- 01 SALMON BAY RAILROAD BRIDGE | Open single-leaf bascule bridge
Incorporated in 1897, Ballard’s citizens voted in 1907 to join with the city of Seattle to the south. Major structures in the town are the Hiram M. Chittenden locks which release the fresh water flowing from Lake Union through the Fremont Canal and Salmon Bay into the open waters of Shilshole Bay. High overhead, the single-leaf bascule structured Salmon Bay Railroad Bridge carries freight and passenger trains between Seattle and Vancouver. This image set was made whilst walking east from there to Ballard Bridge and a bus back to Seattle.
- 02 | RAILROAD TRACKS, BUILDING AND STAIRWAY | Ribbed metal sheet cladding
Set into stone ballast, the worn ties and rails of the Ballard Terminal Railroad enter a westerly gradient leading to a junction with the main west coast BNSF line. On my walk the rail tops sometimes barely showed through their dusty roadbed. Here, a stretch of unpaved NW54th Street separated them from this long and windowless building clad in grey ribbed metal sheet.
- 03 BOATYARD | Stack storage of small boats under a canopy roof
Both banks of the waterway are lined by moorings and yards for the repair of ships and boats. On this site, small boats were stacked in a pair of tall frame structures under simple roofs. My walk followed the waterfront but largely separated from it by a great variety of industrial buildings and businesses.
- 04 FENCED YARD | A steel gantry crane structure framed by buildings
The formal geometry of the structural rectangles and triangles within the buildings enclosing the yard and the strong form of the gantry crane appealed. The surface patterns, textures and colours of corrugated metal, peeling paint and rust also contributed even in this monochrome translation.
- 05 A BOATYARD | Small boats and many miscellaneous objects with buildings beyond
This was the yard attached to a small boat company and its workshops. I detoured to photograph the curved roof Limback Lumber Co. building and a few others fronting the street beyond. I’d liked to have had more time to explore and photograph its neighbouring structures and shop fronts but that was not to be.
- 06 REDUNDANT FUEL TANKER TRUCK | Rust and faded paint
The Ballard Oil Co premises lie across the street from their retired tanker truck which wears both rust and scruffy, fading, yellow paint. No vehicle manufacturer’s identity adorned its radiator but a red FOR SALE sign was attached to the windscreen glass. Other well-worn companions in varied liveries were parked nearby. They contributed to the structural variety from the new and pristine to dilapidation and decay that readily attracts my attention.
- 07 UNPAVED SIDE ROAD | Utility power lines, railroad track with truck and parked cars
A short spur of rails from the roadside track barely shows above the dirt ballast. The buildings beyond illustrate the modest scale of some of the industrial buildings in the area. A railroad truck is parked with cars under a haphazard spread of utility posts and wires. The combination of an open railroad track edging a road does not seem unusual here and elsewhere in the USA. On a much grander scale it’s fascinating to watch rush hour commuter trains crossing streets in the centre of Chicago and in its suburbs.
- 08 AN EASTWARDS STREET PERSPECTIVE | Buildings and vehicles
A gentle curve to the street suggested this perspective of vehicles, buildings and the ever present utility poles. I liked the informality of the streetscape and the haphazard accumulation of so many of its buildings and yards.
- 09 A TRUCK TRACTOR UNIT IN PROFILE | A splash of red on the street
The tractor unit in the previous image stands in profile wearing bright red body panels offset by the black finish to its chassis. Why not use colour to show the red rather than use words? Many years ago my few schoolboy photographs were made on120 black and white film stock processed as contact prints by the local town photographer and jobbing printer. The liking for both monochrome and format remains. I like the unity it can impart to sometimes incoherent colours and forms. For me, American trucks in full and vibrant colour must remain an unrealised photographic theme.
