and Veny in Italy and the Arve Valley in France.
The two most famous towns near Mont Blanc are Courmayeur in Aosta Valley, Italy, and Chamonix in Haute-Savoie, France—the site of the first Winter Olympics. A cable car ascends and crosses the mountain from Courmayeur to Chamonix.
Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the 11.6 km (7¼ mi) Mont Blanc Tunnel runs beneath the mountain between these two countries and is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes.
The Mont Blanc massif is popular for mountaineering, hiking, skiing and snowboarding.
The summit of Mont Blanc is a thick, perennial ice and snow dome whose thickness varies, so no exact and permanent summit elevation can be determined. But accurate measurements have been made. For a long time its official elevation was 4,807 m (15,771 ft). Then in 2002, the IGN and expert surveyors, with the aid of GPS technology, measured it to be 4,810.40 m (15,782 ft 2 in).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Blanc
The Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps.
The cable car to the summit, the Téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi, was built in 1955 and held the title of the world's highest cable car for about two decades. It still holds the record as the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world, from 1,035 m to 3,842 m. There are two sections: from Chamonix to Plan de l'Aiguille at 2,317 m and then directly, without any support pillar, to the upper station at 3,777 m (the building contains an elevator to the summit). The span of the second section is 2,867 m measured directly, but only 2,500 m measured horizontally. It thus still is the second longest span width, measured directly.
Corpach Level Crossing on the West Highland Line, in 2010 when it was an automatic open crossing (AOCL), it was converted to automatic half-barriers (AOCL+B) in 2013.
Halkirk level crossing in 2014 after it had been upgraded to an automatic half-barrier crossing (ABCL), it was previously an automatic open crossing.
Sept. 3, 2015 at St. Mary's Conference Center in Huntington. Fashion show presented by First Impressions School of Modeling, Pageantry, and Etiquette. (Photos provided by First Impressions.)
Yaxham Level Crossing was replaced over 4 days. Here is the finished article on the 3rd October 2011.