For fans of trains, history, and black-and-white photography, a description that probably captures a lot of Amtrak Unlimited members:
Atlas Obscura today re-upped a wonderfully evocative 2018 article showing hazardous train yards from the eyes of a locomotive engineer. Or worse, from the eyes of a careless pedestrian on the tracks. Dangerous curves, blind spots, crossings where people and vehicles shouldn't be but of course were. The article explained that most of the photos were taken by railroad workers who argued that cutting crews was dangerous. But, not surprisingly, the railroads' cost-cutting prevailed. The time was the late 1950s-early 1960s.
See the article at The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees.
Although they're decades apart in time, the photos remind me of the horrible scene in Preston Sturges's classic Sullivan's Travels (Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake) in which the petty criminal who has just robbed our hero of all his cash escapes across a rail yard and is mowed down. If you haven't seen this superb movie, put it on your list.
Atlas Obscura today re-upped a wonderfully evocative 2018 article showing hazardous train yards from the eyes of a locomotive engineer. Or worse, from the eyes of a careless pedestrian on the tracks. Dangerous curves, blind spots, crossings where people and vehicles shouldn't be but of course were. The article explained that most of the photos were taken by railroad workers who argued that cutting crews was dangerous. But, not surprisingly, the railroads' cost-cutting prevailed. The time was the late 1950s-early 1960s.
See the article at The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees.
Although they're decades apart in time, the photos remind me of the horrible scene in Preston Sturges's classic Sullivan's Travels (Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake) in which the petty criminal who has just robbed our hero of all his cash escapes across a rail yard and is mowed down. If you haven't seen this superb movie, put it on your list.
