C&S Clear Creek County RR structures

[jim pallow]

    Chris Walker suggested that I join this forum. I have been peeking in for some time and have found it to be interesting. This is in response to the notes on the Idaho Springs handcar house battens (Doug Heitkamp's drawing is great).  The Silver Plume depot, the I.S. handcar house and a small shed that was a? all shared those battens.  The I.S. depot was moved up Chicago Creek when they built the first I.S. Safeway grocery. Also moved up Chicago Creek was a small structure that when I last saw it was still dark red and housed a horse. It was closer to I.S. than the depot and on the east side of the road.  I'm guessing from a very old memory the building to be "L" shaped and about 15' x 20'. It was next to a non RR house.

[Chris Walker]

Hey Jim, fancy seeing you here

Here's the mystery Structure up Chicago Cr. that resembles a C&S Sectionhouse.  On reflection I doubt it ever was though.

[jim pallow]

       It's your fault Chris!   The image you show is not the one I remember. It was down near the creek and at the time had a small corral next to it. I actually got out of the plow and looked at the battens to make sure it was C&S.

[Todd A Ferguson]

Jim,

I am not sure that having the same style/profile of battens is any proof that a structure was uniquely a C&S structure. In fact there have been standardized profiles if molding and trim for well over a hundred years or more. These battens were most likely a standard off the shelf item that the railroad as well as other carpenters could buy through local lumber suppliers.

It would be possible for the C&S to have custom, non standard, moulding profiles made. However that would add expense. I could see that for some window or dor trim perhaps, but for lowly battens it just doesn't seem logical to me. But I could be wrong.

It is certainly an interesting detail and a modeling challenge to duplicate in minature.

Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC

[Jeff Young]

On the other side of the coin, the existence of “standard” pattern books isn’t quite the same as “off-the-shelf”.  The knives for the hand planes (or later spindle moulders) would still have been individually made to suit the pattern (whether standard or otherwise) up until mid-century.  So I don’t think a custom C&S moulding profile would have added any expense.

But if the pattern were out of a pattern book, then plenty of other folks might have been using it, so Todd’s point may still stand.

Cheers,

Jeff.

PS: I’ve had knives custom ground to match various trim details in my 18th C house during restoration.  So far I have 34 sets of knives, all distinct, and that probably only covers half the profiles used in the house.

On 29 Aug 2015, at 02:33, Todd A Ferguson [via C&Sn3 Discussion Forum] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Jim,

I am not sure that having the same style/profile of battens is any proof that a structure was uniquely a C&S structure.
In fact there have been standardized profiles if molding and trim for well over a hundred years or more. These battens were most likely a standard off the shelf item that the railroad as well as other carpenters could buy through local lumber suppliers.

It would be possible for the C&S to have custom, non standard, moulding profiles made. However that would add expense. I could see that for some window or dor trim perhaps, but for lowly battens it just doesn't seem logical to me. But I could be wrong.

It is certainly an interesting detail and a modeling challenge to duplicate in minature.

Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC

---

If you reply to this email, your message will be added to the discussion below:

http://c-sn3-discussion-forum.41377.n7.nabble.com/C-S-Clear-Creek-County-RR-structures-tp3279p3307.html

To start a new topic under C&Sn3 Discussion Forum, email [hidden email]
To unsubscribe from C&Sn3 Discussion Forum, click here.
NAML

[Todd A Ferguson]

Jeff,

Wow! Sounds like you can go into the antique molding business with that number of custom knives. A hand plane to make the moldings would be custom made or the pattern can sometimes be made using standard hollows and rounds. I did some searching for catalogs of standard molding of the late 19th century but didn't quickly come up with what I was seeking. It also depends if the operation was grinding their own cutters or buying standard off the shelf profiles.  That is a hard call too.  So, it is as you said hard to know for sure. I guess the one thing that would help is if the batten stock was called out on a drawing by a standard profile number, either common molding or railroad standard. But perhaps we get too,wrapped up in it all sometimes, but it is interesting and fun.

Best,
Todd Ferguson
Harrisburg, NC