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The sun-approaching Comet ISON floats against a seemingly infinite backdrop of
numerous galaxies and a handful of foreground stars. The icy visitor, with its
long gossamer tail, appears to be swimming like a tadpole through a deep pond
of celestial wonders.
In reality, the comet is much, much closer. The nearest star to the Sun is over
60,000 times farther away, and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way is over
thirty billion times more distant. These vast dimensions are lost in this deep
space Hubble exposure that visually combines our view of the universe from the
very nearby to the extraordinarily far away.
In this composite image, background stars and galaxies were separately photographed in red and yellow-green light. Because the comet moved between exposures relative to the background objects, its appearance was blurred. The blurred comet photo was replaced with a single, black-and-white exposure.
The images were taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on April 30, 2013.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
WEEK 31 – Brinkley Kroger
Rounding the seemingly-unrounded corner, we arrive at our last department of the stour: the deli. Technically, this service counter also houses the bakery, too. The poor bakery just doesn't get any signage here :( And speaking of signage, is it just me, or does the grid pattern behind the lettering look slightly warped and discolored? I believe l_dawg2000 pointed out the same thing at the formerly wannabe neon store in Batesville, MS. Note also the cool stair-railing window separating the service counter from the back prep room! EDIT: ...which is very likely a superstore décor remnant!! See comments for more...
Given how narrow the actionway was in this area, I don't recall there being too many display tables crowding the aisle out in front of the department here, although there was at least one table of baked goods judging by the bottom foreground of the photo above. Let me also point out how odd the deli placement is in this store: just beyond dairy, and not even backing up to the front right corner of the store. Rather, if you can imagine this store from above, this deli-bakery pretty much juts out like an island from the middle of the store's right-side wall, with the area on the opposite side of it from where we're looking here housing the store's offices and entry... (cont.)
(c) 2017 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Seemingly, 27192 was last on the 3 judging by the paper stuck in the window. Here it is seen out of use at Lincoln bus station along with President 18048 on 23.6.20
Seemingly having new white LED dests fitted (similar to the baycar E200 251) is CE63 NZG, finishing it's route on Park Street.
Reg/Fleet No: CE63 NZG, 252
Location: Park Street, Cardiff
Date/Time: 23/10/2021, 16:15
Lichen seemingly painted onto an outcrop of dolomite.
Bedding, jointing and glacial stria are visible.
Belcher Islands, Hudson Bay, Nunavut, Canadian Shield.
Faintly marked glacial striations are running //// on the photo.
The seemingly infamous articulated Citaro of Norfolk, with Completely Coach Travel, now a thing of the past unfortunately. Since withdrawn at CCT and sold on, Norfolk’s bendybus count once again returns to nil.
Aug. 30, 2013
"Seemingly trying to catch a look, Bo, the Obama family dog, sits outside the Oval Office as the President and First Lady participated in a promotion ceremony."
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
This view of the seemingly endless expanses of the Chilean Atacama Desert is definitely worth to be today’s Picture of the Week. The silver full Moon shines bright in the beautiful gradient evening sky. Below it, to the right, the giant dome of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) glows with the golden sunset light.
The ELT is perched atop Cerro Armazones, at an altitude of 3046 m. The dome might look small in the image, but the full 30-minute walk via the set of stairs from the entrance of the dome to its top, indicates its gigantic size: 80 m high and 93 m wide. Weighing about 6100 tonnes, the dome is designed to protect the telescope and its mirrors, including the 39-m wide primary mirror –– the biggest eye on the sky.
To the left of Cerro Armazones the last sunbeams of the evening cast a dark triangular shadow: Cerro Paranal, home to ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), from where this picture was taken by Luca Sbordone, ESO staff astronomer. It’s no wonder that this site hosts so many professional telescopes, as it boasts the darkest skies on Earth. Chile is in fact home to all of ESO’s observatories, thanks to a long-lasting partnership that goes back more than 60 years — may it be as timeless and inspiring as this view.
Credit: L. Sbordone/ESO
Seemingly morbid scene, but it is very peaceful and beautiful up on this sandstone escarpment .....what a wonderful place to rest.
