Snowy Grand Canyon National Park - Southern Rim

I went to Arizona and Utah a couple weeks back. On the way to Monument Valley, i stopped by Grand Canyon National Park. They had snow for a good week and many places still needed plowing but I was able to get in and hike around in the snow. I thought the canyon looked especially great with the snow.



This is Navajo Point (7360 ft) on the southern rim:


View from Grandview Point (7399ft) from the southern rim:

From Mather Point (7120ft):

Check out www.imagesofwildlife.com for more photos at much great detail.

Strasburg RR locomotive engine maintenance

As part of a large winter photo shoot, I was able to take a personal tour of the engine shop where Strasburg RR maintains their equipment. Below are several shots of locomotives being repaired, maintained and the equipment used to support a railroad. Did you ever wonder how they machine the driver wheels for a locomotive, which are several feet in diameter? It takes a very large lathe the chuck up those pieces of iron!

Here are two sets of drivers and the locomotive which has been stripped down and being rebuilt:


Here is the lathe used to machine the locomotive drivers: "huge!!"

Did you ever wonder if Thomas the Tank Engine was a real steam engine - you betcha! He is getting his flue cleaned out to be ready for spring:

And here is a shot of the overall machine shop, there is another shop to the left and another to the right. I takes a lot of equipment and hours to support a railroad!