Deer Lodge and the Arrow of Time

 

With the run through Racetrack and Morel behind it, the mainline arrives in Deer Lodge, above looking railroad-east.  The street names of Railroad and Milwaukee still belie the old transcon's presence even decades after its departure and fade.  

In the harsh mid-afternoon sun, looking east, we would find ourselves looking toward the start of the Deer Lodge yard throat just beyond the elevator complex in the photo above.  The arial view shows the same elevator at the top of the photo, this time looking roughly railroad-west.  

These difference of decades of photos always capture me.  They speak to something eternal that objects to the decay and change presented.  The passing of generations and memories seems unmistakably foreign to that piece in each of us that remains timeless.  It changes over the years, it becomes more than it was, but it never seems to age like everything around it.  Fighting against the futility, this eternal piece that lives within us all is both fascinated and appalled by the one way arrow of time.

Comments

SDP45 said…
I like those kinds of street names. Even little ol Moses Lake has a street named Milwaukee.

Dan
2/08/2022 09:18:00 PM
jim, some guy in iowa said…
H'lo- been a while since I commented, but I check in now and again to catch up with your musings on life and the passage of time through the prism of a long-defunct railroad.

The roundhouse photos are fascinating, thanks, especially the aerials. Having read your entry, it struck me how obvious the life cycle of the roundhouse itself is. Much like rings of a tree tell the tree's story the expansions and modifications to accommodate larger, electric, and later diesel locomotives are unmistakable. They illustrate the need to progress and change and attempt to stay relevant to a day long past the birth of the railroad and its roundhouse. And, when the photos were taken, those efforts were successful... but not for much longer.

Like nearly everything else in this world, the railroad and its facilities could go on only so long before no matter how hard it tried, it could no longer meet the demands of a world that pushed on long before us and will long after the roundhouse- and we- are gone.

Permanence is only an aspiration. For now the elevator abides, and for now, that will be enough.

best to you & yours
2/11/2022 07:33:00 PM
Anonymous said…
You might find this site of interest.

https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer
2/17/2022 07:52:00 AM
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