Star Trails Over Railroad Water Tower at Dos Cabezas Siding

I camped at Dos Cabezas siding in the southern portion of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park from the evening of December 13 through the morning of December 14, 2017. This is a reuse of the frames I shot while capturing Geminids. You can see some of the brighter Geminid meteors among the star trails here.

To produce these star trails, I shot 274 frames that were each shot at 20 sec f-2.8 ISO 4000 using a Canon 6D and Sigma 15mm EX DG lens. I stacked the images in StarStaX using both "normal" and "comet" modes.

The water tower seen here is part of the SD&AE and dates back to the age of steam locomotives.

The San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company is a short-line American railroad originally founded in 1906 as the San Diego & Arizona Railway (SD&A) by sugar heir, developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels. Dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved, the line was established in part to provide San Diego with a direct rail link to the east by connecting with the Southern Pacific Railroad lines in El Centro, California. The SD&A's 146.4-mile (235.61 km) route originates in San Diego, California and terminates in El Centro, California. Recently, the Baja California Railroad has taken out a lease of this line and plans to restore freight service in the near future.
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