Just Couldn't Resist.....

[Chris Walker]

I just had to share this gem taken at the Arkansas Valley Smelter, Leadville, eh Keith!  What with all the recent posts on modelling Early rolling stock.

Note the prodigious output of Silver or Lead ingots, and the portable plant narra gauge and flattop.  The CRS Trust E Stock-on-Flatcar is also fascinating.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll21/id/6461/rv/singleitem/rec/27

[Geoff Hamway]

Thanks for posting this, Chris.  It's a great photo and a useful reminder that stock cars also had to earn their keep between stock rushes.

The D&RG had 400 of these little class 3 stock cars, some of which made their way to the Rio Grande Western and eventually the RGS.  Dr. Stears brought a beautiful quartet of them to the 2010 Narrow Gauge Convention, showing their corporate journey through different owners and lettering.  His work inspired me to build an Sn3 model of one of the RGS cars, kitbashed using a Leadville Shops frame and roof.  Building one was enough to convince me NOT to model the stock rush season!

Geoff Hamway

[Chris Walker]

And thank you Geoff, for that sweet model picture.

That era of using Flatcars to make additional rolling stock, the Stockcars on both the D&RG and DS~P&P and the CC with their Boxcar really was neat, well to me at least, sort of putting the 'ting in interesting.

[Jim Courtney]

Beautiful model, Geoff!

BTW, do you recall what you used for the stake pockets on the model?  I need something similar for a Litchfield C&S 26-foot flat car model.

[Geoff Hamway]

Thanks, Jim.  My stake pockets are a poor facsimile of the prototype, at best, but look OK at normal viewing distance (without my glasses on!).  For want of anything closer, I cut down PBL 562 stake pockets, using just the top portion.  I'm sure there are better ways to do them (3-D printing, perhaps?), but this worked OK for my purposes.  Hope that helps,
Geoff

[Robert McFarland]

One of these cars appears in image m00406 of the Kiersey collection.It is shown in the Buena Vista joint yards.

[Chris Walker]

Indeed Robert, it does.  

But that photo was cropped from the original and also shows a very interesting car corner that not of a Caboose, yet sporting a Markerlamp.

For those Modeller's,  notice that the stakepockets are differing per location, end pockets are different again.

Here's another shot taken showing more stockcars there, several with the newly applied letterboard.
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll21/id/6456/rv/singleitem/rec/3

[Keith Hayes]

Chris, what do you suppose c.f. the capacity of the wheelbarrow Is? One ingot, or two?

[Chris Walker]

Keith,

somehow I doubt the Irish buggy was used to shift ingots, more likely for something else.  However if it was, I guess two perhaps three.


Since the boys had a trainset for just such purpose

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/39103/rv/singleitem/rec/33

[Chris Walker]

And an indication of why I doubt the wheelbarrow was used, check out the treads on the flat top.  

That's done some valiant service right there. 150Lbs per bar ?  20  = 3000Lbs. or 200Lbs per bar = 4000Lbs now that would be a fair load for that car.  Ties are really closely spaced, lots of axlegrease, would have taken some shoving to get that around the sharp curve over the siding hence why the wheels are loose on axles.

[Keith Hayes]

Chris, what a great couple of photos!

The zoom in really shows what a licking that little car took. Note how much the wood is crushed under the near wheel! I am sure they figured there were a lot of ingots to move, so what was one more (or six!) at a time? (FYI, the cart in the second image also has the slotted wheels)

There are some other great details too: the incline on the right side of the image, and the short stretch of gutter over the shed roof above the track in the background!!

I also note in both images the abundance of slag carts and their buttons. Ragg's came out with some of these years back, and I picked up a few. Now I can see how to properly weather them and that putting the whole lot of the 2-3 kits I bought in one place (6-10 carts) has a prototype.

I also see the chinked log building similar to the one I bought last month for a small office building at the smelter.

No doubt this was a dirty, nasty place to work. Noisy too, I bet.

[Robert McFarland]

Notice the other one that is hiding in the upper left hand corner of the photo.

[South Park]

  C.R.S. Trust  ......   Can't Remember S#@t Trust ?  

[Keith Hayes]

Like this:


(CRS = Colorado Rolling Stock), courtesy of Dr. Sloan.

"A and B were built in 1880, B and C were active in 1881; D and E, 1882; and E was active into 1883." The first trust in 1879 was the Philadelphia and Colorado Equipment Trust.

[Keith Hayes]

And since I mentioned it,  I decided to get the kit out and build the office.

The chinked log effect is surprisingly easy to accomplish. Now that I have a sign panel, I guess I need to make a faded sign with ASARCO patched over it somehow. Hmmm.

[Chris Walker]

Yeah Keith, so long as those Slagcarts and buttons are in a Smelter scene: together, they wouldn't be anywhere else given the specific process to which they are part of.  Not necessary that the Smelter be a large one, Leadville had several of varying size and complexity.

I have this to share since it shows the end destination of the process.... and some more Stockcars for Robert.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll21/id/6455/rv/singleitem


There seems to be the onerous task of breaking up the buttons after being dumped, for what reason I have no clue.  In the initial post picture, to the left of the Stockcar was a steel flat that appears to be 4-wheel and carrying a group of slagcarts.  The destination is in the foreground of the enlarged picture, given the hook coupling on the car I'd say that Horse or Mule power would be used.  

Also of interest is the extreme left side loading ramp, this appears to have a pair of Screwjacks supporting the cap timber, to raise the height for various cars.  Details, details....more details.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll21/id/6461/rv/singleitem/rec/10



Another Smelter picture shows an awful amount of buttons being broken adjacent the buildings than further out at the dump.  This would require to be shovelled into dumpcars, a waste of time considering the button in one cart is easier to handle.  The only thought I have, would be that the broken buttons are returned to the furnace along with ore, coke and limestone to recover more valuable material perhaps?

[Jim Courtney]

So what do we think was the lading of the stock cars?

Coal inbound? There seems to be giant piles of (likely) coal on the other side of the track where the stock cars are spotted . . .

Ingots outbound? Doesn't seem to be very secure for valuable metals . . .

Was coke used in the smelting process at any stage? All that is black, isn't necessarily coal . . .

As Scotty would say, "I'm a doctor, not a metallurgist!"

[Chris Walker]

The Stockcars were used to carry other commodities, such as cut Lumber, Coal and Mineprops, why not ingots?  Coke was used in the smelting processes as were various quality Ores as flux.

Somehow I don't think these ingots, and they could easily be Lead not necessarily Silver, were going to be heisted very easily given the weight/bulk and who would suspect that rake of Stockcars was carrying such a valuable cargo?  The rake would be kept together, kept moving and not parked where a wagon could be backed up to unload from, I would think.

Besides Jim, the second picture does show doors shut, and some shiny objects visible directly over the Trucks. 

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll21/id/6456/rv/singleitem/rec/3

[Robert McFarland]

Somewhere in Mineral Belt #1 there is a photo of the Buena Vista joint yards.Among the cars in the yard are some flats with makeshift racks that make them resemble Bachman pulpwood cars.What would they have been used for?I would take it for granted they were headed for Leadville.

[Jeff Young]

The Mineral Belt cars probably were for coke.  It's very light for its volume, so you want to pile it higher than a normal coal car/gondola.