Photo 365 - Day 151 (Turning Train)

Day 151 (December 1st, 2010)
Title: Turning Train

Woo!  I finally made it to December!  I'm getting there, slowly but surely!

I love trains.  I've always loved trains.  I remember, when I was 8-9 my uncle got me this giant poster of a blueprint of a train engine.  I put it up on my wall and just stared at it everyday.  I'm not sure exactly what it is about trains that I love so much, but whenever I see one, I just have to stop and watch it (much to the chagrin of any friend who might be with me!).  They are a part of American history and culture - without them I don't think the industrial revolution would have really taken hold in the US, and we never would have become the world power we are now (whether that's good or bad, who knows...).

This particular train was taking a curve in Hercules when I shot it.  I heard it coming and this was one of the few times I actually HAD my camera with me (its strange, but 90% of the time when I see a train, I never have my camera with me).  I thought this photo was particularly amusing because it really looks kinda like a train-set train, rather than a huge, massive, machine.  I can almost imagine it falling off the track and picking it up and realigning the wheels to see if off again.  Thankfully that didn't happen, and off it went!

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 106 (Old Train House)

Day 106 (October 17th, 2010)
Title: Old Train House

If anyone has visited Hercules, CA recently you would have seen a town that has really expanded lately - tons of condos, new buildings, more fast-food joints than is really necessary, basically a 'new' bustling town.  What a lot of folks don't know, is that Hercules has been around for a long time.  They used to have a dynamite factory and it was a key stop for many railroads.  But, as is the way of things, things changed and the old down was basically left to die (the dynamite factory closed and the trains no longer needed to make as many stops for water/sand as technology got better).  If you go out to the old train yard/stop you can find lots of neat buildings and structures that are closed and slowly falling apart.  This photo is of a house that was near the rail-yard, now fenced off, flowers growing wild and lost to the annals of time.


Enjoy.

 (Click picture for larger view)