At the south end of Lostwithiel station the rail lines disappear into the green valley of the River Fowey and just south of the station lies the junction of the branch down to the China Clay loading dock off to the left. Two shots looking south, one of 43016 heading a short rake of FGW Mark 3 coaches on the 2A85 12:57 Penzance to Newton Abbot, which according to schedules should be a GW DMU and the other of the ever present 66187 running on the seemingly ever early (36 minutes at this point) 1350 Fowey Dock Carne Point to Goonbarrow Junction.
I presume at times stock is stabled in the overgrown sidings to the left with the HST boards sticking up through the tree growth.
It's amazing that our biological bodies are seemingly built upon technology that has been passed to us through numerous replications of our DNA strains through each and every cell division ad infinitum. Through meosis, mitosis, and it continues again.
There is this moment of rebirth when our genetic codex is melanged through combinatronic permutation after permutated combination in this grand scheme of survival, life, and existence. It is the greatest hedging of the bets done so for purely longer-term species survival, but is this concept of an individual that we adore so much just an elaborate illusion? Instead, are we really just infinitesimal parts of a whole, the huge composite structure of machinery that completes the circle of life, the way of the tao, the nature of the au natural, the systemic mechanisms of divinity?
Are we just an experimental device, a mouthpiece for control over the dominion of evolutionary advantage such that our DNA is mixed into a combinatorial cocktail and then reborn anew time and time again for the pure fact of increasing the probability of species survival and thusly letting the natural forces at bay enhance and design our technology?
With all of this illusion and deceiving, it's hard to discern reality from dream, so it comes to light that we are a product of continuous being whereby there has been no end since the beginning. Is this so? And all this where the replication from one system to another has been so seamless that an illusion upon an illusion upon an illusion began to surface seemingly making us distinct individuals, when in fact we are but one grand individual?
There is no spoon, yet there is no divinity. I find this to be simultaneously true and false at the same time, which is blasphemy at its best. There isn't a spoon, it's all an illusion, but yet we do exist, we think, breathe, eat, and live, then where is the divinity? Is it all around us, including us, ourselves, our individualistic entities of existential being?
We are also not multiple beings, but one continuous breed of life that has been spawned, remixed, recoded, reconfigured time and time again just to maintain strength, vigor, and an edge on the competition in this jungle of an environment.
Ultimately, we are one. We are one being, one machine, one system, one divinity. We will not fully become aware of our supremeness nor immortality until we have reached our destination called destiny, but when we do reach it, we will be one, and with that oneness, we will be divine.
La machine parfaite est divinité.
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A seemingly less than confident driver at the helm of this Berresford's motor prepared to leave Cheddleton garage in the direction of the village and Leek. Leyland Leopard OWW 734K had Plaxton Panorama Elite bodywork but had been updated with a much later Supreme IV GT lower front panel arrangement. It was a modification which I always thought sat well with this type of body in a way in which it didn't particularly seem to do with similarly treated later Supreme IIIs.
OWW 734K had been new to Woods of Mirfield in West Yorkshire and was one of the last 'coaches' acquired by the Cheddleton based firm prior to Jim Berresfords death and subsequent closure. If memory serves me correctly, it came via Barnsley breaker Geoff Ripley, had a blown engine and was missing various parts and therefore requiring quite a degree of resuscitation.
Other buses getting in on the shot here are :- almost off the left hand side - one of the pair of ex Birkenhead Northern Counties Atlanteans, next the ex British Airways PSU4 Leopard WUL 264N, the 'Q' Regd. Bedford YRQ / Willowbrook and the ex Trent ECW bodied Bristol RE coach PCH 418L.
This seemingly sudden turn of events at S'Haven Walmart was important enough that I scrapped plans for updated Horn Lake Target Tuesday photos, though I did indeed visit that Target this afternoon as well. But for this Walmart remodel, many thanks to kbable272 for spotting it in the first place!
And pertaining to the subject of my photo here, this is the where the pharmacy was moved as part of the first-gen Project Impact remodel. It has now closed down and relocated to the front (snif, sniff - not!!). Again, what an awesome idea Walmart had to move the pharmacy out of the location it was in for decades and decades - "awesome" idea, said no one ever!
