A little far from home, eh? Very cool catch - thanks for sharing this rare scene!
|
| Posted by FSWood on January 25, 2011 | |
Cool. Would have never guessed that.
|
Cool!
I do not see how the frogs work on the diamonds? The tracks going into the picture appear to be solid. Anyone know? Do you have any more?
|
Just looked on Google Earth. There are three line radiating out from a central area. Go to 34 04'37.57"N, 107 37'01.54"W. Interesting to know how the transporter gets on to the 'mainline'.
|
| Posted by on January 25, 2011 | |
Very interesting scene. Never would have thought of seeing this.
|
I am also interested in how the lifter negotiates the diamonds. You have the distances switched in the description, though. Having all the dishes close together is like a telephoto lens (narrow angle of view), and having them spread out is like a wide angle lens.
|
Nice get! Sci Fi movie location scouts will no doubt contact you. Hold out for at least a movie credit if not more.
|
Each of the pre-set footing locations has its own "spur" that is at a right angle to the main line. If you look closely you can see that the spur track is raised several inches above the "main" and to cross the parallel main tracks, bridge rails are bolted between the gaps. One of these rails is laying near the left side crossing and the notch to clear the "main" is clearly seen.
|
I'm guessing the lifter lifts itself high enough above the rails that the trucks can rotate 90 degrees once it reaches the main, then. I'd love to see video of it moving a dish from one pad to another.
|
I would just like to see it in person.
|
Fantastic, very interesting! And a nice photo as well.
|
This is very cool. I drove by this area in mid december and saw tracks crossing hwy 60 to a bunch of dishes. Tracks look like they hadn't been used in awhile. It's nice to know what they were/are for. I guess these used to be an outside connection for the railroad. Thanks for the pic!
|
While staying at Socorro, NM (lightening capitol of the world) and working on WSMR I also stumbled upon this very Large Array. When we asked if they ever heard anything from deep space, no one ever knew. It was very impressive never the less.
|
| Posted by on February 13, 2011 | |
Neat stuff for sure, got any more pics of the operation Eric?
|
I was pleasantly surprised to see this location on RP, having spent a day at the VLA back in '88. It is indeed a great spot for lightning storms. I recall being trapped under a gazebo near the main building as such a storm rolled through, thinking I'd meet my maker there. Further to Lester's comment, two feature films were partially shot here -- '2010' (the sequel to '2001: A Space Odyssey') and 'Contact'.
|