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Showing posts with the label Railroad

Seasonal Shifts: Northern Illinois Railroad Pictures

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I recently discovered three concrete railroad bridges on Illinois Route 64 in Kane County near Lily Lake, Illinois. The Great Western Trail runs along here, between the Dekalb County Line and St. Charles, because the railway has been abandoned. I snapped these pictures along the busy highway just after most of the snow melted. The first tunnel was occluded by brush, but the rest are well-used.

Youthful Indiscretions at Holy Cross

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When I was a kid, long before I began delving into folklore, collecting stories, and thinking about how differently stories are told in an oral form than a written one, my friends and I used to visit Holy Cross Road in an effort to experience supposed supernatural phenomena. This concept is commonly referred to by folklorists as Legend Tripping. Adolescents tend to venture out at night to explore places that are considered supernatural or haunted. Often certain rituals are carried out in order to either prove that kids were there, or just to prove that they aren't scared. Holy Cross was definitely the premier place for teenagers to go when I was in High School. I'm not certain it still maintains this status, but we certainly had fun going there. Our first trip there was an adventure in itself. I had heard many stories about the place -- it maintained quite a reputation. These stories ranged from the tame (unexplained noises) to the truly bizarre (gnomes, floating men, shot ...

Seasonal Shifts: Northern Wisconsin Railroad Pictures

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I have a fascination with railway trestles and bridges, dating back to my childhood. I used to collect discarded railroad spikes and bridge spikes from the train yards and tracks near my house. Here are several pictures of concrete railroad bridges and the tunnels underneath them along U.S. Route 8 in Lincoln County near the small unincorporated community of Tripoli. I pass this way every time I venture north, and I have wanted to look at them more closely for awhile. I finally snapped a few snowy photos. Hopefully, I can explore these bridges in more depth this summer. They remind me of pictures of the infamous "Bunny Man Bridge" in Virginia.