ABANDONMENT

Since childhood, I have always been fascinated by trains, growing up near a train track and hearing the whistle and train come by at 5 am every morning. I watched the train go by whenever we got stuck at the crossing to see my grandparents. Matter of fact, anytime my parents were stuck at a railroad crossing the train passing by had my full attention.

When I moved to Tennessee, I knew nothing of this train but happen to see something about it on social media, from that point on it was my goal to see this train. Abandoned trains for me are a mix of emotions, sad that this mechanical beast is just sitting and rotting away but also a sense of wonder about the train, where it came from, and why it sits here abandoned.

This train was a part of the short-lived New River Scenic Railway, a 62-mile trip through East Tennessee. It only lasted from 2008 - 2010 and the train has sat abandoned from then on, disputed about the rights and use of the rail made the tourist attraction derail.

Sadly, vandals have scarred this beauty along with mother nature taking over, she doesn’t shine as bright as before but my idea for this shot was to still show her hidden beauty. Shooting from a low angle and using a wide-angle lens helped me capture the whole train while using the tracks as leading lines. With this being winter time, black and white was the only way to go with the edit plus it showed the details of the train better.

-Burke