Forks Creek Footbridge

[drgwcs]

Well look what popped up on ebay
Finally a good view of the footbridge at Forks Creek. I had seen photos showing the edge but not the whole thing



Here is number 63



Plus there were several billboards and one really absolutely begs me to model it
(The owner's name was James Curran too )
This company did signs all over Colorado including on the side of the opera house in Leadville and the Bull Durham sign in Black Hawk.
 


https://www.ebay.com/itm/236585155990

[Chris Walker]

Nice Find Jim, real noice.  

[drgwcs]

Already working on creating some billboards in word. I really wish I could work out the top line on the Colorado equipment and supply billboard. Tried messing with contrast and exposure and still could not tell.

[Kurt Maechner]

I honestly don't think I had ever seen that footbridge in photos at the Forks before.
Cool find!
Kurt

[drgwcs]

Kurt Maechner wrote

I honestly don't think I had ever seen that footbridge in photos at the Forks before.
Cool find!
Kurt

I have not seen a pic of it but I believe it may have been on the valuation form. Just the entrance shows in a couple of other photos. Basically the entrance and a foot or so of handrail. I am going to look through some books and see if I find anything more but I do not remember anything.
I would suspect that the bridge was the vantage point for the one photo was taken that Harry Brunk had in an article that showed the back side of the station and eating house. I think Rick Steele had found that.

[Southpark]

Does that foot bridge go part way or all the  way to the far side?  With that foot bridge there must be a photo or two some place taken looking up and down stream.  Tom Klinger

[drgwcs]

Southpark wrote

Does that foot bridge go part way or all the  way to the far side?  With that foot bridge there must be a photo or two some place taken looking up and down stream.  Tom Klinger

I have been staring at it for a while- the far pier is on dry land. The question is what was on the other side??? It really looks like it dead ends however you would think that it would have a top end rail. I can't really see any stairs going down but there is a slight possibility they are obscured by the bridge going to the side- then again there appears to be a solid handrail. In any event if they were there they would be at on odd angle. I'm leaning toward a dead end bridge. Just for fishing and sightseeing. Not sure people would want to wander among the billboards. There are only a couple of photos that show the billboards- there is an overhead view that looks over the eating house and shows two in the Mineral Belt volume 3 the photo is taken from an angle that wouldn't show the bridge though.



There is a photo of the back side of the eating house/ station that was reproduced in one of Harry Brunk's articles that was likely taken from it. I had assumed it was off the iron bridge but the perspective did not seem right from there.

[drgwcs]

Well got the billboards done on my Forks Creek. I created some in office, and printed them on cardstock, for the Curran company (naturally) the Colorado Machinery and supply and the Denver post. I substituted a Coke billboard cut from an old tin sign catalog for the other one. The orientation is not exactly right but worked with the rock work. The backs are stripwood which worked well. It was fun to brace this up with the irregular surface. Next up to build is the footbridge. Had real fun getting photos of these... the back is far more visible than the front.

[Mike Trent]

Nice job, Mr. Curran!

[drgwcs]

Forks Creek footbridge
Got the footbridge in. My version is considerably shorter at about half the length as my Forks Creek is smaller than the prototype. My creek is about half as wide (there were several other compromises to the area too but it still captures the flavor.) I left off the end sections and modeled the middle of the bridge.
There are 54 pieces in my bridge. Did have a happy accident while I was building- the trusses underneath on my first attempt were too tall and too beefy looking. Found out by accident that the bad one was just the right height for the billboard support on the hillside.  Shocked that worked. It is shorter than the prototype- I have a lot more slope. I used a Mahogany stain marker and it did come out a bit dark for a boxcar red (the prototype looks to be painted the same color as the boxcar red on the buildings.) I may weather it out some to lighten it a bit.
My Forks Creek is a bit of a compromise as it is- it is built in a more pronounced curve so the eating house has an extra bend. My bridge is definitely different and to top it off it does not have a wye. The two legs diverge to Black Hawk and Idaho Springs on opposite sides of the backdrop. I still need to build the section house too.







The build process- these stain markers are my go to for staining stripwood.


I am probably slightly wider than the prototype here