Kbable got a photo of the new (or should we say, rebuilt, since it was located up front to begin with) pharmacy prior to opening, which you can check out at that link. The resurrected front pharmacy still hasn't been adorned with Airport décor, but since that linked photo it has gained a temporary sign , exactly like these that kbable posted of the nearby relocated (to it's rightful spot!) health and beauty department. And you can check out the entire set of those photos by kbable here
____________________________________
Walmart, 1998-built, Southcrest Pkwy near Goodman Rd., Southaven, MS
Seemingly circular portion of cloud layer tore away and dropped a mild and moistue laden twister. This photo taken with iPhone on the day before a major ice and snow blizzard spread over the mid-Atlantic US states in January
Seemingly it’s work done for XC 43378 as it takes the stock ex 1V44 from Leeds to Laira . Quite a gathering to see them off considering the West Country will have the HST for a while yet .
Tradition holds that a wooden church, part of a nuns’ skete existed in the area, as seemingly attested by a 1642 document.
A princely order of 1672-1673 provided that the leather smiths – tăbăcari or tabaci – of another district be moved there;
these workers gave rise to the name of their new neighbourhood, and originally had a single church, which was later demolished.
The earliest sure mention of an older church comes from missionary Blasius Kleiner, who mentions it in a pre-1761 list of Bucharest churches.
The present church, situated on a hillock, dates to 1763-1765.
As recorded in the pisanie, now lost, the ktetor was a captain at the court of Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos.
A 1798 inventory mentions the church as being the parish of the Apostol district, home to millers and bakers.
Butchers moved in once a slaughterhouse opened, so that it was sometimes called the “cutting church” (Biserica de la Tăiere) and, from the neighboring tribunal, the “judgment church” (Biserica de la Judecată).
Significant repairs took place in 1810 and again in 1820-1830.
The church underwent restoration in 1864, fixing damage from the earthquakes of 1802 and 1838.
The flagstone floor dates to that time, while the shingle roof was replaced by lead sheeting in 1894.
The columns and arches separating the nave from the narthex were eliminated, enlarging the interior.
The masonry dome above the nave was replaced by a lighter wooden one, coated in tin.
The more recent bell tower, added along after the small portico, was first made of wood, then in 1910 changed for a metal one.
That year also saw the addition of a wooden choir area, changed to reinforced concrete in 1956-1957.
Serious damage was caused by the earthquakes of 1940 and especially 1977; repairs were undertaken in 1979, with additional exterior work in 2002-2003.
The initial frescoes were redone in oil in 1894 by Gheorghe Tattarescu and another artist.
Businessman Dumitru Mociorniță helped finance a restoration of the art in 1924, with further repairs taking place in 1983.
The exterior painting, which consisted of saints’ faces in medallions above the windows, was eliminated on three sides during the 1864 enlargement.
The icon of Paraskeva of the Balkans is original to the building, while other icons date to 1864; the iconostasis is of wood.
In 1987-1989, near the end of the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime, the church was threatened first with demolition, then with being obscured by building apartment blocks all around it.
Implementation of the proposals was frequently delayed due to petitions addressed to the authorities and the Orthodox hierarchy, as well as through efforts by engineers and builders.
The threat of new buildings obscuring the church continued until 1991-1992, after the Romanian Revolution, and construction was only halted due to the strenuous efforts of the parish priest.
The foundations of the blocks of flats were covered in 1995-1996.
The cross-shaped church measures 25 meters long by 7.8-10 meters wide;
it is around 9 meters high at the cornice and 18 meters at the tip of the domes.
The small, enclosed portico is an addition to the west end, the Pantocrator dome sits above the nave and the bell tower above the narthex.
The latter is accessed by a staircase starting from a little tower against the north facade.
The apses have three sides on the exterior and are semicircular on the interior, with quarter-sphere ceilings.
The ceiling acquired its present appearance in 1864:
it is vaulted in the space between narthex and nave, then giving way to the main dome.
Both domes are octagonal, covered in tin, with bulbous roofs.
