Thoughts on Roper's Snapshot Saturday No.30

[Chris Walker]

http://coloradosouthern.blogspot.com/2015/01/ropers-snapshot-saturday-no30.html

Hunting through endless snippets on Idaho Springs I happened upon a Prospectus for the Bertha Gold Mining & Milling Co and presto out popped this picture.  This is dated as you can see 1901.  Derrell dates Roper's pictures in the Grandt N.G.Pict#8 as 1905.



I'm intrigued!  Just what are the chances the same machinery load would arrive in Idaho Springs to be unloaded in the same spot I wonder?  and yes, I note the Flatcar is further west to line up with 15Th Street.

[Chris Walker]

and now for a Paul Harvey moment .....






Good Day

[Doug Heitkamp]

Chris,

That is a great find. I'm amazed at the info and pictures that keep popping up. That picture had me wondering - early couplers, pre safety appliance hardware, but a reweigh date of 10-11-07??? Seems a little late considering the other details or am I missing something?



Thanks,

[Doug Heitkamp]

Here is the picture that was posted on the "Colorado and Southern Narrow Gauge (and predecessors) History and Modeling" Facebook page. The image was colorized by Sean Mondout.



Enjoy!

[Chris Walker]

Hmmm, thanks Doug; appreciate your posts as usual.

#1049 reweigh date is 10 11 97: #4637 has 7  7  97 date on it, and the hoisting plant is brand new, Sean Mondout has it all rusty.

Something else: the Engine is a FairBanks-Morse so I'm thinking gasolene.

[Doug Heitkamp]

Chris Walker wrote

#1049 reweigh date is 10 11 97: #4637 has 7  7  97 date on it....

Yeah, I thought about that later, that it's a "9", not a "0"

[Jim Courtney]

Hey Chris and Doug,

We've had this discussion a few years back, about 5 years ago, but in B&W: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Modeling-Early-C-amp-S-Refrigerator-Cars-td7612i80.html#a8231

C&S 1049 was one of the 26 foot Litchfield flat cars originally built for the DSP&P, as delivered looked like this:




Sometime in the late 1890s (October, 1897??) the car was rebuilt with skinny side sills and reinforced with four truss rods on heavy queen posts, as it appeared in the Idaho Springs photo.

I've built 1049 in Sn3:




I tried to get the re-weigh date right. The type "B" trucks are stand ins, until I can assemble some Leadville Shops brass type A trucks. I haven't done a load yet, I'm thinking of 3 lengths of five-foot diameter pipe for the Gold Pan pipeline, like these:




Thanks so much for the colorized photo, Doug, it is spectacular!

[drgwcs]

Chris Walker wrote

#1049 reweigh date is 10 11 97: #4637 has 7  7  97 date on it, and the hoisting plant is brand new, Sean Mondout has it all rusty.

Going to say after playing around with several colorizations this week with less than satisfactory results- I am in awe of Sean's work- that may be more of a fluke of the program on the colors. (PS we share a lot of his stuff in the FB C&S group- he has a bunch of others in the FB Colorado mining and mines and the FB Georgetown and Gilpin groups)

When I saw the colorization I was thinking these items from Hobby Lobby (have some already that I am going to use as shieves in the Bobtail Mill when I ever get up to them) They are not exact but would aid in capturing the look of the load. Hobby Lobby has several of these types/ sizes of gears in their scrapbooking and jewelrymaking sections.





Jim Curran

[Dave Eggleston]

drgwcs wrote

Going to say after playing around with several colorizations this week with less than satisfactory results- I am in awe of Sean's work- that may be more of a fluke of the program on the colors.

It absolutely is tied, not a fluke, to the program he uses and to how he uses that program's settings.

Sean's colorizations are better than others I've seen on the various FB groups but colorization is seductive and can lull us into a belief of seeing things as they were. The programs aren't running on a database of "C&S and predecessor lines" color algorithms and can come up with some pretty weird coloring. Or, worse, incorrect just through sheer lack of knowledge on the part of the colorizer. It wasn't until comments were brought it up by the group on colorizations by a different person that the Tiffany cars and waycars didn't follow current factual findings, nor did engines. Because these images are easily shared (and were) they help cement misunderstandings. A blessing and a curse.

[drgwcs]

Dave Eggleston wrote

drgwcs wrote

Going to say after playing around with several colorizations this week with less than satisfactory results- I am in awe of Sean's work- that may be more of a fluke of the program on the colors.

It absolutely is tied, not a fluke, to the program he uses and to how he uses that program's settings.

Sean's colorizations are better than others I've seen on the various FB groups but colorization is seductive and can lull us into a belief of seeing things as they were. The programs aren't running on a database of "C&S and predecessor lines" color algorithms and can come up with some pretty weird coloring. Or, worse, incorrect just through sheer lack of knowledge on the part of the colorizer. It wasn't until comments were brought it up by the group on colorizations by a different person that the Tiffany cars and waycars didn't follow current factual findings, nor did engines. Because these images are easily shared (and were) they help cement misunderstandings. A blessing and a curse.

Agreed- they are what they are- kind of like the old colorized postcards that often were off in colors and sometimes done in places like Germany far from the original location. (I think I have seen about three variations of one Forks Creek photo in these postcards for example) I like the time machine feel that they give but they can not be trusted for true colors. I am not sure what program he uses. I tried a couple of online programs this last week to do some of my dad's pics of my home town and the Woolworth there and had some strange results on the colors so I do appreciate a little more now what they do with these.
Jim