Nostalgia & History > The Needles "District" in '68 - a VERY eventful year

When R.H. Kindig snapped this workaday image of Santa Fe 1703 West at Siberia, California, a lot of life-altering events had already taken place in the preceding months and days.

To wit:

January 30 - The Tet Offensive (January 30, 1968 - June 8, 1968) - a series of operational offensives are launched by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.

February 8 - The Boeing 747 makes its maiden flight.

April 4 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

May 22 - The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A mere fourteen days later, the year that was continued - in a disturbingly familiar manner:

June 5 - U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot in Los Angeles, California. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.

Other newsworthy events occurring over the remainder of the year:

August 11 - The last steam powered passenger train service runs in Great Britain.

August 22-August 30 - Police clash with antiwar protesters in Chicago, Illinois outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

October 11 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission.

November 5 - U.S. presidential election, 1968: Republican challenger Richard M. Nixon defeats Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

December 24 - Apollo Program: U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

So, in the end, this image is something to TRULY savor - a visual island of tranquility - in a year of dramatic change.

Thanks for looking,

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/15 09:34 by ATSF100WEST.

Heading east to go west.

Beautiful photo. The timeline was interesting also.

"Ship and Travel Santa Fe...All the Way."

That same year our family arrived here in the USA to southern California where this then boys lifetime fascination with the Santa Fe began

I love that curve where they split! Great shot!

Richard Kindig is over 90 now, but I saw him at a recent meeting of the Rocky Mtn. RR Club in Denver. He is still sharp and sassy. So many views of Colorado railroading would not be available if it were not for him being in the right place at the right time.