Modelling the Silica bunkhouse (aka coach/mail #41)

[Jeff Young]

Excellent write-up on the Richard B. Jackson train, Jim.  I enjoyed that.

In the pictorial supplement's "wrecks" chapter there are also some nice photos of a 1926 train that got delayed when it attempted a bit of a short-cut at Peabody (on Boreas Pass).  Interestingly, the consist was engine #9, an RPO/baggage (#10, 11 or 12), and a coach (#70 - 76) -- a "classic" post-1931 consist.  

(I considered the pictures being mis-dated, but engine #70 performs the rescue, still wearing its beartrap, which supports a pre-1931 date.)

While a messy history might confound our attempts to simplify, I suppose it does give us more flexibility in what we model.

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Ken Martin]

Jim,

No I don't know when the platforms were removed. The other thing I have noticed in pictures posted here is that #3 & #4 have not had the sheathing applied to the lower side yet. So you are probably OK without them for 1909-10.

Ken

[Jim Courtney]

Yes, Jeff,

Flexibility is the key word I guess, and that same flexibility allowed the railroad more efficiency as it made up passenger consists:  
The fewest cars to drag up and down three mountain passes and still get the work done on a given day.

I've misconstrued the presence of the RPO-coaches as due to the need to cut the RPO-coach off at Como, while the RPO route was limited to Denver-Como.  In truth, there is no reason the RPO-baggage cars 10-13 could not simply run through to Leadville with the RPO compartment locked and empty, the postal clerk working only Denver to Como and back.  But only if the baggage compartment was large enough to handle all the express merchandise between Denver and Leadville on that particular day.

During seasons where both express traffic and passenger density was light, a single RPO-baggage and single coach might suffice, leaving only 2 cars to drag through the mountains.

But if express business was brisk, requiring a full express car, the RPO-coaches would be added.  If passenger density was high on a given day, heavily weighted to Platte Canon stations, one or more coaches could be added to the consist of train 70 departing Denver, and coaches dropped off along the way, as the number of passengers thinned out along the westward route.  There are references of coaches being dropped off at Pine or Grant by the westbound train, before tackling the grades of Kenosha; eastbound train 71 could pick them up and return them to Denver the same afternoon. That could explain photos like this:


Pine c1920, coach set out on coal chute track.

I hadn't realized it before, but the C&S passenger train to Leadville could be operated a lot like a local freight, dropping and picking up cars along the way.

Your model of the RPO-coach/bunkhouse is turning out great! I agree, you should consider building an operating companion, so you'll have more flexibility in passenger consists.

[Jim Courtney]

Wow Ken,

That is one beautiful combine! Cars 29 and 30 were two of my favorite cars. I really want to build the number 30 for my rendition of the "Fish Train".

I'm getting a general sense from the many posts on this site, that things happened a lot earlier than we previously thought, with respect to modernization of the locomotive and rolling stock fleet (both freight and passenger).  A lot of the work previously described as mid-teens may turn out to just be compliance with USSA standards, the new construction and major remodeling having been done 5-10 years earlier.

As to the lower metal side sheathing, I read somewhere that the D&RG added sheathing to their head end cars in the mid-1920s--perhaps another Postal or ICC regulation at that time prompted such addition to all narrow gauge cars.

Thanks for sharing your photos. I don't think I've ever seen models of either the baggage or combine in any scale!

Jim

[Jeff Young]

Some final weathering, installation of the lightning rod (well, it's a lightning rod on my version anyway), and a bit of landscaping around the bunkhouse:



My version of Silica, as it currently stands (pardon the impostor; the #61 and #69 are both in the shop):