July photo club winner

Bill Kennedy of Christiansburg won both the theme category and the open category at the Radford Photo Club’s July meeting, which was a picnic held at Bisset Park.

The theme of the next several months are photos being considered for display at the Hahn Horticulture Gardens on the Virginia Tech campus. Kennedy’s photo is looking out of the Natural Tunnel near Duffield, VA. The tunnel, cut into the mountain by flowing water over millions of years, is 850 feet long and 10 stories high. In 1890 Norfolk & Western laid tracks through it that are still used today. One day each year (this year, July 19) the railroad stops the trains so you can walk the length of the tunnel.

Kennedy’s open category photo was taken inside the W. A. Young Machine Shop in Rices Landing, PA. The shop, along the Monongahela River about 35 miles downriver from Pittsburgh, opened in 1900 and serviced river boats. It had a machine shop, blacksmith shop, and a small steel foundry. The shop closed in 1965, but the building was maintained and preserved by the Young family, who lived nearby. The property was acquired by Rivers of Steel in 2009, an organization dedicated to preserving the industrial heritage of Western Pennsylvania.  Rivers of Steel opens the building to visitors on one Sunday each month from March to November. The machines pictured, all powered by belts driven by a single 7.5 hp electric motor, are in operating condition and are demonstrated when the shop is open to visitors.

Club members come from throughout the New River Valley. The club’s usual meeting time and place is the third Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. at the Radford Public Library. Contact Joyce Crowder at joycecrowder2@icloud.com for more information. The club is active on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2056616214622152. The library address is https://www.loc8nearme.com/virginia/radford/radford- public-library/8303150/