The Trains At Eagle Pass
It was the Canadian Pacific Railway that built this country.
In 1867 the four eastern provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia joined to form a new country. That same year, the USA made the Alaska purchase. In the tiny colony of British Columbia, there was considerable support for joining the USA, but after much negotiation, BC agreed to join Canada on the condition that a transcontinental railway would be built.
BC joined confederation in 1871, but work on the railway didn't begin until 1878. Below is Eagle Pass, close to the spot where the last spike was driven to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885. This area of BC had presented some of the greatest engineering challenges in building the railway. I'm here today hoping to capture some photos of the trains coming through one of the tunnels.
I had been waiting for a while, hoping for a train when I heard the bald eagle cry high above me.
There was no time to make any adjustments on the camera. A higher shutter speed would have been nice, but I didn't dare take my eye away from the viewfinder. I was lucky enough to capture several sequential shots of the eagle as it glided down the mountainside.
The eagle had just completed it's fly-by when I heard the rumble of a train. I turned around 180 degrees to face the tracks and captured this next sequence... both sets of shots were captured hand-held, and then aligned and cropped in order to make these gif files.
At the far end of the lake is a spot where you can look back and see the train enter yet another tunnel. I'm not sure if you can fly drones here, but I can imagine a vantage point where a long train would be seen to enter and exit three tunnels in a row. Now let's say there were also beautiful reflections on the lake... it's good to imagine "dream shots."
I did manage to get just a little of that in the next sequence...
I hope you've been enjoying this little road trip through the mountains of British Columbia and Alberta. I'll leave you with a few more shots, including one of me, standing beside a large snow shovel...
This series is spectacular @keithboone. I love the gifs you made and the story you told.
You said in your last post
I can totally relate - my son lives in Squamish so I get to see him maybe once every year or so. It's tough saying goodbye, I know. I miss him when I see him and then more so when it's time to go.
Thank you, we are in the same situation... if we just switched houses it would solve both our problems! What's your place like? :)
hehehe....not on the ocean that's for sure.....but about a 10 minute drive to Lake Ontario or a 50 minute drive to Lake Erie. We have a ton of trails, ie the Bruce Trail and a quaint village where our house sits quietly on a street.
But it's not Victoria. You live on the other side of the world.
Another superb and interesting blog Keith and how clever of you to make that train go along the base of that cliff. Amazing images (as usual,) my friend. Well Done!
Thank you Trudee, I've finally finished the last instalment!
Thank you very much @pixresteemer!