The "Pink Hour" at Laws. Between first light and the first appearance of the morning sun over the mountains to the east, the Owens Valley experiences an interesting optical phenomenon. Often referred to "Alpenglow", light from the sun, below the peaks to the east, is diffracted in the atmosphere and a portion of that light spectrum is cast upon the sky and hills to the west. Typically, it starts as a pink cast over the sky above the horizon, and that cast slowly progresses downward over the mountains. In this image we see that pink, pre-dawn color cast in the sky, as the crew of Southern Pacific 10-wheeler #18 is preparing their locomotive for the day's activities. Since the color cast has not yet reached the mountains, I am thinking it's technically not Alpenglow just yet, so let's just call it "The Pink Hour" at Laws.
This image was captured during a March, 2023 photo shoot at the Laws Museum near Bishop, California, featuring Southern Pacific Locomotive #18 from the Carson & Colorado Railway.
Images from the March, 2023 Lerro Photography photo shoots at the Laws Museum, near Bishop, California, featuring the Southern Pacific's Baldwin 10-wheeler #18 on her second visit since her 2017 restoration.
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!)
