The east side of Lake Washington used to have a lot more train traffic. A line ran up that side of the lake but the railroad closed it down and then the interstate was rebuilt and went over the previous right of way. In Bellevue, the tracks crossed a valley on a large trestle bridge, the Wilburton Trestle. This wooden structure was modified at some point to allow an expansion of the road that ran underneath it but, once the railroad was closed, it fell out of use.
For the longest time, I didn’t even notice it. While it is close to the interstate, it is off to one side at a time when you don’t have much time to look around. When I finally noticed it, I was amazed I had driven by so many times. Even then, I never got a chance to take pictures. I was hoping for better weather but winter has not really helped in that regard so, one afternoon, as I was heading back from Bellevue, I stopped off to check it out.
Wooden trestle structures are a curious thing and very typical of old American railroads. The dull light may not have helped emphasis the structure much but it does reduce the contrast you can get with something so sheltered underneath. Even so I used HDR a bit to help manage the exposure range. Supposedly, the future for the trestle will be as part of the expanding trail network for the eastside. It is suggested that it will reopen to trail users by 2020. I think I shall ride down to it at that point to check the view out. I imagine it is pretty good from up there.
A work event at Newcastle Golf Club that I posted about previously introduced me to this location. Since it has such great views over the area, it seemed like a good spot to have lunch when mum was visiting. I also took along the camera so, after we had eaten, I could use the longer lens to get some shots of the area. I also shot a few panos to see how they would work out and how bad the heat haze might prove to be. Things came out better than I had expected. I did also shoot a bunch of identical shots to use the statistic function in Photoshop to try and remove heat distortion but, to be honest, the original distortion was not that bad and the edited shots weren’t any better.
