experimental crop

I've looked at both images and find the cropped scene works better IMO. It's one of those scenes that might be hard to improve upon with the lens being used. Can't say right off hand I see any other thoughts or ideas overall. I do really like the view of the rails leading out toward the small amount of blurred open sky at the end. That seems to work well.

Trail, Thank You - for taking the time, the thought & for letting me know. I think Blansky is on to something solid - about too much or a complete context being less than a partial context. Its a mental move that's new for me - so its not the first thing that jumps to mind. I'll be glad when this arrow is a comfortable permanent resident in my mental quiver.

For me in many cases less is actually more. I strive to minimize the number of items in a scene. As too many objects brings about eye wander and the thought of what was the actual point of interest or even the photo in the end. However, as viewfinders can be a bit touchy along the edges be sure to leave enough room as not to cut important items out of the scene either, you can always crop to the specific spot needed. Similar to this approach you've taken here. I might have been tempted to crop a slice further to eliminate the front bottom edge of the top rail. I think that keeps us on the two lower ones and following them out. Again, an easy change if it appeals to you overall.

I think this crop is more impactful, and makes the vanishing point stronger as well.I think you did a really good job in finding the subject and the "crop" is not always apparent in the viewfinder, although sometimes taking a couple of extra different shots at the time would nail it. To some, cropping is a failure in vision at the scene, but unless you're a contact printer, it's pretty irrelevant. So my advice is make your print, then get a cropping tool, and determine if there may be some better choices. And go from there. What you originally took is certainly not a failure on your part.