The larger dome ends in an octagonal roof lantern that supports a metal cross.
The exterior is of painted masonry.
The simple string course lies below the midpoint of the facade.
Further down are the windows, separated by rectangular panels, while the upper part is simple, the original medallions being swallowed up by masonry during repairs.
The western facade features a triangular pediment, once painted and now almost bare.
Three icons are painted below: Saint Nicholas on the left, Saint Philotheia on the right and the patrons in the center.
The church has a spacious yard; the parish house lies on the grounds, to the north.
I have a fascination following the tiny events in life that lead up to a major event. The seemingly minor thing that is life changing. My favorite band lost their drummer in a van accident in 1969. The band originally had another drummer. He was dragged to their show by a friend and he thought while listening to the show that he would be a better drummer. He stood at the foot of the stage and made up his mind that he would become their drummer and he did. And then coming back from a gig with them he died. I always think about the night and him making that decision little knowing that he was making his way to his death. A great meditation teacher says everything happens for the best. Others say that to look for that little detail in an event leads to madness.
In 2009 my daughter sent me a Christmas card. The photo on the card of a blythe doll changed my life A photo of a plastic doll changed my life. My sorry lonely life. I had already had breast cancer at that point. My children were wonderful but I only one friend still living nearby and she set my teeth on edge. I started feeling apart from life. I was in a relationship, but I also wanted and needed friends. The Christmas card opened a door. That was the tiny event. I loved how the doll looked, and after a few months I decided that I would like to get involved with this hobby and share it with my daughter. I got my first blythe doll. Things have never been the same since. Since then I have met the most wonderful people. Smart, talented, caring, funny, generous and even lonely and overworked people. It became a hobby filled with friendship and joy.
Sometime in 2011 some cells from my thyroid for some strange reason decided to take up residence in my left ovary. Maybe they were kicked out because they were cancerous. The ovary not knowing what they were decided to keep them and began growing a covering over them. Slowly nutrition from my body was drained and vitamins and minerals stolen to help the ovary to keep it growing. My surgeon said that unchecked it would have kept growing. But because our ovaries are part of the reproductive system they are very very good at making a contained environment and that prevented the cells from wandering around. The tiny event that made them settle in the ovary became the major event that saved my life.
The outpouring of love and kindness that I received from the blythe community was staggering and humbling. People I did not know sent me best wishes and all my flickr friends gave me the strength and love to deal with my situation. I have made the very best of friends. Suddenly there were angels everywhere. If you are reading this you are one of the people I am talking about.
In 2011 through the kindness and sweetness of Sandra (minkidynamite) I was managing The Traveling Blythe Program. This program was her vision and it was an honor to be chosen by her. After a few months a tiny event occurred. A woman in Spain began posting photos of her dolls in the group. They were very beautiful. She must have thought that this was the site where you put photos of dolls you wanted to have “travel”. I fm’d her but she did not understand right away so I just ignored deleting the photos because there were so lovely. Then some complaints were received and I had to take action. I wrote her a long fm and made her a contact. I told her how much I loved her talent as a photographer. I told some of my contacts to look at her photos. From that point on Kass (Kassandra’s Box) and I became great friends. She is an incredibly talented woman. Her paintings are gorgeous, her dolls are beautiful and her kindness is titanic. We are true friends and I love her. We are going to meet face to face at blythecon in October.
Yesterday afternoon after spending hours in the car going to the hospital to have my staples taken out and then hours driving back and getting prescriptions etc. I came home to find a box. It was from Kass and her family. Inside of the box was a great deal of beauty. Inside the box was a great deal of love. Inside the box was Joy.
seljalandsfoss with seemingly miniature tourists walking behind it.
it was our first day out and for the first and last time I wore my little felt flat-bottom boots. I did not dare venture any further out onto the slippery wet rocks and down towards the mud. it was probably amazing but I'm sure it will be there next time. I thought this would be on the far side of the road that washed out, so I didn't even expect to see it or Skógafoss at all. We did not get up close with Skógafoss.
