Large Scale Central

Campo Creek Viaduct

Last Monday night I drove out to a place near Campo, CA to photograph the Campo Creek Viaduct. This is a large, steel railroad trestle that crosses old highway 94. It was built by the San Diego & Arizona Railway and was completed in 1917.

I got a few photos of the bridge from below, and also shot some time-lapse video with the bridge silhouetted against the night sky.

Then I found a trail that took me up into the hills near the tracks, and camped out just a short distance from the bridge. In the morning I got up early so I could shoot some pics and video right after sunrise, the “golden hour” for photography. Got a couple pics of myself with the bridge, too.

Here are a few aerial photos:

Enjoy!

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Great photos, Ray. I look forward to each of your adventures. Thanks for sharing.

Great Pics !

Now build it Ray !

Have not been down there for a bit ( 3 years ago ). Nice area to visit. Would be NICER . . . if there were trains running on that line !

I wish someone would at least repaint the trestle before it rusts beyond repair.

Great pictures Ray, that drone is proving to be well worth the money spent with those great pictures. Doesn’t hurt that you have a great eye for photograph. I have been through there a few times in the big truck , keep them coming

Ray Dunakin said:

I wish someone would at least repaint the trestle before it rusts beyond repair.

Well Ray, do you have anything else planned for the next few years? (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

David Maynard said:

Ray Dunakin said:

I wish someone would at least repaint the trestle before it rusts beyond repair.

Well Ray, do you have anything else planned for the next few years? (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Be more like the Golden Gate, by the time they finish, it’s time to start again! But on this one it’s more like by the time it’s sanded …

Last time I went out to the Campo Creek Viaduct, the moon was nearly full, and the sky was partly cloudy. So I couldn’t get the kind of night shots I really wanted. I went back there Sunday night to try again. No moon, no clouds, lots of stars!

That second shot was from a series of time lapse photos. Each shot took 15 seconds, with another five seconds between shots. So it took nearly two and a half hours to get enough for 12 seconds of time lapsed video. Unfortunately there was frequent traffic on the highway under the bridge, and every time a car went by the headlights would light up the bridge. So the resulting video is not what I was hoping for.

These shots of the Milky Way were taken on top of the hill near one end of the bridge. I got some very nice time lapse of the Milky Way moving across the sky; however I had to cut it short when some damp air rolled in and fogged up the lens. I was up until 3 a.m. shooting all this stuff:

In the morning I flew my drone again and got some shots I’d missed the last time.

I’m still working on getting the video from both trips edited - and trying to get some vintage pics to include with it.

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Great shots Ray.