Fire Department & Reservoir, Clark & Sumner, Standard Petroleum Refinery, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

Thomas H. Johnson

National Gallery of Art

The photograph shows a stereoscopic view through a pair of almost identical images placed side by side, captured from a perspective at ground level overlooking a railway yard. There is a railyard turntable with detailed machinery, an old wooden wagon with large spoked wheels, a line of boxcar train cars, several large brick buildings, leafless trees, and a horizon dominated by the silhouettes of distant structures and trees. The image is in sepia tone, emphasizing a vintage or historical feel, with sharp detail highlighting textural contrast between train cars and the ground.