Draft Layout Plans: Black Hawk C&S / Gilpin Tram

[Martin Wade]

After a very long development time here is my close to final draft of my HOn3 Black Hawk layout.   This is one bench of a larger layout connecting Staging (Denver) to Golden Std Gauge and then NG from Golden to Idaho Springs and Black Hawk through Forks Creek.   This plan is the Black Hawk Bench.  Development took a lot longer because, I became fascinated with the Black Hawk and Gilpin Tram history and this leaned much more Prototypical from my original Freelance perspective.   Not that its any stretch true Prototypical but the goals are as follows:

1. Operational.  I wanted enough online industry and track work to make this a switching bench and provide a couple trains of traffic per day.   I actually tested this in JMRI Ops and felt the car space and number of industries supported an Ore Train and Mixed Train.
2. Gilpin Tram will be the same HOn3 as the C&S but operationally will be limited to Polar Star Mill, Ore Chutes, Gilpin Transfer Tracks and then onward to Iron City Mill and off this bench to mines in the mountain area (to be built).
3. C&S would handle all the traffic in Black Hawk and travel back and forth to Golden which will handle transfer of goods from Std Gauge to NG.  That will be done with a local switcher using the Yard transfer and local Golden Industries (dual gauge track).  The C&S will also include passenger in the mixed train and an occasional Goose run.
4.  Track layout and online industries would "represent" real prototype traffic for Black Hawk.   Some definite Modelers license here but still hope to have achieved the look and feel of C&S operations in Black Hawk.
5.  Signature buildings to help identify the location:  Black Hawk Station, Gilpin Engine House, Polar Star Mill, Iron City Mill, Boiler Works, Bull Durham Bldg., and many town buildings built (and laid out) around original structures and Sanborn map placement.   You will notice to fit my overall layout, I needed to flip left to right AND front to back.  Additionally the Gilpin Tram line folds back on Black Hawk.  
6.  Clear Creek.   I was "challenged" by my train club "friends" to add Clear Creek into the layout.   I was relieved when I found out it was really in a boxed Flume through most of the town.   I took a few more modeler's liberties but believe I added this with the same look and feel of the original, capturing areas for open creek, open flume, and closed flume plus aligning to BH Station.   (notice station faces away from town).

The layout indicates most of the turnouts are #6 and elevation and grade are called out in a couple points.  The C&S portion is flat (when I spot cars all over, I will be thankful).  Gilpin Tram rises from 0 near Polar Star to Gilpin Tram Engine house and then level for spotting more cars at Iron City Mill and Engine House area.   Elevation also allows for elevated ore deliver at Polar Star and Ore Chutes.

Ok, with all of that, here it is.   I am open to suggestions/considerations and most importantly any glaring errors in operation or representation of Black Hawk in general.

Thanks for any comments!
Martin Wade
Note:  I have inserted Jpg compressed within limits and attached PDF at Tabloid size for easier viewing.

Black_Hawk_Layout_Draft_2025-02-21_Tabloid.pdf

[Mike Trent]

Thanks, Martin. Looks like you've put a lot of thought in this. Good luck!

[tonyk375]

Looking forward to seeing the progress

[Keith Hayes]

Looks great, Martin. Keep on going, and please keep us posted!

I have long thought that Black Hawk or Idaho Springs would both make great subjects for smaller shelf switching layouts as they are reasonably compact, well documented and have some interesting structures and switching opportunities. More importantly, you could match the prototype with a limited amount of available equipment.

#70 was the regular engine in later years after the oil conversion, but other locomotives made appearances, notably many of the 2-6-0s 5-9, and 58 and 69. Waycars 1003 and 1006 seemed to be Clear Creek hacks. CONX 8 was a visitor, and of course lots of coal and box cars. And the funny flat with the precast concrete pipe sections.

Also, if you model Black Hawk or Idaho, you really need to like to build model structures, as the plan above shows. Many of these have been available as kits in HO, S and O, but all can easily be scratch built.

To the uninitatied, the South Park and Clear Creek are a single railroad, but studying the photos, they are two separate operations with a very small amount of crossover.

