Folks around the Ol' 917

Well, one of the coolest parts of the day was the people watching the event unfold, and the media attention that the locomotive move garnered. I decided to shoot some pics of the people taking pics of the event. Lots of good people there, and it definitely made the day brighter.

Kyle Green from the Roanoke Times gets the lowdown from a young, rail fan.

WSLS Reporter, Lindsey Ward, watches as the cranes set up for the move.


WDBJ Reporter, Susan Bahorich, reacts to being a target of another camera.


WSLS Reporter, Lindsey Ward, talks with the people watching the move.
Photographers line up on the high ground for the best shooting angles.


Smiles and cameras were abundant.


Who is that white-legged, Nikon and umbrella toting, photographer?

The Ol' 917 gets moved to Ohio

The big point of interest today was the removal of the Ol' 917 Steam Locomotive from the Virginia Scrap and Iron lot, for it's trip to Ohio. The nicest part of the move is the fact that it will be restored from its current, dilapidated condition. The sad thing is that the people, corporations, and governments of the Roanoke Valley can't seem to come to grips with the fact that our history is being taken away from the valley, piece by piece. It seems that the rest of the world cares more about the history of Roanoke than Roanoke does. Does anyone else realize that you can never move forward unless you accept who you are? Folks, losing the icons of our heritage as a community is shameful. We just lost another one today. But I applaud the people that are going to restore this wonderful, old piece of Roanoke's history. At least some people in Ohio have vision.

The cranes are in place and preparing to lift the 917 from the rails in the scrap lot.

The straps tighten as the lift is starting.

The drive wheels leave their contact with the rail for the first time in over 50 years.

The cranes are starting to turn the locomotive for placement on the flatbed trailer.

The crane operators did an outstanding job in rotating this lift. Smooth as butta....

The locomotive shows the firebox opening for firing the boiler.

I am not exactly sure what the balloons were for, but everyone got a chuckle when they saw them.

I was extremely surprised how low the locomotive sat behind the truck cab. I would have guessed it would ride much higher. - Goodbye 917.

I've been shooting the night sky

I have been photographing the stars the past few days, so feel free to check out those images at www.theastronomydude.com

I will be posting more images here as I shoot them.