Technology - Railroads

At sunset, looking downriver. Washington state, USA, on the Snake River, here a reservoir. The railroad line is the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe.

Highway bridge.

And Yakima River. Heading north from Selah, WA. The Yakima rises in the Cascade Range of Washington and flows southeasterly to meet the Columbia.

This trestle was originally entirely wood; then when the highway bridge was built, in the 1920s IIRC, that side was replaced with steel. Even after the railroad was abandoned and turned into the bike trail, half of the bridge remained the old wooden trestle. Then the wood part burned in a wildfire in 2000, and it hadn't been repaired in 2003 (at the time of this pic). It's since been rebuilt as all steel. This is on the Bizz Johnson trail in northern California, a hiking/biking/horse trail that follows the old Lassen & Fernley branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad from Susanville, California, to Westwood Junction, California. It's about 26 miles long, close enough to a marathon that marathons are run along it. Here's the Bureau of Land Management writeup: www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/eaglelake/bizztrail.html

Another view.

Railroad depot in distance on the left.

This was part of another guided tour. A railroad that had been built to a stand of pine down in the Mono basin ended here, at the ridge crest above town on the east. It was used to haul timber both for building and for firewood. Wood also fired the locomotive! IIRC the railroad didn't connect to any through line. It was merely for supplying timber. The tracks have long since been removed, probably a hundred years ago now.

Bodie, California, USA. Still with wallpaper!