This week’s prompt challenges us with a photo of a train wreck in Ireland and the workers starting to get things back on track. (Excuse the pun.)
I searched for an array of train photos to fit this theme. Here’s what I discovered.
You can see more Sepia Saturday train photos by clicking here.
SMU Digital Library, Barclay Road, 1895
UK National Archives, Northern Line Tain, 1946
National Archives, Off the Rails, 1868
Irish Railroad Society, 1959
Internet Archives, Shanon , PA, 1908
Ruined for Life: Phoenix Edition 
The 1868 engine with men standing on it lets you know just how big those things were.
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I don’t think modern life has anything that compares to the power conveyed by a steam locomotive. Sure, a NASA rocket is pretty awesome, but they are not part of ordinary life like trains once were. The train’s huff and puff rhythm, the clatter of the steel wheels, and noise from the whistles and bells, are sadly no longer part of our modern soundscape.
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Trains were once such handsome machines..odd how plain they later became.
Your selection of photos illustrate the point very well.
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That third photo of the engine off the rails is my favorite. What a great shot. I used to ride trains frequently to get around – especially over to San Francisco. Then they went and tore up the train tracks on the Bay Bridge and from then on we had to ride buses. Not the same at all. The last time I road a train was in Alaska a couple of years back – a five hour trip down to Anchorage to catch our ship, and it reminded me of how much I used to love riding in a train. So comfortable and smooth and you could get up and move around between cars if you wanted to. So much nicer than a bus!
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I love the reminder of where idioms come from. “Off the rails” – and what a great photo it is!
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Love that last shot of the tracks through town, especially with the switch tracks. How dangerous would that have been with locals milling about?
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And people evidently did mill about. I was struck by what I considered child neglect in the film The Spirit of the Beehive where kids played on the tracks with no adult around.
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Interesting the changes made in locomotives through the years. Enjoyed seeing these photos that were surely a challenge for the photographer of the day.
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