Trans-Siberian Railway — Baikal Lakeshore Aerial
173.20 £
The Trans-Siberian Railway’s Circum-Baikal section photographed from 400 metres — the historic railway clinging to the cliff edge above Lake Baikal, the lake’s extraordinary blue visible in the same frame as the mountain topography.
Description
The Circum-Baikal Railway — the original route of the Trans-Siberian line before the more direct route was built — runs along the southern shore of Lake Baikal through terrain that required 39 tunnels and 248 bridges to complete. The aerial perspective reveals what the ground perspective obscures: the railway’s precarious relationship to the topography — in places carved from sheer cliff faces that drop directly to the lake, in others passing through short tunnels between cliff sections. This photograph was made at 400 metres on a clear autumn day, the railway section visible against the cliff as a thin white line with the occasional dark tunnel entrance. Lake Baikal’s extraordinary water clarity — 40 metres in many sections — creates the deep cobalt blue that is unique to Baikal’s exceptional optical purity. The southern shore mountains, already showing autumn colour, rise steeply from the lake edge.
