The former Baltimore and Ohio Valley Line, from Harpers Ferry to Strasburg passes along the floor of the Shenandoah. In Charles Town the line crosses the former Norfolk and Western at grade and is protected by CPL signals on all sides.
On this night a westbound grain train for Winchester approaches the crossing and illuminates the air and silhouettes the trees and signal in its waning days of service. The signal pictured is historically operated and maintained by the N&W and NS, who used Union Switch & Signal appliances (as opposed to B&O's "General Railway Signal" wares. These are probably the last surviving examples of US&S 'Color Position Light' signals in the USA (Washington Union Terminal Co. still had a few). They replaced lower-quadrant semaphore signals here as early as the 1920s.
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!)