Cranes...No, Not the Mechanical Kind...

A couple of weekends ago we went to a place up north to see cranes of all sorts. Most were behind chain link fences which made for horrible shots as the first three show, but the rest were not so bad.

White-Naped Crane

Eurasian Crane Preening

Eurasian Crane Gawking

Blue Cranes

Wattled Cranes

Big male Wattled Crane

This, and the rest that follow, are Whooping Cranes (one of the rarest birds in the world - only about 350 left!)

Pictures Taken for School

Here is a smattering of stuff I have done for school...

Still life - this turned into a tasty lunch

Some flowers along the Riverwalk in Naperville

A couple on the grass holding hands at the Riverwalk in Naperville

This was for a project where you had to emulate one of the masters of photography - I chose Karl Blossfeldt

This is my favorite!!

This was for black and white protraits we had to do - I LOVE this one (not just because Johnnie is in it!)

Illinois Railway Museum

Saturday we organized a Meet Up at the Illinois Railway Museum. As it turned out, only John and I and another couple went, but we had a smashing good time. I never heard of this place until recently and I didn't think it would be as big as it was. In fact we didn't even see all the train garages that they had. Here are some pictures I took...you will notice I tried a different style of post-processing on these...some successful, some not...

This was one of the conductors who drives some of the trains there on short lines around the area.

A Crane Train

The dining car as seen through the window of a very old train car.

This was one of a dozen locomotives in the yard the I guessed was waiting for rehab.

The wheels on these things were enormous - some taller than John!

I liked the contrast of old and new(er).

One of the running lines that people can ride on in the area.

I was fascinated by the multitude of bolts on some of these locomotives, thousands of them!

This was the inside of an old electric train we rode on when we arrived.

This was another passenger car that looked frozen in time!

Some of the paint peeling of the ones outside made the most interesting patterns.

This was a private sleeper car. I was sitting on the bench chair in there and you can see my proximity to the sink. To the left was a table top that folded up to reveal the private toilet. Flip the seat I was on down and out came the bed. The model of efficiency and privacy. It was rather comfy if not a little cramped.

A shot of the tracks merging as they lead away from the area.

A shot of the tracks along another section of the line as we rode the old electric train.

Another shot of the track and trains.