What was likely the most popular location along the old Norfolk Southern (and formerly Southern Railway) W-Line among railfans back during the days of the Spartanburg-Asheville traffic, Melrose, is seen on a quiet, erie night in the mountains of North Carolina. Melrose is the point at which the Saluda grade, the steepest mainline grade in the United States until being shut down over 15 years ago, levels back out. The grade can be seen climbing the mountain in the background, which just shows the challenge trains had both climbing and descending it. Now, the only thing that passes the old yard at Melrose is time... The ghostly shadowed figure to the right is in fact me providing the scene's light.
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!)
