I don't often come across an engineer who has a furry side to them,its pretty neat! I am not a railroader by profession but a railway artist, historian, photographer. I have made two small run videos and self published maps and two booklets on local mountain railway structures. I spend more time climbing around/on abandoned mountain railway grades than I see active lines. Its quite the thing to come across abandoned tunnels, bridges of substantial height.
The first time I ever went out exploring an abandoned line in 1992 I went to a place out here in Western Canada known as the Coquihalla Canyon. This was the site of the former Canadian Pacific's Kettle Valley Railway. This was a line that went straight through 8,000 foot high mountains instead of around them or along riverside lowlands. I went out on the Ladner Ck. bridge , a structure that consists of 9 deck plate girder spans on steel towers built in 1915. Its 210 feet high and 560 feet long on a 12 degree curve. Later that day I saw the incredible Bridalveil trestle, 405 feet long, 120 feet high. It was a classic wooden frame trestle with a specially designed steel center span. It was built across a huge jagged rocky gulch with the huge veil like waterfall coming down behind it like a picture postcard. Photographs of this bridge look something like a model railway than the real structure. There were some 13 tunnels, 15 snowsheds and 2.2% grades on this incredible section of the line.
When I get burned out from the demands of my railway work I do furry artwork as a way to relax and get away from what sometimes becomes very technical work. As a final note I am sorry to hear about the loss you recently suffered, it sucks indeed.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
This is rather neat.
Date: 2003-03-16 11:15 pm (UTC)The first time I ever went out exploring an abandoned line in 1992 I went to a place out here in Western Canada known as the Coquihalla Canyon. This was the site of the former Canadian Pacific's Kettle Valley Railway. This was a line that went straight through 8,000 foot high mountains instead of around them or along riverside lowlands. I went out on the Ladner Ck. bridge , a structure that consists of 9 deck plate girder spans on steel towers built in 1915. Its 210 feet high and 560 feet long on a 12 degree curve. Later that day I saw the incredible Bridalveil trestle, 405 feet long, 120 feet high. It was a classic wooden frame trestle with a specially designed steel center span. It was built across a huge jagged rocky gulch with the huge veil like waterfall coming down behind it like a picture postcard. Photographs of this bridge look something like a model railway than the real structure. There were some 13 tunnels, 15 snowsheds and 2.2% grades on this incredible section of the line.
When I get burned out from the demands of my railway work I do furry artwork as a way to relax and get away from what sometimes becomes very technical work. As a final note I am sorry to hear about the loss you recently suffered, it sucks indeed.