VLA Rail System, 2012

The rail system of the VLA, used to transport the 230-ton antennas, was built in the 1970s using rails and ties salvaged from railroads that were going out of business. Many of the steel rails are marked with their year of manufacture. At least one of those rails now has reached centenarian status. This rail, on the VLA's West Arm, was manufactured in 1912, the same year that New Mexico achieved statehood. The state-of-the-art technology brought by the VLA expansion now works alongside a 100-year-old, functioning component to provide cutting-edge research capabilities!

Records of the NRAO

Still Image

rail1912.jpg

2012

Photographs Series

VLA Unit