Silica

[Jeff Young]

Hi South Park,

It’s all highly compressed.  In real life the spur with the two coal cars should be a siding, joining back with the branch line in front of the bunkhouse.  

And below the cattle guard we’re all the way back at Waterton, so the un-finished line running off to the right is the mainline.  (It should be headed to Denver, but at this point my layout folds back around so that I can have continuous running.)

You probably noticed that Silica is also a mirror-image of the real one.  I also had to do this for Kokomo in order to get things to fit together.

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Daniel Frauenhoff]

Jeff, Norm and others,

Some additional information regarding the Silica branch you may or may not have seen;

Based on Colorado Railroad Company correspondence (a subsidiary construction company of the C&S) the Silicated Brick Company paid $10,000 dollars in three installments to said company as part of an arrangement to have the branch line built. These correspondences are exhaustively detailed in Dan Edwards' book 'A Documentary History of the South Park Line: Vol.4' p. 144-150.

Also in Mr. Edward's book, it is found that the Bolton Lime Quarry was known as the Frauenhoff Quarry upon commencement of construction of the quarry spur in 1912. Quoting from page 146: "Agreement between C&S and William Flick, contractor, for Flick to do the roadbed grading to extend spur track, approximately 2,550 feet in length to serve the Frauenhoff Quarry near Waterton. Work to begin by Nov. 6th and to be completed by Nov. 30, 1912."

Evidently then, sometime between 1912 and the drawing of the 1918 valuation maps, the quarry was sold and became the Bolton Lime Quarry. The 125' "Frauenhoff Spur" may have served as a loading point for livestock as the Frauenhoffs were also ranchers who lived nearby.

Also, I know what you're thinking! Though unfortunately I am not directly related to the Frauenhoffs mentioned above despite sharing a rather uncommon last name.

[Daniel Frauenhoff]

Also, a view of the siding and chute at Vincent. (Closeup from a Denver Water Photograph of Platte Canyon reservoir, November 30, 1926)

[Robert McFarland]

What gauge is the track in the foreground?

[Jeff Young]

Great stuff, Daniel.

Any more pictures of the area?

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Chris Walker]

Could be 18" or but most likely 24", given the relationship to the Sidestakes on the Coalcars behind.  Depending on the weight of rail used the look of gauge can change ie 20lb 24" gauge can look just like 12lb 18".  However the quarry operations tended to favour 24" due to lighter material and greater volumne with more generous clearances than hardrock underground mines.

Brilliant picture though.

[Daniel Frauenhoff]

Thanks for the feedback!

A portion of this Denver Water panorama shows the 12 span bridge over the South Platte. Date unknown.



Unfortunately, Waterton and the wye are not shown in the panorama. I know of no images that show any part of the Lime Quarry Spur or middle portions of the Silica branch.

In the greenbelt of my neighborhood, portions of the grade are still discernable. The photo below shows where a bridge once spanned a small drainage. My best guess is that is was around milepost 22.50.



Daniel

[Norm Acker]

Daniel,
Thanks for the information, it's very good! We live in the same neighborhood, I've walked that section of grade several times. When I first moved here in 2002, I walked the grade from the Bolton spur all the way up to the pond north of the ROW your photograph. I have a couple of digital pictures stashed away somewhere, I'll dig them up and get them posted. Unfortunately the "terraforming" of the new neighborhood to the northwest of our Village eliminated most of the grade down there. I believe that the color photograph of the scrapping train that looks to the south was taken on the curve to the south just past the Vincent spur. Great photo find, by the way. I had not seen that view before! And I'm glad to see the newer photo with the button herald gon. I didn't know that spur lasted that late on the branch.

The Frauenhoff/Bolton spur curved away from the main (at the base of the sledding hill by the tennis courts) to the West and continued to curve until it was parallel to the adjacent hogbacks and pointed nearly North. You can still see traces of the arcing grade in Google satellite photos. I believe that it ended up at the base of the steep sidewalk up to Village Circle west just above the greenbelt. That spur is clearly shown on the plans that we have at the CRRM. I have a copy on order, and I'll be glad to get it posted here when my back-ordered copy of the plan set comes in.