[Dave Eggleston]

This is a creative approach to fitting Blackhawk in a small space, Martin. I have a few ideas that don't change the operations but open some space or follow familiar features I think of in Blackhawk. I know you're going proto-generic but what timeframe is the layout? To me this drives some decisions on the industries. The Gilpin would peg this as being before 1918 and based on that I'm thinking of a few things.

The turntable makes sense for the period, but the enginehouse and multiple leads take a lot of space that could be used otherwise, perhaps opening a bit of space for a non-rail-served mill or sampler, or ruins. Is it critical for storage of locomotives?

Same for the size of the livestock bins. Blackhawk apparently had a stock loading pen but this is not shown on any maps Sanborn (1886-1900), 1898 C&S plan, ICC 1916 plans. I suspect it would be quite small, more in line with the very small pen at Central City. I believe that these small pens were more about bringing in some livestock to augment local farm supplies of meat, not for large stock movements as seen elsewhere. Going smaller would open up space to build a larger Iron City mill complex.

I know you're forced to edit out chunks of BH but one thing, to my eye you've put a fuel dealer on the spur that I associate as the one for the Hay/Feed operation across from the depot, which did have coal bins, and, at one time, a lime bin. It also was used for hay/feed and lumber. Central had an oil dealer in its yard by the 1890s, but I don't know of one at BH. I suspect you are wanting to run tank cars,  but if looking to be more specific to BH in that period it might be worth considering, and won't that at all impact the Polar Star as you've designed it.

The building you label as BH Freight House, which they didn't have, could in fact be a warehouse that did exist between the power plant and the Polar Star on its own spur, operationally identical to what you've done.

Finally, by 1900 the State Ore Sampling building was in place across from the depot, roughly just right of Clear Creek between the station and the mainline exiting the plan. Another source of traffic that might fit as a spur off the station runaround (the main was technically on the other track, in your plan the track above the station).

[drgwcs]

Black Hawk does work itself into a good candidate for a shelf layout. My version is in HOn3 and is a foot wide. I wish it had been a bit wider but it was found space. The narrow width flattened things out a bit and I had to eliminate the hay/ grain building. I did add a freelanced mining area on the end. (I did cover it's construction and the buildings pretty thoroughly over in the C&S narrow gauge facebook group.)
One note in your planning when you build structures- there was an error in the Colorado Rail Annual that showed the station at 38 foot wide when it was actually 28' wide. This was the source that Harry Brunk used for dimensions on his plans so they are too wide by no fault of his own. (Only error I think in any of his plans- remarkable record)














I am still working on the Bobtail mill-

[Martin Wade]

Hi Jim,

These are just awesome pictures.   I saw some of them over on the Facebook from some of the links you previous sent me (especially on the station).   The detail you have in the station and then in the Mill at the end are fantastic and since I am doing HOn3 set a high challenge bar on what can be done.
This is the first time, I noticed the "flume and cover" that you modeled on Clear Creek.   That will be a great reference.
As noted, I cheated and flipped the Station so the Creek and Passenger loading is up front.   Simple modeler's license based on aesthetics vs realism that my wife and I chose for the layout.

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures.  Great inspiration.

Martin Wade

[Martin Wade]

Hi Dave,

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and ideas to consider.  My wife and I reviewed each of them to consider adjustments or reinforcements to what we already envisioned.   I'll share back a bit of our thought process:

First overall, we are very much "smearing" the timeline and a bit of the local (merging a bit of Central City into Black Hawk).   So with our "freelance" license, its as if the Gilpin nor the C& S did not shut down and we are somewhere in the 30s.   In addition some elements (like the turntable) had moved out of town by then but in typical modeling limitations we don't have that extended space so we pulled it back in.  So we use an "earlier time" to identify a reasonable place to put it matched up with it has to fit somewhere in this small space.
So armed with the above here were our thoughts:

Engine house and multiple leads:   This was more personal preference and we realize steers away from prototype.   Answer is yes we wanted an Engine House and some engine storage/facilities even though this wasn't exactly prototypical.   While saying that, we will keep this in reserve should we want to steal space as this is definitely a place up for grabs as you identified.

