When General Electric debuted a new lower-emissions locomotive, the company commissioned Pulitzer Prize-winning aerial photographer Vincent Laforet to take some glamor shots. The results are industrial porn at its most artful.
Check it out at: “Vincent Laforet’s Aerial Shots Of Trains Look Like Abstract Art.”
* Robert Lowell
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As we hop aboard, we might spare a thought for Ephraim Shay; he died on this date in 1919. An inventor and logger, Shay invented and patented the “Shay locomotive,” a small, geared steam engine used to haul heavy logging (and ultimately also mining) trains at low speeds over rough terrain with poorly-laid, uneven track, sharp curves, and grades up to 14 percent. By 1945, when production ended, 2,771 Shays had been built.
Shat at the throttle of one of his locomotives
