The Great Wall of Como

[Robert McFarland]

One thing that shows up in several photos of Como in the 20s and 30s but doesn't seem to have been commented on is the wall east of the roundhouse addition.DPL photos X-7523 and X-7514 show it from the east.It would seem parts of it were made from old roundhouse doors.OP-6044 shows 8 and OP-6095 shows 69 parked north of the wall.Z-6055  shows the Depot and the wall and snow fence.

[Chris Walker]

Robert,

only X-7514 shows the Wooden Extension to the Roundhouse, all the others are after the 1935 Fire.  Note in X-7523 there is also no Dispatchers office.  No smoke jacks present in your Otto Perry pics either.

[Robert McFarland]

Thanks for pointing out the Roundhouse extension and Dispatcher's office are gone in the later picture.Note the differences in the wall/fence in the two pictures.In some of the pictures there is a snow fence  panel,too.In the picture of 69 there is another locomotive in the distance.

[Todd Hackett]

You must be referring to the fence that extended north-east from the corner of the roundhouse. This may have been built to keep passengers from wandering into the turntable/roundhouse area from the depot.

Here's a photo of it before the fire. It is somewhat open with big gaps between horizontal slats. This may have been a snow fence, but I suspect the construction was either to allow people to see through it, to reduce wind load, or possibly just to reduce the amount of wood needed.


This one is after the fire, and the fence is more solid (from some of the DPL photos, it may have have had the slats with spaces farther to the left - that part may pre-date the fire, and the solid fence may be filling the gap where the wood stalls had been). The gaps probably had gates at one time.


I suspect that Kindig climbed this fence to get this photo from July 31, 1938:


I tried to duplicate it a few years ago, and even standing about 4 feet above the ground on a ladder holding the camera over my head, the closest I got was this:


From this blended composite, you can see that the background mountains are lined up, but the offset gets more substantial for objects closer to the camera. I doubt that Kindig brought such a large ladder with him, so the fence seems a logical vantage point.

[Jeff Young]

Great effort on “updating” Kindig’s photo!

I’m surprised that so many of the houses in the background have changed.  (It’s not like Como has been a thriving boom-town since.)

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Robert McFarland]

I hope that when they relay track in the Station/Eating House/Roundhouse area that it will follow actual surveyed locations of original track.

[Todd Hackett]

Robert McFarland wrote

I hope that when they relay track in the Station/Eating House/Roundhouse area that it will follow actual surveyed locations of original track.

I'm sure that if you volunteer to survey the correct route, they would follow your survey to the extent practical.
As I understand, the plan is to only build one track and just from the depot to the roundhouse, not the complete yard nor even all the switches along the one track. Without re-building the entire yard as it existed at some point in time when the railroad was operating (which isn't even remotely feasible at this time), historical accuracy is going to be limited at best.
The only detailed survey I know of is the station map from the ICC survey in 1918. The following map was traced from this survey, and placed over the aerial view from Google Maps. As you can see, things don't match up perfectly. If one was to follow that survey referenced to the center of the turntable, the track would be way too far in front of the depot. It's also likely that the mainline would pass through the storage building, or at least through their driveway.
Following the visible remains of the roadbeds and using the ICC map as a guide is likely to result in a more accurate alignment that simply following the survey details on the map.

[Robert McFarland]

Todd,I'm talking about following actual ROW as opposed to just laying track where people feel like it.

[Robert McFarland]

Figuring the wall behind the storage building is whats left of the Stone Garage,and it dates from about 1884,there couldn't be any ROW through it but photos show it coming pretty close.

[Chris Walker]

Impressive Portal to the Past, Todd.  Very impressed I am, thank you for doing that.

[Robert McFarland]

Chris,could you please post X-7523 and X-7514 focusing on the board wall?

[Chris Walker]

Certainly...

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/5113/rec/1


http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/5109/rec/1

[Robert McFarland]

Thank you.

[Jeff Ramsey]

That is interesting Todd as I have tried to line up ICC maps with modern Terrasever satalight imagery as with many other satellite images. They just don't match exactly. ICC map error?

[Todd Hackett]

Jeff Ramsey wrote

That is interesting Todd as I have tried to line up ICC maps with modern Terrasever satalight imagery as with many other satellite images. They just don't match exactly. ICC map error?

I have had mixed results. In most places the ICC maps have lined right up with aerial images. I think that they were more concerned about showing all of the yard tracks at Como than getting the exact placement correct. On other maps, I have found mainline track and railroad structures to line up, but non-railroad features (roads, streams, structures) to be less accurate except where they cross the railroad. The one stretch of mainline grade that I found to not match the photos very well was from the Alpine Tunnel west portal to Quartz, which was not in service at the time. It did match well from Quartz to Gunnison and up Ohio Creek.

[Todd Hackett]

I understand that the track work in Como will start this Saturday, July 18 with hopes to build about 100 feet of track in front of the depot and one switch (the one near the South end of the depot). The plan is to have a second work day the following Sunday, July 26 if needed. I plan to be there around 9:00 Saturday morning. This is your opportunity to get your hands dirty and help to bring track back to Como!

I will post any updates I hear about.

There are more details on the Como Depot's Facebook page.

[Todd Hackett]

I got confirmation from the organizer, Pat Mauro, that the track work session is on for this Saturday with work expected to start at 10:00 am.

[Jeff Ramsey]

Perhaps some day around 2038.

[Jeff Young]

Some snaps from Saturday:

[Todd Hackett]

Jeff Young wrote

Some snaps from Saturday:

And one more. The next work session will be next Sunday, July 26 starting at 10:00 am. Even though the restaurant is not open this season, David opened up for the volunteers and provided an excellent lunch. I know that at least four of the people who were there last week won't be available on Sunday, but there may be some others who couldn't make it on a Saturday who will. We could still use more bodies. This is your chance to drive a few spikes! I would really like to see enough track finished by August 22 that I can run my handcar here on level ground instead of fighting the grade at Rocky Point.