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Here’s my down payment on the railway project that I described in the previous post. I used Google Earth to find the spot where the railway line crosses the Dan River north of Walnut Cove, North Carolina. That spot is about 12 miles from the abbey. I was delighted to see from the Google Earth satellite image that the bridge is a truss bridge, with short trestles on the approaches. Truss bridges were very common from the late 19th Century up until the 1930s or so. I suspect this bridge dates from the 1930s.
The photo above is a digital photo taken with my Nikon camera. I had the film camera with me, but getting to the bridge required parking the Jeep and hiking more than two miles in and out. I don’t have a backpack for the film camera yet, so it was too awkward and heavy to carry. I plan to go back and shoot this spot later with the film camera.
Below is the Google Earth satellite image of the bridge.
3 Comments
Where do you get your ideas to do what you do? Pretty cool. There is no picture enclosed beside the Google earth one…
Hi Henry… I suppose the first factor is that railroads are photogenic. A second factor is using Google Earth to look for interesting places that we usually can’t see. My plan is to use Google Earth to look at satellite images of that railway line all to West Virginia. River crossings will be of particular interest. Rapid changes of altitude in the mountains also should be interesting. I’ll also look for old structures that can’t be seen from any highway. And then, depending on what I find in Google Earth, I’ll make a picture-taking expedition around it.
David,
Nice find. Edward Weston is quoted as saying, “Anything more than 500 yards from the car isn’t photogenic.”
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