Yes, as it is stated in the announcement post for the theme of this week's #pobphotocontest, "Smoking is bad! Bad for your health and bad for the environment... but it can result in some nice pictures!"
But, there is one type of "smoke" though, that I haven't found anybody complaining about. As a matter of fact, every person I have spoken to, or heard talking about this type of "smoke", were getting rather nostalgic about it.
What I am referring to, is the "smoke" of old steam trains!
So yes, I got quite excited when I saw the theme for this week's challenge, as I happened to have some photos of our own local holiday steam train running here in the Durban area in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. It is known as the Umgeni Steam Railway. They operate on public holidays and the last weekend of every month.
So let's go!
The first photo is my entry for the #pobhotocontest this week.
The next photo was taken just before the photo above.
So, in the next photo, the train was still stationary and I had the opportunity to get some close-ups.
There was also smoke (steam) visible, but for the sake of the theme of the challenge, I think it's obvious why my choice fell on the first photo as the entry for the challenge, seeing that only the first photo will be entered for the challenge.
I waited for departure time and got a couple of nice close-up shots of the train leaving the Kloof Station.
The photos in this post were taken during the Christmas Season just before we had major floods here in Kwazulu Natal.
The railroad tracks were so severely damaged that the train couldn't operate for some time. Currently it is running again, but on a shortened route while they are still busy with work on the tracks.
I drove out ahead of the train and waited for it along the route. In the next photo, it was passing through the old Gillitts Station.
I went ahead again, and waited for the train to pass through the Valley of a Thousand Hills.
Here you can the train passing through the valleys.
The last image for today's post, was just as the train was about to enter the Inchanga Station, it's end destination. The people were then able to spend some time relaxing and buying souvenirs at the local Inchanga Craft Market, until they would enjoy the ride back again to Kloof Station.
And that's it for today, folks.
Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!