1800's Railroad Culverts

Fred W

I took these pics this weekend while hiking thru some local woodlands. These bridges were built in the 1840's by the Erie Lackawana Railroad. This railroad line was abandoned sometime in the 1950's and now these structures are just icons left from another era.


This is the "goes in" side of the culvert. The height of this archway is about 8 feet.







Here is the "goes out" side.









I left this one in color and only touched up with USM. I thought the color contrast between the water and granite blocks was interesting. Also the morning sun provided an interesting light reflection off of the water and into the archway.




I had to get my feet wet for this one. I blewout the light at the end of the tunnel. I will try this one again sometime in the future "with rubber boots".





This is another culvert I shot about a month ago. It is much larger than the first one above with an archway height about 30 feet.




Thanks for viewing,
Fred

DanielB

fav. is the last one... nice pics

germaine_sba

Good pictures of some of history's footnotes. The masonry is beautifully executed. Thanks for sharing.

Fred W

germaine_sba wrote:

Good pictures of some of history's footnotes. The masonry is beautifully executed. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks germaine. Thanks Daniel. The last pick also has a pretty nice fishing hole in the foreground. It's a cool place to be during the hot Summer months.

amadeus

great idea for a thread. we've got them her in orange county by the dozens. some of the bigger ones you could just block off and have instant low energy dwelling. talk about insulation.

now if they'd just let us down inside the aqueduct for some pictures.

great thread. great shots.

Fred W

amadeus wrote:

great idea for a thread. we've got them her in orange county by the dozens. some of the bigger ones you could just block off and have instant low energy dwelling. talk about insulation.

now if they'd just let us down inside the aqueduct for some pictures.

great thread. great shots.

Thanks Amadeus,
The West side of the Hudson River does have many picture opportunities.

saurora

I love the last shot...it's like a scene within a scene. It would make a wonderful series...winter, spring, summer and fall (especially fall!!!).

Fred W

saurora wrote:

I love the last shot...it's like a scene within a scene. It would make a wonderful series...winter, spring, summer and fall (especially fall!!!).

Great idea Saurora. I will shoot the 4 seasons of this pic and post this Fall. Yes, the Fall season will really be great for this scene because the falling leaves will float on the pond in the foreground as well as brighten the trees.
Thanks,
Fred

Stormdancing

I love these pictures. Looking at the masonry work, it makes you think of the muscle and manhours that went into building these. Artistry - and the same in your pictures.

Art Scott

really nice.... Hard work also.....
The last one looks like it came right out of the movie Sleepy Hollow....

Fred W

Stormdancing wrote:

I love these pictures. Looking at the masonry work, it makes you think of the muscle and manhours that went into building these. Artistry - and the same in your pictures.

Thanks VERY MUCH Dan and Art for your comments. It is incredible the amount of manual labor that was required to build these structures. Each block of granite weigh about 1 ton and there was only man and horse power back then.