December silence, slush and backlit steel.
The smell of coal and oil, the fog of steam.
Some men, devoted, calm in concentration,
Are lighting up the fire. Steaming up
An old nostalgia, ready for departure:
Polar Express to Santa Claus.
The Polar Express children's book and movie have inspired numerous Christmas-themed trips on heritage railroads. In Bruchhausen-Vilsen, Northern Germany, a working branch line is preserved with all its installations as the oldest outdoor railway museum of the country. Volunteers offer train rides with Santa Claus on weekends during Advent. Last year, on a wet and cold Saturday morning in December, I had the opportunity to document in detail the preparation of the steam locomotives for the scheduled afternoon trips.
Anmerkung:
Aus der Bilderserie, die während einer Fotoexkursion zum Deutschen Eisenbahn-Verein in Bruchhausen-Vilsen entstanden ist, habe ich später dieses Projekt erstellt. Die Anregung zur Zusammenstellung des Foto-Sixpacks in Kombination mit lyrischem Text habe ich Brooks Jensen von LensWork zu verdanken, der mit Seeing in Sixes einen bemerkenswerten Haiku-ähnlichen fine-art Fotowettbewerb bzw. Gemeinschaftsbuchprojekt veranstaltet.