Alpine Tunnel snow sheds

[Todd Hackett]

Here are a few photos of snow sheds at the west portal. The first one shows some interesting and complex construction of the shed along side the engine house:


Here is a close-up of the transition in the roof:


This one is looking from one snow shed towards another:


A close-up of the snow sheds at the west portal:


While on the topic of the Alpine Tunnel, I would like to repeat a request for information that I made about a year and a half ago. Does anybody know anything about this donkey-driven cart? It is nothing like the one that Bill McKee used at Fairplay. This one looks to be much lighter and more sophisticated. Any idea where to get wheels like those? This would be a fun recreation project in 1:1.
Here, the cart is entering the east portal snow shed:


I'm fairly sure this is the same contraption at the west side:

[Darel Leedy]

Thank you for posting these fantastic pictures Todd! I can't help with any information about the cart. But Wilson says he is able and willing to pull it when one is constructed.

[Todd Hackett]

Darel Leedy wrote

...Wilson says he is able and willing to pull it when one is constructed...

I'll keep him in mind.
With a name like Wilson, I expected something like this:

[Darel Leedy]

Lol! Classic!

[South Park]

  Interesting to see the CD 126 blobtop clearly in the shot looking from one
snow shed to the other.  John Hallinan has one still mounted on the sidepin
that supposedly came out of the tunnel.  Up to now, I have had strong doubts
that this was true, as I have never found 126's anywhere on the South Park
line from Denver to Gunnison.  The DSP&P favored Hemingray glass from
Day One.  The D&RG, on the other hand, favored Brookfield, their lines were
loaded with 126's.

  Great to see this.  Thanks for posting.  

[Todd Hackett]

South Park wrote

Interesting to see the CD 126 blobtop...

It's interesting on how everybody focuses on different aspects of photos. I don't know a lot about insulators, but I assume this is what you're referring to:

[Robert McFarland]

Notice the construction cabin near the trail over the pass .Also the additional snowshed opening for the spur that later became the one to the turntable.What would have been the purpose of the small building near the snowshed opening?

[Robert McFarland]

Check out DPL photo Z-2546.

[Chris Walker]

I was going to post that one Robert but you beat me to it.

[Jeff Young]

I thought it was interesting that they routed the telegraph through the snowshed — something they did not do at Kokomo.

I pulled up a few shots I have of the Boreas sheds, but they’re too grainy to tell.  (I did note, however, that Boreas had water barrels on the roof, which don’t appear at Kokomo or Alpine.)

Cheers,
Jeff.

[ComoDepot]

Ice barrels? Half the year they would be frozen.

[ComoDepot]

The small shed, an outhouse or tool shed or both?

[Jeff Young]

ComoDepot wrote

Ice barrels? Half the year they would be frozen.

He he, and by the time the fire had melted them, the snowshed would be ready for roasting marshmallows.

Still, I can't think what else they would have been for:


(I'm afraid I've lost the picture credit on this one....)


Cheers,
Jeff.

[Keith Hayes]

Well...in the event of fire, they would melt. Eventually.

[Todd Hackett]

Jeff Young wrote

I thought it was interesting that they routed the telegraph through the snowshed...

Here's a close-up from the first photo that seems to show the telegraph coming out the west end of the shed:

[Todd Hackett]

ComoDepot wrote

The small shed, an outhouse or tool shed or both?

Are we talking about the structure next to the snowshed or the the one up the hill. The one up the hill doesn't look like any outhouse I've seen, and I don't think they would want to carry tools back up the hill to put them away. It's not very close to the other facilities, so it was probably either built before or during construction, or maybe was explosives storage. Here's a close-up:

[Robert McFarland]

In my original post I referred to two buildings. 1) The log building on the hillside that is one of a group of construction cabins and sheds that can be seen in DPL MCC-3261,which is the photo of Alpine Tunnel Enginehouse under construction.2)Is the board shed with the peaked roof near the snowshed,which I think might be temporary shelter for workers(train crew?)or tools.CHS  J3609 shows the same area late 1880s with the parked Mason.All the cabins and sheds are gone although there appear to be a couple of doug-out openings near the construction camp location.Near the telegraph line going uphill is a stone structure that would appear to be for explosives.

[South Park]

  Todd,

  Yes, I was referring to the telegraph insulator you provided the zoom on.

  Back before Don and his whiner friends booted me from the NGDF, I raised
the question repeatedly about why there are sidepins mounted inside the tunnel
and photos of the same and with insulators, yet the consistent feedback was that
the telegraph never was routed through the tunnel.  No one could explain the
presence of the telegraph pins and insulators.

  Photos clearly show the line going over the mountain in the early days, but
let's remember, the company had the telegraph operational into Gunnison a year
before the tunnel was bored through, so obviously it was built up and over the
top to do this, but what about the horrendous winter conditions and maintenance
difficulties causing the RR to reroute through the tunnel ?  Were I in charge of
keeping that telegraph operational, I would put the wire through the tunnel to
shelter it and keep it at arm's length for maintenance. I mean, who would want
to pack up and over that mountain to make sure the wire was clear during an
Alpine Pass winter !!!  

[Robert McFarland]

I would agree that the line went thru the tunnel.InTodd's photo and the engine house construction photo you can't see the pole line going over the pass,but in the later one  with the parked Mason you can see it.

[Chris Walker]

It was common to fill Fire Barrels with a solution of calcium chloride, the strength of solution depending on the lowest temperature expected, -40F needed 5lbs per gallon of CaCl2.