Big Four Bridge
A Sidney, Ohio landmark since 1923. The Big Four Railroad line was the east-west link through the county. It was known as the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis (thus the Big Four Railroad), later the Bee line, and after 1930, the New York Central Railroad. Construction workers used 28,000 cubic yards of concrete and 900,000 pounds of steel. Legend has it that a worker was walking across the planks when he stepped on it wrong and the board flipped up causing him to lose balance and forcing him to fall into the concrete. Other workers tried to get him out, but their efforts were worthless. He was gone, sinking into the concrete. Twenty minutes later they began pouring again.
Capitol Building
Short layover between trains in Washington, DC allowed me to venture outside of the station, just 2 blocks from there was the US Capitol Building. This is a prelude to my trip back to DC at the end of July for a photographic tour of the nation’s capitol.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum
While in Baltimore I visited the B & O Railroad Museum. This visit was extra special for me as my grandfather was a trainmaster on the B & O for 52 years. I grew up with trains and the stories my grandfather told me. The museum is a full affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute and I highly recommend stopping in if you ever get to Baltimore. <a href=’http://www.borail.org/’>Click here to visit.</a>
Say Cheese!
USS Torsk (SS-423) was built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The keel was laid on 7 June 1944. The submarine was launched on 6 September 1944. For many years it was customary to name U.S. submarines for fish, although this custom no longer exists. World War II submarines were named for everything that swam, from <i>Albacore</i> to <i>Whale</i>. The <i>Torsk</i> got its name from a gadoid fish, allied to the codfish, which is found in the North Atlantic. The name <i>Torsk</i> is Norwegian in origin. The <i>Torsk</i> has the distinction of firing the last torpedo and sinking the last Japanese combatant ships of World War II.
Warehouse Water Tower
While waiting for my train to depart, I took a walk around the train station in Toledo. The sun was just rising and was postitioned behind the water tower.
Traveling Companions
Necole and Jennifer, 2 wonderful people I met on my recent train trip to Chicago. We chatted for about 4 hours and had a great time enjoying each others’ company. They continued on to NYC, after I detrained in Toledo. You meet the greatest people while traveling on the train.
Turtledove Babies
Two turtledove baby birds hatched the other day. Momma is very protective of her young and kept a watchful eye on me as I took this shot. I think papa even did a fly-by to make sure his brood was safe. You can see one of the babies to the right of momma and the other to the left, just his/her tail feathers. Took about 20 days for them to hatch. It has been a wonderful distraction from my office window.
Children at Play
My friend’s daughter, Courtney, and her new best friend, Ava, at play on the park’s fire engine. Innocence is a wonderful thing to watch…I took a few shots and then all of a sudden, Ava leaned back and looked through the pipe holder where the fire engine steering wheel use to be. Perfect, couldn’t of planned it any better. This shot was done poking the camera through the grill of the fire engine, which provided natural framing. This is one of my all time favorite shots. Hope you enjoy it as much as their mothers did!