Pentax K-5
Sigma 17-70 DC at 23mm
1/1600 sec. f4
ISO 400
This "backup hose" on the last car of the California Zephyr is a stub air hose employed in a "shoving move" as the train is backed into Denver station. As the train slowly approached the stopping point, conductors used to open the "peanut valve" (so called for its faint high-pitched whistle) to dump air pressure, causing the brakes to apply and halt the train. Today they use radios to talk the engineer through shoving moves while holding the hose, and use the valve only in emergencies. "Ten cars . . . five cars . . . one car . . . half a car . . . that'll do," they say.
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