Friday, April 29, 2016

Into the distance

Train tracks by the grain mill

At DDP, we rarely get tired of looking at railroad tracks. So I'm back again, to this section of track that goes through the back side of a commercial area in Downey. A single boxcar sits on a siding behind Leach Grain & Milling, started by Willis Leach in 1934.

The tracks soon disappear into the distance, but they don't turn. They continue on in a perfectly straight line for about 10 miles, where they make a slight curve before continuing straight again. In an area where very few streets run straight for more than a mile or so, this was a reminder to me that the railroads have been here a lot longer than many of our towns and certainly longer than our freeways. The original tracks were laid when there were few barriers to straight lines.

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