Shrink Livestock and Expand Iron Mill:   We are thrilled to get this confirmation as with our full size plans laid out, this is one thing we noted ourselves.  We want to add on the second half of the Iron City Mill and felt shrinking the livestock area was very doable.  What I had not thought of was the use of these pens to bring in livestock for "meat".   I am still really learning the "commodity" flow and purpose so this was very helpful to understand.   Now, I not only have a more right sized pen but a more right sized purpose/flow.

Fuel Dealer/Hay & Feed/Lumber:   From pictures we spotted an open Lumber yard near the Bull Durham Building.  Then a barn/stables appears to be near that.   So in our 'world', we have a Hardware "& Lumber" store next to Bull Durham Bldg and plan to have the open lumber piles next to it with the spur below to deliver both Hardware and Lumber goods.   Next up is Banta's Foley's Barn which will be the Stable plus add an open wood dock behind on the spur for delivery of Hay and Feed.   Whether sold out of the Barn structure or by the neighboring Hardware store we didn't really plan out but for operations this was our vision.   Next to it is the Beer Distribution Warehouse.  Not built to prototype (nor location) but to deliver prototypical operations.  So with those covered, we felt we needed a true Fuel Dealer (especially if we are in the 30s) so the placement by Polar Star was our choice for coal and yes tank cars of Fuel Oil, Kerosene, and Gasoline.   This is definitely a smear of the timeline so I'm sure is less prototypical to Black Hawk but more to what would have been if it all really had survived to 30s.   I am sure I just caused pain for more those more prioritized on prototype.

Freight House/Warehouse:   The Freight House was just a kit building we have that I felt fit and provided the operational element that matched prototype on operations side.   With the info you provided, I will probably note it more as a warehouse and also consider scratch building more to the true prototype structure.  But as you noted it provides the right prototype goods operationally.

We are thrilled to get these comments so we can 'hone' our design, consider options, and even confirm some of our "operational" choices.   That seems to be more matched than I had hoped for.

Thanks again Dave,

Martin Wade

[drgwcs]

Martin Wade wrote

Hi Jim,

These are just awesome pictures.   I saw some of them over on the Facebook from some of the links you previous sent me (especially on the station).   The detail you have in the station and then in the Mill at the end are fantastic and since I am doing HOn3 set a high challenge bar on what can be done.
This is the first time, I noticed the "flume and cover" that you modeled on Clear Creek.   That will be a great reference.
As noted, I cheated and flipped the Station so the Creek and Passenger loading is up front.   Simple modeler's license based on aesthetics vs realism that my wife and I chose for the layout.

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures.  Great inspiration.

Martin Wade

Thanks so much- I had actually gathered most of the posts on the build in one guide- it does not cover the Bobtail though- that is a whole other can of worms (actually a couple of bait shops)

http://https://www.facebook.com/groups/ColoradoandSouthernNarrowGauge/learning_content/?filter=479737627982222&post=2298893360265109

I wound up "smearing the time line" pretty good too. I am almost sure that the Colorado House, the Colorado Shoe and boarding house  were gone sometime in the 20's. You were mentioning the lumberyard and hay grain (barn) building- that is my one regret that I had to omit these. The frame building next to the Bull Durham is still a bit of a mystery (I would love to see the plaque there- might enlighten us a bit) It is labeled as "R" for residence in the Sanborn Maps but I wonder from the upper door if it had something to do with the lumberyard- however there was a fence between. The lumberyard may have been associated with this building or with the hay grain building. I have not seen any indication of signage on the buildings so I guess it is an academic question that does not matter in modeling them.



Mine was a kitbash out of a grandt line last chance kit- the front became the back and I built a new front. I also swapped the sides. The lean to on the back is rather foreshortened. The white parts are evergreen while the gray parts are the kit. The back wound up as a flat on the other side of the street that was very close to an actual building.





The Hay Grain building (The barn building) actually survived the station and was moved across the street. The lumberyard and station area became a giant placer mining pit. The building is the brown one on the left.



It shows as white in a lot of early pics.

