Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Romancing the rust

South Shore & South Bend Railroad car #14

At the Fox Valley Trolley Museum in South Elgin, Illinois, South Shore & South Bend Railway car number 14 slowly oxidizes along with a number of other relics from the days when inter-urban travel by rail gave folks a reason to keep the cars maintained.

What is it about people that causes us to hang onto stuff long after its usefullness has past? I have a basement full of things that I haven't used in years, but can't find it within myself to ditch them. Why is there romance in the rust and dust?

Five images taken with circular polarizer and combined in Photomatix Pro. Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

5 comments:

Dawning Inspiration said...

Fantabulous!!! And then some.

Joan Elizabeth said...

The romance is in the memories.

Wanda said...

Because I am in the Fall of my life.... I see more rust and dust forming on me.... and I don't want to be thrown out because I rusty or dusty... Just call me a "Holy Relic" (Just kidding -- my garage is full too)

LOL:Wanda

sandy said...

ahh the colors on this are gorgeous.

Robert MacDowell said...

In this case, the museum hangs onto old things because that is kinda the whole point of museums.

Frankly, we at railway museums tend to look at shots like that and go "Oh man, somebody needs to PAINT that." Photographers remind us there's more than one view to that.