Trestle over Chapman St.

A trestle is a supporting frame/bridge. Here we see the train trestle over Chapman Street, near High Point Road and the Coliseum. Greensboro still has many trestles from the 20th century and has been a great hub of train traffic since the 1800's.

This photo shows the series of blue supporting frames which are known as "bents." Often, trestles and bents were made of timber with the thought that, once built, the train could get transport the material to make a more permanent support-- especially stone or fill-dirt to support the track. Eventually, steel and concrete became the material of choice. Roller coaster tracks are engineered with a design similar to trestles. Since the long loads are distributed across a large portion of the track, it can withstand a lot of stress. We were walking in this area the day this photo was taken and were reminded that trains are loud and you can feel the movement when you are this close.

We thought this coal car was especially appropriate for our Mellow Yellow Monday photo as we remember the 29 West Virginias who lost their lives to bring us "rock energy."
 

Comments

[Magical Mystical Teacher]

coal train rolling by
black rock dug by brave miners
far beneath the earth

[B^2]

Loud and scary.

[Kim]

Wow this is amazing. I wonder how a bridge could hold on to the weight above. Happy Monday!

[Jane Mitchell]

Nice tribute to the W. Va. coal miners.

[Living in Williamsburg, Virginia]

Perfect yellow subject. Thanks for the explanation; it's always good to understand what you are looking at.

Darryl and Ruth : )

[Dina]

A strong and powerful photo.