Seldom Seen Infrastructure

Much of the work enabling wheels to roll and commerce to exist in the US was done years ago, and the resulting infrastructure remains out of sight of most folks traveling through the landscape. This is as it should be, especially for railroads where the transportation of goods was the primary goal.

The railroad beds, concrete bridge footings, multiple layers of ballast, and the rails themselves have a greater connection to the past than the steam and diesel locomotives that ran along them through the decades. The effort to construct such things was considerable, yet the view of them these days is often limited to railroad engineers and maintenance workers.

An example is an old seldom-used trestle spanning a minor creek in the middle of nowhere, half an hour's drive from my house. The first view of the thing is from the creek taken January 31, and the second is from the top of the rail bed taken this morning:


There is nothing special about either photo. Also nothing special about the subject. But that's my point, pretty much. The most ordinary infrastructure, even when it is in full view of passersby, is seldom noticed and rarely appreciated.

Tom Robbins said:

Much of the work enabling wheels to roll and commerce to exist in the US was done years ago, and the resulting infrastructure remains out of sight of most folks traveling through the landscape. This is as it should be, especially for railroads where the transportation of goods was the primary goal.

The railroad beds, concrete bridge footings, multiple layers of ballast, and the rails themselves have a greater connection to the past than the steam and diesel locomotives that ran along them through the decades. The effort to construct such things was considerable, yet the view of them these days is often limited to railroad engineers and maintenance workers.

An example is an old seldom-used trestle spanning a minor creek in the middle of nowhere, half an hour's drive from my house. The first view of the thing is from the creek taken January 31, and the second is from the top of the rail bed taken this morning:

Click to expand...

Tom,

I'm near the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA. That massive concrete column and a section of the rusty steel beam would be held in awe by the curators and patrons of the gallery.

so I cannot see why we cannot admire it where it is. I don't see something ordinary at all.

.... and for today's picture:

Tom Robbins said:

There is nothing special about either photo. Also nothing special about the subject. But that's my point, pretty much. The most ordinary infrastructure, even when it is in full view of passersby, is seldom noticed and rarely appreciated.

Click to expand...

To me, however, this is still remarkable. When we look at this, we see it in isolation and at first we might think that this leads to somewhere we might explore then we think that a train might come from that distant narrow gap and be thundering towards us. Further thinking and we realize that we also have to keep out wits about us for a train thundering in behind us.

So here we are, on this isolated, mostly forgotten track and already we are populating it with all these possibilities. So in this instance, the picture gets life and becomes a worthy experience.

Kudos!

Asher

Thank you for your kind words, Asher. I was looking around a place to escape to in the event of traffic this morning. I figured it was fairly safe as the line carries maybe a couple short trains a week and they travel slowly due to the condition of the rails. Today the line is a remnant of busier times and carries rock quarried from a pit located at its far end, as well as some grain from several old elevators along its length.

Tom Robbins said:

There is nothing special about either photo. Also nothing special about the subject. But that's my point, pretty much. The most ordinary infrastructure, even when it is in full view of passersby, is seldom noticed and rarely appreciated.

Click to expand...

What is special is that you spotted the image possibilities. I particularly like the second one, the tracks going off into infinity. It seems very tranquil to me. Thanks.

Martin

Thank you Martin. Walking on railroad tracks has to be done carefully for a number of reasons, but mainly because my gait does not match the spacing of the ties. Walking becomes a little awkward as a result, sort of like wading through deep snow.