Spiraling

On the last afternoon of the trip, we crossed back into British Columbia into Yoho National Park. It was raining so the visuals were not as mesmerizing but we got to at least see a cloud behind which the strange and wonderful fossils of the Burgess Shale were found above Emerald Lake, and learn more about the building of the railroad across Canada. 

This train near Kicking Horse Pass appears to be making an improbably sharp turn, but there's actually a very large spiral tunnel between the two sections of the train; the lower part is entering the tunnel and the cars above are emerging. (You can see a few more cars through the trees at the bottom of the picture -- this is one of those mile-long freight trains.)

The original track had been the steepest stretch of railroad track in North America, and there were frequent accidents. The solution was to dig two spiral tunnels through the mountains -- basically making a giant figure 8 of track, longer but not nearly as steep. Since they did this in 1909, without modern technology, it's a remarkable feat of engineering.

We'd stopped by the overlook on our way to Emerald Lake, learned the history, and admired one of the tunnel entrances through the downpour. As we approached the pass on our way back, there was a train approaching and our driver did a U-turn in the middle of the highway to get us back to the overlook just before the train emerged from the top of the tunnel. So here's one train times three in a single picture.

Why I love crossing the Brooklyn Bridge

Because it looks like this.

One of the photo groups I belong to on Flickr is called Engineering as Art, and that's a perfect capsule description of this bridge. It's a landmark in engineering -- it was the first steel cable suspension bridge, and for many years was the longest suspension bridge in the world. And at 135 years, it's one of the oldest roadway bridges in the United States, so well built that it's still in heavy use at an age when most bridges would have been long retired.

None of which would matter much if it weren't so beautiful, whether you're seeing it from a distance spanning the river, or from below on one of the Circle Line boats. But this is the best view, from the walkway in the middle of the bridge, with the granite towers above you and the steel webbing on every side.

Caledonian canal

Scotland in popular culture is so much about the Highlands, tartan and whisky and one doomed cause after another, that it's easy to forget that it's also produced some of the best engineers in the world.

The Caledonian canal, built by Thomas Telford in the early 19th century, connects Inverness on the east coast of Scotland with Fort William in the west. It follows the Great Glen, the long valley that bisects the Highlands, linking the lochs that were already there with a series of canals, locks and aqueducts.

This is Fort Augustus, where the canal meets Loch Ness.