The famous 2816

I hadn't known that 2816 was famous. There we were, in the middle of the 'secret' tour put on by the (himself famous) Neil Zeller. He had taken a bit of a scenic route (is there any other kind with him?) to get there, and we were all guessing.

My jaw dropped when I saw this, and I'm told I had the biggest, silliest grin on my face. I'm not particularly a steam locomotive buff, but complicated mechanical things are cool. At one point in my distant past I had my steam ticket, so I knew what most of the parts were.

This wasn't a look don't touch display. We were allowed to climb into the cab. There were so many other shots I'd like to get, but we hadn't brought our tripods in, and there was a time limitation. CP was very generous to us, and we didn't want to impose.

You can see a bit of the display space here. It's an old work space, impeccably cleaned and restored. It's used as a meeting room space for corporate gatherings or presentations. The locomotive itself is spotless and looks ready to fire up. If I understand correctly, they only need to get an inspection from Transport Canada and they could. The guy giving us the tour is dying to do just that.

The cab. Oh my goodness!! The green and black and all that brass and copper! The photos are hand held with a 14 mm f1.8 lens at ISO 1600.

When Winston Churchill was in Canada, this is the rail car he used. The next room forward from this is where the bathtub was, and the paneling is still warped a little from the moist air.

My favourite shot of the day.

Of course I crawled underneath!

Outside to a static display. This locomotive used to be in front of Gulf Canada Square in downtown Calgary.

The secret tour would have been worth it if this was the only place we went to. Wow!

Rock of the Day

Driftwood of the Day

Landscapes of the rocks

As promised, here's the landscapes from Red Rock Coulee. You can see it's not some dank little gully without a view. The view is awesome! It's tough to balance the rocks and the landscape. Both cry out to be photographed, and one really needs different lenses to do them justice. If you go there, bring all the lenses.

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Rock of the Day
Only a few left from here. I might sneak in a some other rock photos if I think they're interesting enough, then the feature will be done, at least for now.

Driftwood of the Day

She had a dragonfly visit

I was out on a photo ramble with a dear friend and her family on the weekend. Along the way a dragonfly camped out on her hat long enough for me to get several shots of it. I didn't have the best lens on the camera for that sort of thing, but changing lenses would have been complicated for reasons I need not get into.

I've been down into Fish Creek a bunch of times this year keeping an eye out for dragonflies, but haven't had much luck. This is the first one I've seen close up. Maybe it saw the camera and thought it would be the big break into the big leagues.

Along the way the water was particularly interesting.

Afterwards the pink peony in the back was particularly captivating.

Rock of the Day

Driftwood of the Day

The flowers of the rocks

During our tour of Red Rocks, I found a bunch of flowers and other vegetation. Here it is.

There was one huge patch where there was a ton of prickly pear. Not sure why there and not elsewhere.

I liked how this shrub was sort of silvery in the light, but I don't think the camera captured it very well.

I couldn't get low enough. I wanted a translucent band of red across the horizon lit up by the sun.

 A small wild rose. There was a ton of it.

You'd think there wouldn't be enough soil for this to grow. And no, I have no idea what it is.

I nearly stepped on this tiny little plant. It's maybe a cm across, and it's the only one I saw. I think it's a poppy.

Same flowers. Different rocky background.

Stay tuned. I think tomorrow will be landscapes of the rocks, where the rocks appear tiny in the vast Alberta landscape.

Rock of the Day
Linda thinks this looks like a turtle. I think it's like something out of Star Wars. You?

Driftwood of the Day