On The Way West.

[Chris Walker]

Dome Rock  



Kenosha Hill

[Southpark]

Chris,  That Dome Rock image is a dandy.  Note those ties and little or no ballast in place.   Tom Klinger

[Chris Walker]

The rough, hand-hewn Ties I find most interesting, especially the bowed one.  Modeller's may note that not always did the flat surfaces have the ends chopped perpendicular or parallel.

Glad you liked it, Tom.....here's another.

[Jimmy Blouch]

In addition to being a great photo what caught my eye was the hand car.
Most likely transportation for the photographer.

Jimmy

[Chris Walker]

Jimmy Blouch wrote

In addition to being a great photo what caught my eye was the hand car.
Most likely transportation for the photographer.

Jimmy

Far more easier on the "help" than packing the glassplates down the track, safer too I guess.

[Chris Walker]

A little further West.  

[South Park]

What catches my eye (besides the crude ties and zero backfill
 around them - face it, the SP was never actually BALLASTED !)
is the SINGLE telegraph wire.

Am I the only one that ponders cabin life at 10,000 feet elevation,
especially how they kept themselves and anything else from freezing ?

[Robert McFarland]

Now somebody needs to find some pictures of Weston

[Chris Walker]

Robert McFarland wrote

Now somebody needs to find some pictures of Weston

Is that a hint, Robert?  

I'm thoroughly bogged down in Clear Creek Canon at the moment with some interesting(at least to me) obfuscating details of the C.C.RR past.

Yeah, I know...

[South Park]

Any of the line from Garos west to the Arkansas Valley
seems to have had a photo ban, with only a very few renegade
rulebreakers sneaking an occasional shot.  I would LOVE
to see any of this stretch during operation years.  A nice,
long four-engine freight pulling that tangent east of the
summit with a sharpness capable of huge enlargement
would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

[Southpark]

Am I missing it or is the depot not yet in place.  As far as the cabin on the left it looks like there is a double roof.  Lower roof covered with dirt and the "upper" roof to protect the dirt.  The dirt would be great insulation.  If you can get the inside warm those logs will hold the heat but at 15 degrees(F) inside it will take about 3 hrs to get to the point that the logs will not radiate cold.  That is how it is at our log cabin at 10500 feet near London Jct. anyway.  Great photo.
Tom Klinger

[Chris Walker]

Yes Tom, the Depot is there.  

Barely visible above the left log wall line, left of the stovepipe and level with the roof ridge line of the log barn.

[Chris Walker]

Another Hancock image for the DSP&P aficionados.

[Dave Eggleston]

Both Hancock photos are fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

Amazing to see just how much coal actually was loaded onto one of the platforms--every other shot I've seen shows far less coal--but here's one absolutely full, and with a full coal car nearby.

I wonder how much of that coal never saw the inside of a tender, walking off quietly at night to be burned in the cabins...

[Robert McFarland]

There is one photo taken at Hancock that showed the car that belonged to the man who built Alpine Tunnel

[Chris Walker]

Robert McFarland wrote

There is one photo taken at Hancock that showed the car that belonged to the man who built Alpine Tunnel

Robert,

this post? http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Passenger-car-paint-color-tp7073p7351.html

or perhaps this additional post? http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/025-again-tp8675p8731.html

[Doug Heitkamp]

Chris,

As Dave pointed out, what great Hancock pictures! I also like the lower one with the depot, dock, and cars. A lot of items to study in that picture. I'm sure Jim C. will be along any minute to tell us exactly which cars they are. (I greatly appreciate it when he does so!) Thank you for sharing such great pictures.

[Jim Courtney]

I'm sure Jim C. will be along any minute to tell us exactly which cars they are.

Funny you should say that, Doug--I spent some time last night trying to figure that out.

I think the coal car is one of the UP built 27' coal cars of 1882. We discussed them here:
http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/1901-Some-27-Foot-Coal-Cars-in-C-amp-Sn3-td18075.html

I'm not sure about the boxcar. My first thought was that the boxcar was one of the 26' Litchfield cars of 1879-1880. But the image isn't clear enough to tell whether the end fascia boards are straight (peaked) or have an arched lower edge, as on a UP built car. The lettering style, with the large DSP&P RR running the width of the end and what appears to be the same reporting marks centered on the door, with car number above, is discussed by Ron Rudnick as being a variation of the 1882-83 UP built 27' boxcars. (in Rudnick's DSP&P Modeling Guide). So I guess I will go with one of the UP built cars.

If my ID is correct, then the photo could be dated no earlier than summer or fall of 1882. Another view from the same time period is in Mal Ferrell's The South Park Line:


Morris Abbott Collection

Ferrell dates this latter photo as winter of 1883-1884, could possibly be the prior winter. This is still consistent with the locomotive wearing a Nesmith stack. The Congdon stacks seem to first appear at the beginning of 1884 (with the delivery of the Cooke locomotives). The Congdon stacks seem to be replaced by UP diamond stacks by 1886, a passing locomotive fad, though we model builders find them attractive. Anyways, that is my rough dating guide to photos of the early 1880s.

What a wonderful place Hancock was . .. and is.

[Robert McFarland]

Wye near the Water Tank?Double Header  with Mason Bogie and Consolidation?

[Dave Eggleston]

All evidence I've seen to date points to a wye at Hancock installed after the C&S took over, not before. I'm open to solid proof of one before that time but until them I'm a skeptic!