Fremont Pass Facilities (Again)

[Jim Courtney]

Could be, Chris.  Might explain why the Kokomo depot, not that old in the early photos, always appears relatively un-square.

[Jimmy Blouch]

Jimmy,

Any chance that you have copies of the D&RG maps for Wheeler, Robinson and Officer's Spur?  And what about Dillon?  If so, would you possibly be willing to post them here?  Maybe a new thread, like "Ten Mile Stations of the D&RG"? (He asks hopefully).
Jim Courtney
Poulsbo, WA


Might be a possibility

Jimmy

[Jeff Young]

Another view of the D&RG depot and Climax office:



http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/R/2FDG3T8Q5Y27JGEX5P24D2IUTLLUG6JH62Y4GF4M4ULMERBDTF-04792?func=results-jump-full&set_entry=001273&set_number=000553&base=GEN01-CSM01&pid=326282

They give a date of 1935 - 1955, but the cars are all pre-war, so I'd guess toward the earlier end of that.

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Keith Hayes]

No, I cannot ID the loco, Jim. But that is a helluva neat building beyond the yard.

[Jim Courtney]

Thanks for the photo, Jeff.

I don't think that is the D&RG section house to the left of the office, rather the "hospital" building as identified on Jimmy's map.  Looks like they have added on to the rear of the structure, perhaps a new OR suite?

As a physician, the "hospital" building seems pretty sparse as a medical facility.  I doubt they have an MRI, or even a fast CT scanner.  It does seem to have a mud room, though.

[Jim Courtney]

I think it might be one of the little saddle tank 0-6-0 switchers, working the Pueblo yard.  I was confused by an odd looking tender trailing it, but the highest magnification showed it to be a horses ass and a wagon.  So the blurred diamond-stacked engine has no tender, and the steam dome with whistle looks to be forward of the sand dome.

Other opinions?

[Keith Hayes]

Jim, you can see each car has been clearly marked to indicate which trust fund in belongs to--A to E.

[Jeff Young]

Here's a better picture of the hospital.  (20 beds, evidently.)


Photo copyright and courtesy of Colorado School of Mines.
http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/R/VUV6XMR26D4Y4JJHTEJS1AKU6YJKEB2MSM5TKS3CJD6PQKL6XC-01602

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jim Courtney]

Somehow, I don't think this is the same structure as the one noted on the 1904 map!  It has a very "New Deal" feeling to the architecture.

[Jeff Young]

No, this one looks distinctly post-war.  (40’s or maybe early 50’s?)

Cheers,

Jeff.

On 3 Jul 2015, at 20:51, Jim Courtney [via C&Sn3 Discussion Forum] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Somehow, I don't think this is the same structure as the one noted on the 1904 map!

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[Jim Courtney]

Yes, Keith, most all of the cars are only lettered for the various "CRS Trusts" that owned them, not the D&RG. The railroad only numbered the cars to keep track of them. Presumably, as the lease of the cars was paid off, the cars were shopped and the CRS Trust series lettering was painted out.

The one exception is the boxcar in the background lettered "D&RG RW", but it is much taller than the 24 foot Billmeyer & Small design 10-ton cars. It likely was acquired outside of the Trust purchases; it may be one of the 10-ton, 28 foot cars acquired by the Santa Fe. These fifty cars, 2300-2349, were built by St Charles in 1879 and purchased when the Santa Fe was operating the D&RG.

I don't think this (tall boxcar) was one of the 27 foot, 20-ton, 1884-1891 rebuilds of the Billmeyer and Small style cars (RGS outfit car 1789 at the Colorado Railroad museum is a surviving example). The 27 footers were rebuilt from bad order 24 foot cars willy-nilly, to repair or replace cars originally purchased by various Trusts. Thus when rebuilt (or built as a replacement), they still carried their original car number and Trust designation, at least until the original bonds for the 24 footer, now 27 footer, was paid off. Eventually the cars were renumbered 4000-4099 in 1902. An example is CRS Trust series "D" boxcar number 3790, likely less than a year old:


Photo by Nathan Boyce, c1885. This car was used as a portable darkroom by Boyce as he photographed the D&RG in Colorado and Utah.  Photo from Robert Sloan's opus on D&RGW narrow gauge freight cars, page 66.

Now, should anyone think that I'm wandering way off topic and dangerously entering "Evil Empire" territory, the above photo was taken on the D&RG siding at Fremont Pass; the track in the background behind the boxcar is the almost new DSP&P mainline.

[Jimmy Blouch]

Yes, the photo is from a series of photos taken by Boyce during 1885 at Fremont.
DSP&P tracks are visible but their structures have yet to be built.

Jimmy

[Chris Walker]

[Chris Walker]

Jim,
adding a little detail to one of your pictures.

[Keith Hayes]

Chris, you are just baiting me, aren't you?

The valence is done, the walls are touched up, and I am waiting on some carpet before I assemble the benchwork further.

I have been debating some switch lead alternatives (right-left-left, or left-right-left, or left-right-right?), and decided to re-establish my turnout-building skills yesterday by constructing a switch.

I also have my eye on the structures. The mine office showed up very early--the building with the two dormers--shown in the Colorado Artifactual image. It must have been modernized several times as it appears in most all the images through the 30s. I think this will deserve a model, along with the company houses (are they from Sears?) on the hill beyond.

One item that catches my eye is the building on the north side of the Climax office in the Artifactual photo--I see a door at the end and what seems like a track going into it. This is too small and too far south to be the wood engine house (surely it did not shrink with age?!?). Could this be a warming shed? Why else store a carload at this elevation?

[Chris Walker]

No Bait Sold Here, Keith.
The photo you refer to, I previously posted sometime ago, that was 1918 and before the mill extensions.....all will be revealed in my next post in this thread....I am just swamped with research atm, and have much to share.  

[Chris Walker]

Keith Hayes wrote

One item that catches my eye is the building on the north side of the Climax office in the Artifactual photo--I see a door at the end and what seems like a track going into it. This is too small and too far south to be the wood engine house (surely it did not shrink with age?!?). Could this be a warming shed? Why else store a carload at this elevation?

Maybe Keith, this will help...  Before there was a Wye track added.

[Keith Hayes]

Is that...a TURNTABLE?

[Chris Walker]

Given that the DSP&P had covered Turntables on Boreas and Alpine Passes, it would be logical there would be one on Fremont.  I'd opine that the UP were sworn off such a huge investment by that 1884 time.  Probably in part to the voluminous output of local Sawmills in that region supplying timber for the Mines.

The T.T. pit has been observed and mentioned somewhere else.  

This is just the first clear image of such. Will we see a backdated trackplan for Climax, I wonder?  The T.T. would make for more interest than the Wye.

A.I. purview has a different slant on the Shed; gets a little mixed up, construction-wise; perhaps it should re-read this thread.

[Keith Hayes]

Chris, there is an early photo of a distant wood building that has long been thought to be a covered turntable ala Boreas and Alpine. I figured that image was taken looking north and the building location is north of what became the Climax wye. I am now of the opinion that the view is actually looking south. The building appears on the valuation map and is marked, "engine house.'

The Artifactual image shows a square building north of the Climax office building. I noted that this appears to have a track leading to it, and a track door. In the image above, the building is gone, but there is now a turntable! Now I wonder if the two buildings are the same?

While I originally selected Leadville in part because of the turntable and roundhouse, I find these to be fussy features, really multiple models. The Leadville TT works, barely. I really need to scrape the pit, and get the mechanism to mechanically work, than re-scenic with a light touch. I think a wye is far more reliable operationally and the power routing is now easy with commercially-available circuit boards. There will be no turntable at Climax.