[Martin Wade]

Hi Jim,

I will enjoy reading through the "build" posts.   Thanks for even more pictures.
I had not seen that color pic of the Bull Durham building as it so clearly shows the stone wall which appears much "rougher than the other pics I have.  And it really shows the side wall to front wall integration so that will be a great reference.

We seem to both have the same curiosity on the "Residence".  I saw the same that Sanborn said it was a residence.  But it surely made sense that the person residing there probably helped "manage" the lumber and maybe even the barn area.   And then there is the reality that over time many of these things changed hands and purpose as needs changed.  So with Modeler's license in hand we simply chose that the "Residence" would make a fantastic Hardware & Lumber store with the Lumber Yard modeled as in the picture.  Throw a wood dock at the back and now the C&S can deliver all those goods.
Additionally, I noticed the Barn had changed shape (and color) over time AND we were starting to run out of room.   So, I had a Banta Foley's Barn which interestingly has the general shape (but only half the depth) of the Barn shown in your picture.   I'm not sure I need a dock as I could see them just loading onto a wagon or on the ground.
So I retained a fair amount of operational flavor, a fair amount of "mining town" flavor, but deviated from Black Hawk prototype.

Interestingly the pic below, I thought was just an expansion and enhancement of your picture but the Barn is different.   This is the pic that prompted our "world view".
Thanks again for sharing pics and thoughts.  
Martin Wade

Enhanced view of Lumber Yard.   Notice Barn shape and color vs the White Barn in your pic (plus I had a couple of the White Barn as well)


White Barn Reference.   Awning/Shed on Left, 2 Story Main Barn Center and 1 story extension on Right.


Foley's Barn:  Similar structure left to right but significantly less depth & overall size vs White Barn Picture

[drgwcs]

Not a bad idea on the barn- it does have the same shape. We always have to make compromises. I did better on Black Hawk that I did on Idaho Springs. That was more representational. I wound up recycling quite a bit from an earlier layout.  I do plan to make some changes to get it a bit closer but it does capture the feeling and general appearance- that to me is the most important thing.

[Dave Eggleston]

Martin,

Since you're dealing with the 1930s, consider that the Hay/Feed business may not so much be changing color as the paint is gone. I can't confirm this but given that Central and Blackhawk were declining rapidly before WWI. Yes, there were spurts of activity during and after the war, but it was just that.

As far as I can tell, the lumberyard was never served by the spur behind the Hay dealer. Now, modeler's license is perhaps to step in and add it but I'd say in the real world of the C&S that any spur went through a great deal of financial deliberation, especially in the end-of-times period you're dealing with. I would bet that it's more likely that the lumber, if at all shipped by rail, a car would be spotted on the too-short spur and then simply offloaded the extra 20' of walking. It would actually make for more interesting and prototypical operation, and visually reduce clutter in the scene, if you ended the spur at the Hay dealer. Crews might have to deal with a flat of lumber that's on the spur partially unloaded when they have to drop a car. Worth considering.

I'm not advocating cluttering things or creating operational hurdles, but more focus on how the prototype worked, which would include "sharing" spurs between businesses that likely low traffic, even using them as team tracks.

As to fuel/oil. Central was the focus for this business into the 1920s. If a dealer or dump were in Blackhawk, I've not seen evidence--but it might be there. In the very final years, after 1933 and definitely by 1938, there are two photos showing a tank car sitting on the spur that served the Gilpin mill, or possibly an extension of the one that served the beer warehouse. These both can be found in Abbott's book on the Colorado Central. It is *possible* that once the branch to Central was out of operation in the '20s that an offload operation to fill trucks was squeezed in between structures. Again, the level of oil traffic after WWI was likely not busy and very possibly was simply to get it into several trucks to move to more convenient locations rather than a permanent tank on location in the yard (which would cost the distributor potentially more than the business warranted). At best I would guess a single tank car came into town on an infrequent basis. But it's also possible that oil and petroleum products, in drums and cans, came in boxcars and were offloaded on one of the many unused (or lightly used) spurs around the station, again for movement to a more convenient warehouse/distribution point. Again, traffic without a massive footprint on a shared spur leaving space.