You don't happen to have a metal detector by chance? It would be interesting to see if we spikes or tie plates could be recovered from the old roadbed, and it would be good to meet you. I'd also like to see if I can contact the landowners of the remaining grade to the south from the new Intermediate school to see if it could be walked and photographed as well. I'll shoot some pics this afternoon of that area and post them.

Lastly, the some of the grade from the bridge over the canal was still walkable a couple of years ago as well, here's a picture looking to the West.  

Norm in Roxborough Village  

[Norm Acker]

Oops, it's early--I meant East

[Daniel Frauenhoff]

Norm,

While I do not own a metal detector, I would be very much interested to meet and investigate the grade further. I'd be interested in seeing your layout as well! I believe my email is linked to this account.

Your mention of contacting the landowners to walk the remaining grade reminded me of a curiosity I uncovered. While investigating Douglas County Assesor maps with such a purpose in mind I discovered that part of the original Silica ROW is owned by the BNSF! Here is a screenshot from the assessor's map:



http://apps.douglas.co.us/dcmaps/map.html?mapInstance=realProperty

The faint dark line is the former grade and the 100' wide property parcel obviously includes it. I can't imagine why the railroad would retain ownership of the land for so long but unless the Assessor made a mistake it would seem to be the case.

Daniel

[Jim Courtney]

I found another Maxwell contact print in my files, this time from an old negative from his collection (negative WB735--"Water Board 735??") dated April 22, 1911.  It appears to be of an unloading spur, further around the hill on the left, in the above photo of the bridge over the South Platte:



Freshly painted SUF boxcar number 8288 is only a couple of years old.

Maxwell notes the location as "Canon Spur".

[Jim Courtney]

Another Maxwell contact print of a "Water Board" negative, WB995:




Maxwell notes the location as "Water Board Conduit 7 Dam" and dates the photo as May 27, 1912.
This may well be in Platte Canyon above Waterton, not the Silica Branch, with the mainline west behind the structure.

An enlargement:




Left to right are SUF boxcar 8387, 1908 (Phase 2) boxcar 8130, Peninsular coal car 4569, a 1902 coal car, another Peninsular coal car.

[Jeff Young]

Great picture!  Pity there’s no skyline to try and infer the location from….

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Daniel Frauenhoff]

The second Maxwell print is almost certainly looking at Intake, roughly two and a half miles west of Waterton. Here is another Denver Water Company photograph showing the area from another angle on January 20, 1912, the structure in the center appears to be the same as in Jim's photograph.



Daniel

[Chris Walker]

Thanks Daniel for a confirmation on this location, the Maxwell photo is on pg32 of N.G.Pictorial V-VIII.
I had wondered if this was Intake siding but knew of no comparison pictures in what's accessible to me down here.  Another nailed down.
Do you have more from this source?

[Chris Walker]

There is another thread on Waterton that crosses over into information on the Silica Br. but I guess that this probably fits here better.



http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/64149/rv/singleitem/rec/547

[Daniel Frauenhoff]

Chris, while the majority of Denver Water photographs focus primarily on water works features (obviously) there are some gems here and there that include the railroad. Intake is relatively well covered so I can put up the rest of what I have; possibly in a new thread in the interest of keeping things organized.

[Norm Acker]

Daniel and group, I did a little poking around in my neighborhood using the Historical View feature of Google Earth, and the 2,550 foot Frauenhoff Quarry spur that Daniel mentioned can easily be seen in this 1955 aerial view. There is also a 1937 view that is pretty murky, so I chose this one. I have seen this long, curved spur on valuation maps at the CRRM, am still waiting for my copy to come in.

Amazing what one can find with the technology available today...

I know that both silica feldspar and limestone were mined in this area, but I wonder what was loaded into the coal cars at Frauenhoff? There is an open area now where the quarry was, I'll have to wander over there today to see if I can find a few chunks of rock to drop vinegar on to be sure...  

Norm
 

[Norm Acker]

Well, it must be Friday. Seems logical after a quick review of this thread that it was named the Bolton Lime Quarry in it's more recent incarnation. So there's my answer, and no vinegar required...