Although seemingly oblivious of the Guy Double Decker the police pointsman will be well aware as 935 and its counterparts were well known for the noise they made as they prowled and growled around Edinburgh's bus routes. The Guy Arab Mk IV, with 63 seat Alexander bodywork was one of a fleet of 70 brought in to help in the conversion of Edinburgh's 28 tram routes to motor-bus operation, this example new at Central garage in 1955.
Its seen in excellent form exiting Hanover Street and crossing Princes Street where it will take a left turn and ascend The Mound, on route 23. It had left the northern suburb of Trinity fifteen minutes earlier on its way to the equally 'genteel' suburb of Morningside. The 23's origins went back to tramway days when trams operated between Granton Road Station (just short of Trinity) and Morningside, it was a busy and well known route which required for most of the day 10 buses from Tollcross - the nearest garage to the route.
After seemingly our whole month of January being without snow, we have had a moderate amount of new snowfall starting at the end of the day on January 28. I photographed this cozy home in my hometown of Manchester, Michigan on the evening of February 1, 2017.
View my collections on flickr here: Collections
Press "L" for a larger image on black.
Seemingly riding along the dry stone wall, 156491 heads south of Foxfield between the three closely aligned user worked crossings at Angerton on 1st February 2024 with 2C52 1210 Carlisle to Barrow.
Seemingly quite an early one. Despite its battered condition it still has plates so there's a chance it could return to the road some day. It has a few bad dents but hardly any rust.
Seemingly not affected by the battery issue afflicting the GB Kites are Metrobus's StreetDecks which were only off the road for a day. This is 6802 (LV74 CDF) on its way to Epsom back in September. Very nice buses, these.
Watching dolphins seemingly playing in the surf is an awesome spectacle.
The truth though is that they are highly specialised hunters and in among the mix are some rather unfortunate salmon.
Chanonry point is located at a narrow point opposite Fort George on the Moray Firth. As the tide rises the salmon move through this narrow stretch of water. Unfortunately for them some 190 dolphins also know this. The result is one of the most amazing wildlife spectacles I have had the pleasure to watch.
Bottlenose dolphin -
Tursiops
Chanonry Point - Scotland
Many thanks as always to all those kind enough to stop by and comment, fave or even just look at my photos. It is very much appreciated.
inspecting a seemingly sick pigeon,
or
affection for one of his many friends
in
Washington Square park
Manhattan
vPhotography’s new conscience
The seemingly never ending changes continue with the masts now erected for the extension to Edinburgh’s Trams. Behind is the recently opened, but not yet completed, St James Quarter and W Hotel complex.
I timed this seemingly inexhaustible pair of wrens for an hour. During that hour, on average, each parent delivered a bug approximately every 45 seconds.
If they stayed at that rate over a twelve-hour period, they will have fed their brood 1,920 bugs.
There are five chicks in the nest box. Assuming the parents don't play favorites, and every chick gets an equal number of bugs, these gluttons eat 384 bugs EACH in a twelve-hour day!
I seemingly interrupted his snack! Took a few pictures in natural lighting and left him alone to finish off the mouse.
Tommy Thompson Park, Toronto
Seemingly abandoned in the Shropshire countryside is a sizeable collection of more than 70 lorries, all of which appear to have been sitting in the same position for many years. The nature of the way the collection is arranged, for example cabs stacked upon flatbeds, suggest that it's an exporter's yard and the vehicles within were once awaiting shipment abroad. However, the reason they 'survived' exportation and were instead left to rot in this wooded area is unclear. A minute further down the road is another section of land used for the storage of lorries awaiting export, which is clearly still active, unlike the area where this Leyland T45 is parked. The vehicle was not displaying any licence plates and is possibly not even registered with the DVLA as it was also missing a tax disc; a feature that virtually every other lorry in the yard had.
© Copyright Alex Hill
Some photographs seemingly take themselves.
This is the spectacular view from the top of Chateau Hill in Nice, France. In the distance can be seen the Baie des Anges, the length of the Promenade des Anglais, and to the right, the red-ocher roofs of the Vielle Ville.
The interesting thing is later on in the day my wife and I went to a flea market and I purchased a postcard from 1960 of the same scene, and, apart from the cars, the two are identical.
