The cutest — and largest — Little Free Library I’ve seen is this: The Book Depot, residing in an authentic railroad shack in downtown Medina. The sign reads, “Where you can choo-choose a book!”
railroad
All posts tagged railroad
Yard Limit
On a cloudy Sunday afternoon, I took a walk around town for the sake of fresh air and exploration. In my meanderings I happened to cross a railroad spur where some rolling stock was parked and made a few images.
Now Boarding: The Polar Express
On a jaunt through the countryside, we stopped by Peninsula, Ohio known these days at The North Pole. Peninsula is the center of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s annual Polar Express excursion rides. Children from all around, many wearing pajamas, ride the train through the snowy countryside entertained both on the train and at trackside by costumed staff. Buildings and objects near the line are decorated and renamed, recalling scenes from Chris Van Allsburg’s wonderful book. At the “North Pole” train station, the tracks are lined by wreath-decorated antique-style streetlights. The whole scene is pretty even by day, and said to be enchanting by night. While steam enthusiasts may be disappointed that a 2-8-4 (Berkshire) locomotive isn’t heading up the train, it’s a wonderful time nonetheless.
Sidetracked
No Trains Today: East or West
A quick stop in Olmsted Falls this dark and misty morning to take a look at the old Olmsted Falls railway station. The structure was built in 1877 by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad as both a freight and passenger station. It now houses a model railroad club but still stands adjacent to main line rails that carry frequent trains even if they no longer stop there.
Waiting for Baggage
Today's lunch time diversion (yes, a "work" Saturday) was another trip to the Cleveland Metroparks' Huntington Reservation in Bay Village, Ohio. Stone wall-lined Porter Creek caught my eye. The already cloud-subdued light filtering through the green trees was beautifully soft. What really grabbed my attention was the interplay of light, shadow, and green growth against the cold, dark concrete of an ancient interurban rail bridge. Too soon time to go back to the office. {sigh}
We did a bit of exploring Saturday and wound up passing through the Wellington, Ohio area. We had seen the yard of the Lake Shore Railway Association a couple of years ago; back then we paused to shoot some photos of a diesel locomotive attached to restored passenger coaches. Yesterday, however, I glanced towards the other side of the road and saw the unmistakable profile of a steam locomotive! We turned the Insight around and whipped into a neighboring business's driveway. Hiking closer to the old engine we could see it was in very sorry shape, indeed. The old Nickle Plate Road engine was missing its cab and some miscellaneous parts, other components were dangling from the still massive hulk, and it was missing road badges, engine number, and goodness knows what else. Seeing the sorry steamer parked on the siding reminded me of a (formerly) recurring dream I had years ago: Hiking along railroad tracks near a woods, I came across a relic steam locomotive and (in the dream) set about trying to get it to run. I can only hope the old loco we saw parked outside Wellington is waiting for restoration and not to become a late arrival on the scrap heap.
Note: This excellent photograph was made by She Who Must Be Obeyed. I shot photos but, due to an accident in settings, all of my shots were terribly overexposed — so much as to be uncorrectable!
We just couldn't get organized! She wanted to go on a nice autumn bicycle ride but we got up late Sunday, it was cold, we couldn't figure out what to wear… there was a litany of reasons but we just didn't get ourselves together. We decided to do another walk. So we visited the Bridgeway Trail in the Black River Reservation of Lorain Metroparks. We weren't sorry. The broad paved path is 2.5 miles in length, according to the maps, and we walked out and back from Bur Oak Picnic Area with a couple of short side-trips for a total mileage of 4.9 miles, according to my GPS. The people we encountered were nearly all outgoing and friendly and it wasn't crowded. We got the best of the day… mild temperatures and filtered sunshine. All around us were woodlands, grasslands, and the clear waters of the Black River. Lots of opportunities for photography. We got the usual nature photos we so love to do –Sweetie is getting really good at that!– but there was also the big, decommissioned iron railroad trestle. I shot it digitially and in color but it seemed bland. Then I dropped out the color values using Photoshop and, recalling my long career in fine art black & white, got myself some images I liked! At any rate, it helps my ego … Sweetie is getting really good! A fine day, indeed, that found us walking again.
True to recent weather conditions, and our luck, tonight's astronomy class star party was canceled due to poor sky conditions. Our final "cloud date" is this Friday but weather for the week is predicted to be unfavorable. We'll see!
PhotonStopper 