The Cattle Guard

Parallel lines of steel stretch toward the horizon, interrupted by overgrowth and dappled shade. Half-hidden below the center of the photographic frame, a pair of triangular wings rises at a 45-degree angle from the railroad tracks into the encroaching brush. Between them is a horizontal grid of wooden and metal bars. This arrangement of bars constitutes what is variously called, depending on one's location in the English-speaking world, a cattle guard, cattle grid, or stock grid. The bars are spaced such that the hoof of any would-be bovine or ovine trespasser can easily slip into the shallow pit between them. The aim is to prevent livestock from even attempting to cross.