A Long Way Down

This is one of the most unusual train pictures I've ever taken. The subject is an eastbound Southern Pacific freight train on the "hanging bridge" in the Royal Gorge of Colorado's Arkansas River. There isn't really much unusual about that, except for the fact that trains were few and far between on this line. This is the line over 10,000 foot Tennessee Pass, which was the highest mainline railroad in the US. It was part of the original 1880s Rio Grande line west of Denver through the Rocky Mountains. By the time I took this shot, 1995, most of the traffic had been diverted to other lines, and this route was in its last year of operation.

The real odd feature of this shot is where it was taken. I was in the middle of the Royal Gorge suspension bridge, looking straight down into the canyon from 1000 feet up! This bridge is the highest suspension bridge in the world, and well worth a visit if you are in the area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Gorge