What is a becard? This seemingly simple question has puzzled ornithologists for decades. Rose-throated Becard is one of nearly 20 species of becards, all currently in the genus Pachyramphus. Ornithologists have placed this distinctive group in the cotinga (Cotingidae) or tyrant flycatcher (Tyrannidae) families, at one point even leaving them as "incertae sedis," an acknowledgment that they were temporarily stumped. Since 2011, becards have been placed in Tityridae, along with tityras and several other groups that look very different but are closely related genetically.
...seemingly free and floating in the wind. But the real observer knows there are strings attached... // ogenschijnlijk vrij, en zwevend in de wind. Maar de echte kijker weet wel beter...
Young teenage girl seemingly deep in thought whilst standing on a rock in the middle of the Old Port Willunga Jetty Pylons. Pt WIllunga, Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia.
After viewing my capture, I wanted to snap her again at a slower shutter speed to get some more light in the shot. But when I looked up & saw that she was in the same position & seemingly so deep in thought & remained this way for almost five minutes. I no longer felt comfortable taking her shot.
Eventually when she was disturbed by other beach goers she ran and embraced her mother for what seemed an eternity.
All this time I wanted to ask her if everything was okay, but I it was none of my business.
After seemingly endless days of baking sunshine with temperatures in the high 30's, celsius, today's gusty southerly change hit Sydney much to my fellow citizens relief. Thunder, lightening and an all too brief rain storm brought a most welcome 15C degree drop to see off the day.
Seemingly little work being done to NS 7299. It is seen sitting "under the lights" at the wreck shop.
These seemingly modern abstract structures are in fact astronomical devices in an early 18th century stone-built observatory in Jaipur's Pink City. Quite amazing, and currently under renovation (as most things in India appear to be).
Despite the white light seemingly indicating direction of travel, 240 030 and it's 8 coaches making up service R 841 are dragged backwards onto platform 1 of BHS by 736 103. Deputising for the diagrammed 362 loco, the Laminatka was rostered on 15.52 Urpin service to Banská Bystrica.
The city of Banská Bystrica is the 6th largest in Slovakia and is particularly engaged in the practice of 'twinning' - having friendly links with communities in other countries - the term 'sister cities' is also used in some places to describe this convention. Currently BB is twinned with 12 Cities and also 6 towns worldwide.
Madcap American rocker (and these days political activist) Ted Nugent released his second live album "Intensities in 10 Cities" in 1981, sure enough the 10 tracks were all recorded at different venues on 'the Nuge's" 1980 North American concert tour.
I'm always amazed at how (seemingly) easy is is for heavy trains to restart on the steep and curving line through Tehachapi Pass.
After taking a picture of this stack train exiting Tunnel three, I ambled down to track level with the intention of crossing over to the car after the train had passed me by. But as the lead locos swung around the curve at Cliff, the horn sounded and the train abruptly came to a stop.
Great. I don't want to clamber over doublestack cars to get to the other side, and climbing back over tunnel three would be an effort, so decide to lazily wait and see what happens.
Soon enough, a pair of horn toots indicate that something is about to happen. Brakes hiss off, and with a little creaking, the train - probably close to a mile long and at a guess 6000 tons or more(?) - smoothly ups and leaves. I can't hear the lead engines, so to me it seems as if this massive steel snake is silently and effortlessly walking up the 2.2% (1 in 45) grade while strung around two horseshoe curves and through two tunnels. No drama - just the sound of heavy metal rolling by.
I start taking pictures of the passing freight car trucks as they accelerate to the speed of a runner, before a deep booming reveals the train has helpers at the back about to pop through the tunnel.
And what a sight, sound and vibration as two big GEs wheel out of tunnel three, surefootedly shoving their train back up to track speed, gently squealing wheels clawing for grip through clouds of pulverised sand.
These seconds will remain lodged in my memory for a long time...
BNSF remote helper pair Dash 9 5618 and C4 6776 push hard on their doubestacks as they pass between tunnels three and four on Tehachapi Pass, California. 18 April 2018
(As I understand it, the pistons over the central axle of this C4 are activated to lift weight off the unpowered idler axle which puts more weight on the outer powered axles to generate more tractive effort and minimize slipping).