If you can't tell, I'm an advocate, especially in the final years, of the line using what it had rather than building something new unless it brought $$$$$. Team tracks are unsung operational heros for modelers--they don't have to be even dedicated as such but can be spurs that don't have much traffic.

Dave Eggleston

[drgwcs]

Dave
Great points as always. I would agree 100% on the hay grain building paint that it simply wore off. My Dad's 1962 photo on it is taken from too far away to tell for sure but it looks like raw wood but there are some small white splotchy areas that look like remaining paint.



The back of the other building that we are not sure if it was lumberyard or residence shows a very similar patina on the back. On this one as with others around, it was pretty common in the area to keep the front facade looking good while neglecting the rest. (They did slap a coat of paint on it by 1975.)  

I just had the Abbot book given to me and it is quite a resource. The 1939 valuation photos on there show a lot including the tank car there.  On the filling of the tanks to trucks I have seen photos in other areas where railroads did that. (Easier to do before the EPA) Those valuation photos also show conclusively that they rebuilt the flume/platform in front of the station too.

[Dave Eggleston]

Jim,

I'd be not so quick to say the photos are conclusive evidence the flume was rebuilt. Why? Something just doesn't feel right in the details of those valuation photos when compared to other photos of 1937-1940.

The problem is the flume washout created a distinct landscape that clearly shows in railfan photos dated from mid-1937 through 1940. These railfan photos clearly show bad devastation--the flume is blown out, the depot has its ramp bridges across the open creek, trackage is washed away. You can find these photos in Klinger's Clear Creek book, CRM Annual 10, the C&S equipment pictorials (VIII and IX), Ferrell C&Sng, DSP&P Pictorial Supplement, Diggerness V3 and of course DPL's Otto Perry collection.

When exactly was the washout? I know the area around the depot was intact in July 1932 when two photos of the Central City Opera House special train crowd were taken (found in CRM Annual 10, the C&S equipment pictorial VI, and Ferrell's C&Sng). I do know there were bad floods in July 1933, March 1935 and August 1935, per the newspapers but no damage specifics are given. I have found no reports of a flood in 1936 or 1937, at least nothing devastating. Photos in this time are rare.

And then starting mid-1937 the railfans show up and their photos until 1940 show the devastation. The valuation photos in the Colorado Central book (pp 179-181) show none of the destruction, just an intact or rebuilt scene suggesting repair work underway or planned. Was the flume repaired in 1939, only to almost immediately wash out again? Or are we seeing repairs after the 1933 or 1935 floods? I have no idea. Note that the ore dock is in place in the upper photo on page 179--when was that built?

Then I wonder: Are the dates given in the railfan photo captions correct? That would be a pretty extensive issue in figuring all this out. This definitely is a fuzzy period, there is so little documentation but from what I do know things don't fit nicely enough, or are missing, to date the valuation pictures as 1939. I may well be wrong and the valuation photos are dated properly and something happened--repairs and disaster or misdated railfan images or...?

For now, without having access to the Greg Lepak collection photos, I lean to the flume blowout being before mid-1937 and not repaired. To that point I'll add the expense of doing so at that point in the line's history. Think about how bad finances were, the line's under constant attempt at abandonment, the expense of that work. As I type this I nervously expect to see someone pop up with the silver bullet. Maybe an AFE. I hope so!

A key could be the cars seen in the photos, on pages 178, 179 and 180. But this may not be conclusive. I don't know cars, so posting to see if they can be identified.

[drgwcs]

Dave Eggleston wrote

Jim,

I'd be not so quick to say the photos are conclusive evidence the flume was rebuilt. Why? Something just doesn't feel right in the details of those valuation photos when compared to other photos of 1937-1940.

The problem is the flume washout created a distinct landscape that clearly shows in railfan photos dated from mid-1937 through 1940. These railfan photos clearly show bad devastation--the flume is blown out, the depot has its ramp bridges across the open creek, trackage is washed away. You can find these photos in Klinger's Clear Creek book, CRM Annual 10, the C&S equipment pictorials (VIII and IX), Ferrell C&Sng, DSP&P Pictorial Supplement, Diggerness V3 and of course DPL's Otto Perry collection.

