As the crossing gates go down for southbound FEC train 107, an Atlas rocket takes off from Cape Canaveral. I initially set up about 20 miles north in Rockledge with the hope of getting the 107 train and the rocket launch together, however, when I heard the launch was on hold, I packed my camera gear, jumped in the car, and headed south. When I heard over the radio the new time for the launch, I tried to estimate where the train would be when the rocket took off. Barely keeping ahead of the train, I guessed the south end of the Palm Bay siding would be my best hope for the train and the rocket launch. I arrived with three minutes to spare, jumped out of my car, set up my tripod and camera, and started the exposure about 10 seconds before the rocket took off. I had no idea where the rocket launch would be in relation to the crossing gates, so a lot of it was "luck".
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