- 10 SHIPYARD ENTRANCE GATE | Small boats and miscellaneous objects
It’s hardly surprising that many businesses along the waterfront are ship and sea related. The many varied jetties offer moorings for both working ships and pleasure boats. The Pacific Fishermen Inc. shipyard occupies a prominent set of buildings, and is the subject of the following three images. The SEATTLE BOATS AND SHIPS GALLERY has images from this yard, shipping on the opposite shore of Salmon Bay and at the Seattle Fishermen’s Terminal.
- 11 SHIPYARD | Salmon Bay facades of yard buildings, jetties and moored boats
The Yard offers a wide range of services for the repair and maintenance of small commercial vessels and recreational craft. This on-shore view shows the spread of covered workshops and mooring jetties. The small boat bow in the foreground is the "Yankee Clipper". Built for the United States Navy in 1941 as a motor launch it was later acquired by the Sea Scouts for conversion into a gaff rigged ketch: colour images of it are posted as 10 and 11 in the SEATTLE BOATS AND SHIPS gallery.
- 12 SHIPYARD | "Arctic Mariner" ashore for overhaul and repainting
Yard workers were applying dark blue paint to the hull and white to the masts and superstructure of a fishing vessel, the “Arctic Mariner”, immaculate in the afternoon sunshine. It was informative to see what is hidden under water when a vessel is afloat and to see how it’s underpinned whilst dry docked. The form, pattern and texture on the mobile crane tire and the fencing enclosing wooden blocks and slipway equipment also appealed.
- 13 "ARCTIC MARINER" stern and a glimpse of the flatbed of a marine railway
The boat occupied one of two dry docking platforms. The slightly sloping edge is that of the flatbed of a marine railway used to haul ships clear of the water to a ground work area: wheeled below, it runs on sloping rail tracks. At high tide the boat is moored in position over it; cradles and blocks are used to locate and support the hull as the platform is hauled up the incline. The occupied deck seemed to be a vertical lift variation which can accommodate heavier vessels than its smaller railed neighbour.
- 14 SELF-STORAGE BUILDING | Weathered painted lettering on a street façade
Here, the sometimes rough and dusty surface of NW 54th Street gives way to the smooth asphalt of Shilshole Avenue. The angled placing of bold lettering within the symmetry of the window and door openings on this storage building appealed. The weathered blue and white paintwork on the metal cladding was an added attraction. Over three floors and under a flat roof, this long building fronts the highway and a tree studded car park beyond.
- 15 BUILDING MACHINERY YARD | Sand, gravel and concrete supply works
This collection of small construction vehicles was parked up against fragments of a conveyer and other structures in the Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel Company yard. It’s one of several businesses using the Ballard Terminal Railroad, a short spur from the main line to the west linking Seattle with Vancouver. For much of this stretch the ties and rails are almost covered with dirt ballast: a railroad truck was parked.
- 16 AIRSTREAM TRAVEL TRAILER 3101 | Detail with fence and buildings
Close to the Bridge I caught this glimpse of an Airstream trailer securely fenced against casual visitors. The pristine polished metal skin of this design classic gleamed in the sunshine: I’d like to have been able to look at it more closely but there was no one around to ask. The composition of the various elements in the image offered some compensation.
- 17 AIRSTREAM TRAVEL TRAILER 3101 | Lettering detail with fence
This more tightly framed image details the wired wood lathe fence material, its supporting steel structure and the lettering on the vehicle’s roof. I spotted another Airstream on my walk but by comparison it was dull, drab and neglected.
- 18 BALLARD BRIDGE | Close to the end of my walk, I looked back at the raised bridge deck
I travelled out from Seattle by bus to explore a little of Ballard and walk its waterfront back to the twin-bascule Ballard Bridge. By chance I was crossing when it was being opened for shipping in the waterway below. My return bus followed the edge of the Washington Ship Canal and Lake Union, passing under the high lattice steel work of the Aurora Bridge. There were fleeting glimpses of the boats moored alongside the Museum of History and Industry and the floatplanes at the Kenmore Air Harbor before arriving at Westlake in the City centre.