When exactly was the washout? I know the area around the depot was intact in July 1932 when two photos of the Central City Opera House special train crowd were taken (found in CRM Annual 10, the C&S equipment pictorial VI, and Ferrell's C&Sng). I do know there were bad floods in July 1933, March 1935 and August 1935, per the newspapers but no damage specifics are given. I have found no reports of a flood in 1936 or 1937, at least nothing devastating. Photos in this time are rare.

And then starting mid-1937 the railfans show up and their photos until 1940 show the devastation. The valuation photos in the Colorado Central book (pp 179-181) show none of the destruction, just an intact or rebuilt scene suggesting repair work underway or planned. Was the flume repaired in 1939, only to almost immediately wash out again? Or are we seeing repairs after the 1933 or 1935 floods? I have no idea. Note that the ore dock is in place in the upper photo on page 179--when was that built?

Then I wonder: Are the dates given in the railfan photo captions correct? That would be a pretty extensive issue in figuring all this out. This definitely is a fuzzy period, there is so little documentation but from what I do know things don't fit nicely enough, or are missing, to date the valuation pictures as 1939. I may well be wrong and the valuation photos are dated properly and something happened--repairs and disaster or misdated railfan images or...?

For now, without having access to the Greg Lepak collection photos, I lean to the flume blowout being before mid-1937 and not repaired. To that point I'll add the expense of doing so at that point in the line's history. Think about how bad finances were, the line's under constant attempt at abandonment, the expense of that work. As I type this I nervously expect to see someone pop up with the silver bullet. Maybe an AFE. I hope so!

A key could be the cars seen in the photos, on pages 178, 179 and 180. But this may not be conclusive. I don't know cars, so posting to see if they can be identified.

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Yea there is a reason I shifted my date earlier......although with some of the structures not early enough. This era is rather confusing- Machines of Iron has a still of the depot with the ramps in color but it is not dated. The color is pretty bad and grainy. There are however in this and at least a couple of others big beams on the platform. These could either be ties or lumber to rebuild the flume. It would make more sense to unload ties closer to where they would be needed.



The valuation photo dating I assumed to be correct, just for the fact you would think at least it would be correctly dated??  Some of the wood at the station does look newer but in B&W it is hard to tell. The angle does not show if there is a contrast to the older wood. Do we know why the C&S did the valuation- for abandonment, taxes, road construction etc?  The presence of the crane in one shot is also interesting. It is however definitely not the same one that was in the placer mining pit later- the boom is different. I haven't compared it to the road construction ones yet.

The cars would be pretty key- the problem with cars of this era is that they are lot like the modern SUV's they all look very similar. The one by the side of the boiler works is the newest. The fuzzyness of the closeup makes it really hard to tell the specific model. Then there was the fact the body styles continued for 3-4 years with minor front end changes.

However- there were some pretty major changes across all the manufacturers that happened about 1935-36. 34 Fords GM's and Chrysler's are pretty blocky in their windshields and to a lesser extent in the contours in the back. In 35 Ford started rounding out around the windshield and 36 got even more rounded. In 36 GM introduced much more rounded body styles. These continued till 39 (My dad had a Chevy Humpback coupe that was a 39 that was identical to the 37 except some minor grill changes)   Plymouth rounded out in 35 and 35, Chrysler in 36 with the airstream. The minor makes lagged a bit. The car is definitely mid 30' and above although from the picture we are not going to identify the specifics. It does however look more GM. The Chevys Pontiacs and Buicks used similar style bodies. Another thing to note is that the car appears to have a turret top (sold rather than a fabric insert) This was introduced by GM in 1935- Ford and Plymouth followed suit in 1936 and 37.
37 Buick

35 Buick for comparison- pretty big difference in style and has the roof insert

Not sure everything will ever get a definitive answer.

[Dave Eggleston]

drgwcs wrote

Yea there is a reason I shifted my date earlier......although with some of the structures not early enough. This era is rather confusing- Machines of Iron has a still of the depot with the ramps in color but it is not dated. The color is pretty bad and grainy. There are however in this and at least a couple of others big beams on the platform. These could either be ties or lumber to rebuild the flume. It would make more sense to unload ties closer to where they would be needed.

