This remote railway junction is in the northern part of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The track belongs to a logging company though no trains were running on the Sunday I was there. Perhaps they don't run at all though the rails look shiny enough - so many of these systems just moulder away, the forest stealthily reclaiming the rights-of-way as its own.There are many things that appeal to me in this image. Obviously the 'splash of red' (actually two of them, both subdued), the strong back-lighting, the way the tracks disappear into the trees, the perfection of the sinuous metal rails running together.
Most strikingly for me, however, is that it shows the possibility of choice. There are two routes we could take. Both will plunge us into gloom and the unknown. Both presage adventure and mystery. We could walk either of them, stepping from sleeper to sleeper or balancing on the top of the rail. Just keeping our ears open for that haunting whistle echoing off the surrounding mountains. That will tell us that I was wrong about the lack of a Sunday service and we'd better make a run for it.
6 comments:
Thanks, Lee. We all veer a bit - wouldn't life be boring if we didn't.
It is a very evocative photo. And I love that you explain why you took it and what it is about the picture that makes it yours and not someone else's.
Thanks, Bluesmama. I'm a sucker for anything with lines disappearing into the distance - did some great dirt roads in Alberta some years ago.
"Dirt roads in Alberta..." she thought, dreamily. "I wonder if he has any pictures of freshly swathed fields of wheat, or-" but then the children woke up and began their morning clamour for her attentions and the wave of nostalgia and homesickness had to be put away for another day.
Sorry, only did the roads and I shouldn't have been on them in a hire car. Just thought we'd kill some time getting from Calgary to Banff. Must learn to distinguish between hard top and dirt on Canadian road maps.
Oh my yes, dirt roads are a treat. The best is when they've just put down the new layer of gravel and you go slipping and sliding all over in it. Or when you meet an oncoming car (in Saskatchewan on the prairies you can see them coming a mile or more away, just watch the cloud of dust) and you both have to teeter on the edge of the narrow gravel road to pass each other.
Post a Comment