Despite the shadows this just seemed perfect visual metaphor for this day with the shears looming above the loco seemingly ready to crush the life out of it!
After 41 1/2 years one of New England's own little independent railroads has finally lowered its flag. To be honest this is not at all surprising, and it is kind of amazing they lasted as long as they did. The good news is the track is not being abandoned and will continued to be served by Mass Coastal as detailed here:
www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/01/2023-26453/m...
Chartered in 1977 and beginning operations on June 12, 1982 the Bay Colony Railroad was once a promising and progressive little shortline that was born in those halcyon post Staggers days when branchlines were being shed nationwide and startups were formed all over to step in where class 1s were stepping out.
For decades the BCLR ran a disconnected group of branches and spurs around the Eastern Bay State, some of which were a contract/concession on state owned properties and some on lines where they owned the perpetual freight rights. Over time traffic dried up on some routes and other routes were abandoned. Finally on Jan 1, 2008 this railroad's 25 year operating contract with the Commonwealth expired and they lost the bid to continue operating the Cape Main and all properties east of Middleboro, the vast majority of their trackage.
However the rights on the Millis Branch and the Watuppa Branch near New Bedford belonged to the BCLR outright (having been acquired from CR and CSXT in 1989 and 2004 respectively) so they continued to serve those two tiny branches. Sadly, the Millis line lost its major customer in 2009 when the GAF shingle plant shut down leaving that line moribund, and this little 7.5 mile stretch as the final mileage of what was once a railroad of over 100 miles. To learn a little history check out this document: nears.org/presentations/NEARS_Spring_2017_Presentations/0...
For the last decade or so they have had just two regular active customers on their line which extended west from the wye at Nash Road in New Bedford as far as Mid City Scrap in Westport. However, in years past the route (which dates from 1875 and was once part of the Old Colony system) was much busier and continued on to Fall River to serve the Watuppa mills in the upper part of the city. Those outer 4 miles saw their last train operated by Conrail in 1980, but the rails remained in place rusting for nearly three decades before finally being lifted and turned into a rail trail.
The BCLR has generally run as needed but usually at least once or twice a week to interchange cars with Mass Coastal which came down from their base of operations in Taunton. Here is the final train crossing Davis Road at MP 7.7 after working Mid City Scrap headed east across the length of the line to the interchange with four loaded scrap gons.
Chop nosed GP9 1705 was originally built in Apr. 1956 as Great Northern 704 and then passed to BN before being sold the the Great Western. GWRR parent Omnitrax sold it to BCLR around 2001 where it has been ever since. Interestingly she recently acquired an attractive BCLR logo on her nose which wasn't there last time I photographed her three months ago. Trailing GP9 1706 dressed in full Bay Colony paint was blt. Nov. 1954 as Florida East Coast 658. Both units (plus 1701 in Millis) were allegedly included in the sale to MC it is uncertain what their future will hold...perhaps the claw does indeed await them.
Here's one other fascinating tidbit for you. This trackage is technically already Mass Coastal. You see, the outer mile and a half of the Watuppa Branch is state owned and was part of the concession that BCLR lost to MC in 2008. But the middle portion was owned outright and hence BCLR retained it meaning they connected with MC at both ends. Rather than stationing a locomotive here at what would have been their sole customer MC contracted with BCLR to switch Mid City on their behalf for the last 15 years. So really it is only logical that finally the two ends of the branch will once again be connected under common control though it is always sad to lose a bit of variety in this day and age.
Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Friday December 15, 2023
A seemingly forgotten, frozen-in-time, abandoned Super Stop & Shop along Beverage Hill Road in Pawtucket, and a stone's throw from the Rumford town line. This store closed up around 2010 and sits vacantly today in a half-dead Narragansett Park Plaza.
Not without effort, the town still has a bombastic plan to redevelop into a multi-mixed use site.
Today the Hereios of the We're Here! group are depicting Stick Figures who have the situation under control. Rupert thinks he's got everything under control, but has he?