[snip]

The valuation photo dating I assumed to be correct, just for the fact you would think at least it would be correctly dated??  Some of the wood at the station does look newer but in B&W it is hard to tell. The angle does not show if there is a contrast to the older wood. Do we know why the C&S did the valuation- for abandonment, taxes, road construction etc?  The presence of the crane in one shot is also interesting. It is however definitely not the same one that was in the placer mining pit later- the boom is different. I haven't compared it to the road construction ones yet.

Jim, yes, the assumption is 1939 and I've heard at least once that there is a date somewhere in the file. It appears to be a solid date but until I see the valuation files with my own eyes in the Lepak collection I can't say for sure, in light of the photos that we have and the gaps in information.

There are something like 20-ish photos in books or online from after the flume wash out. Was the damage a single washout or several that were cumulative? I have no idea. It is clear the mainline and some spur tracks were washed out on the west end of the depot. I also note as I look at the photos again that in at least one image a portion of the flume's cover appears to be in place, between the two ramps, despite the depot platform being gone. It is hard to tell but may indicate progressive washout activity.

Those beams on the platform are clearly seen in two Lad Arend photos in Klinger's book, page 105, neatly stacked by size. They look in good condition. Are they from the flume wreckage, or perhaps salvaged from washed out track or part of work fixing the remaining/new spur trackage? These photos are not dated. It is clear the C&S was doing minimal work after the flume blowout to keep the yard functional enough. Emphasis on "enough" and "minimal."

I have one other idea on why they are there--the result of work I've not seen discussed anywhere. The washout was clearly pretty bad and took out things east of the depot down creek. What if the flood washed out the trestle across Clear Creek at the turntable, which put the main onto the north bank? I began to wonder about this based on the Otto Perry and other photos of 1939. By this time the turntable was gone and trains were backed up from Forks. There was no passing siding on the BH branch. In several photos see the train sitting on what looks to be the old State Ore Sampler spur. But if you look closely the track is very well built, actually looking like new. The position and placement of the train in these photos looks very much like this is the track the train arrived on and will leave on. Which has me wondering: Was that trestle by the turntable gone? Are we seeing a new main built from the turntable's location west up Main Street to the depot?

Given how the yard is arranged, with all spurs aligned in the same direction, Blackhawk effectively became the equivalent of a British Inglenook layout. Spurs are the old spur behind the Hay/Feed building and the three on the north side of the depot. Trains were pushed up to Blackhawk, with engine on the east end. The remaining bridge allowed the engine and cars to cross the creek, using the remaining north bank mainline remnant east of the yard as a switching lead. Then it's simply a matter of pulling and pushing cars in see-saw fashion, going back to the mainline and putting it all together with the caboose and heading out of town. Of course conjecture--no maps nor documents show this happened. Just my connecting dots. To help clarify, here's a sketch of how I see Blackhawk in the 1937-1940 period.



As to autos, I know some on the forum know a ton about the period. I'm just not one of them.

[drgwcs]

It is a tough period to put together the time line. As an observation it seems like most pictures taken around Black Hawk were when some disaster happened or when construction was going on. That leaves gaps. Every pic cost something to do unlike today when photons are free so people tended to ration film more. For my Dad as such a prolific photographer, when it came to photos around my hometown in Oklahoma, it was when construction was going on.

[Dave Eggleston]

Big changes were slow to happen but catastrophic changes, that's different and Blackhawk was susceptible to flooding out. So we know the big events--traffic curtailment, dropping of trains to Central, abandonment attempts, final abandonment and dismantlement of the Central branch. There's just a dark period, when the ore traffic woke up in the mid-30s and I strongly believe AFEs must have been cut for the flood repair and the ore dock (which I currently kbelieve pre-dates the flume wash out), as well as the movement of the yard to the east in late 1940. Whether or not these exist maybe will be answered in the future--the AFEs may be at CRM.

The photos open up a great deal of clues that really either point to the valuation date being off or to some other unknowns being revealed. The important thing is questioning when something seems not quite right.