Time For A C&S Quiz: Where?

[Chris Walker]

Think Industrial Railroading  note the Switchstand, not your usual eh!

image from the good folks at DPL http://digital.denverlibrary.org/ picture link on successful identification.

[Keith Hayes]

Idaho Springs?

[South Park]

  I would recognize that pole shadow and barrel stack anywhere !

  It's the Lippman Reduction Works spur on the Hogwaller Branch !  

[Darel Leedy]

Lol  Next clue please.

[Chris Walker]

Darel Leedy wrote

Lol  Next clue please.

OK   Track laid through here in 1884 but this industry not developed here until after t-o-c.

[Darel Leedy]

Gold Pan?

[Keith Hayes]

Breck? That is a nice, modern chain link fence with security wire on the top. Also a nice collection of stored material at the perimeter. And check out those grade crossings!!!

[Darel Leedy]

Yes that fence has bothered me. But his clue that it was "built through in 1884" has me thinking it has to be on the high line. But a security wire? Hmmmm

[Chris Walker]

Great picture huh!!!  I'd elaborate but I'm 403'd out of the DPL tonight, since it is the weekend maybe they do maint. over there at this time??

Gold Pan nope!

changed browser's.....

I'm practically giving this away with those clues....
 
a little further along the siding,

[Jim Courtney]

Climax, perchance?

The spurs at the end of the wye, near the Moly mill?

Not many places survived to include areas of chain linked fence . .

[John Greenly]

Is it possible that this train is heading for your mystery place?




John

[Jim Courtney]

I believe this is the same spot, from a different angle:





The flat car with I-beams, the chain link fence and barrels all appear to be the same.

[Chris Walker]

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/36914/rv/singleitem/rec/37


Told ya I was giving it away with those clues .....   I was going to add the side view found by Jim but that was a dead giveaway.

[Jim Courtney]

And here's the companion photo:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/36904/rec/32

[Keith Hayes]

Is this a strong hint?

[Jim Courtney]

Well, you did ask once, what the track arrangement was at Climax:


http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/4533/rv/singleitem/rec/107

DPL dates the photo as 1936: View of the company mining town of Climax, (11,320 feet) Fremont Pass on the Continental Divide, Lake County, Colorado; shows molybdenum mining operation structures, ore car trestles around the frozen tailing ponds, the mill, Colorado and Southern station number 1147, depot section house, railroad cars on tracks, stacks of lumber, and water tower; background includes East Fork Arkansas River Valley, Bartlett Mountain mine scar, Mount Arkansas, and Prospect Mountain.


Looks pretty simple. Siding to the west of the main (foreground), used for car storage of incoming construction materials. Wye to turn helpers to the east of the main. The tail track of the wye is the stem of the long spur that travels east into the mill complex. From the various construction photos on DPL, there appear to be a couple of short spurs at the end of the tail track, like a trident. Chris's photo shows the middle and north branches within the rapidly growing mill complex.

The short spur coming off the south side of the wye tail is hiding in Chris's photo above:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/36914/rv/singleitem/rec/37



Might be a good scene to model in a deep walk-in closet or alcove. Run the main and siding across the front of the door with the wye and mill at the back of the closet? Perhaps a duck under to let you use part of the closet for an operating pit for switching the mill. I guess a corner could also be used.

You'd certainly be able to model some very large structures . . . with lots of corrugated metal and concrete.

[Chris Walker]

Sort of .... Keith.

I guessed sooner or later you would get around to thinking about Climax, call it a pre-emptive strike,  just in case you asked if Stub switches were used there


So with that in mind, I thought I'd have some fun and stimulate the conversation around here at the same time.

[Jeff Young]

I wonder if they got much tourist traffic for those roller-coasters? ;)

[John Greenly]

Jeff Young wrote

I wonder if they got much tourist traffic for those roller-coasters? ;)

...and with an extra added thrill of fear of falling into a poisonous tailings pond, what an attraction!!

John

[Keith Hayes]

Hint taken, Chris and Jim.

I based my layout roughly on a plan developed by Dave Adams for his On3 model which features Chama and Cumbres. It is a sort of staging loop and out with a branch that comes off the tail of the Cumbres wye and features the Floresta coal breaker as an industry.

I operated on a local layout that was set along the AT&SF's Oklahoma lines and featured the quarry where the Santa Fe got their ballast. One of the jobs was to run the trains with the cut of cars for the crusher. The cars would accumulate in one yard, and you had to scoot out to the industry, switch the cars, coordinate with the Dispatcher for time on the main, and get back to the terminal. The quarry consumed a rather large number of cars.

For some time, I have contemplated Floresta as a similar operation: it is part of the reason why I embarked on the project to build ten Phase I coals. Floresta was at the end of a branch west of Crested Butte and included a large coal bin. The yard there was four or so tracks with a small stub yard (and turntable) to store empties. In the day, I suspect a loco and crew were solely assigned to this mine. The track plan is neat with a main and runaround and several tracks at the tipple. In my scaled down version, I figured six empties would be stored in the yard, and six more cars would be spotted at the breaker. The train would bring in six more cars, and you have to figure another six cars are "out in the world." If my math is right that is at least twenty four coals just for this one industry! And it does not count the occasional boxcar of supplies, or a passenger cars to take the boys into town for an evening.

For the track at the top of the pass, the plan at Cumbres has a lot to like. It has a main and passing track, and the wye is included in a clever way with a long leg: and there is that house track where crews would stash tank cars as they doubled the hill. The track configuration on the C&S passes is much more simple by comparison, likely influenced by substantially less traffic. Each of the passes has a siding and a wye. Done.

Now Climax has an industry off the tail track. So far the photos are appealing, but does anyone have more detail. I figure there must be a main and siding for runaround moves, as it appears all the switch jobs are facing moves. Or, would the train set on the main, and the loco would run around? Studying track plans in the mags, I am astounded how many plans lack a passing siding for a run-around. Are there any tracks with trailing points for variety? I forget whoever said it, but Climax is full of large buildings with corrugated metal. It will consume boxcars in and out, coals (with those loads of timbers!), flats and maybe a tank of gas. And I guess I should start stocking up on stripwood for those roller coasters! Also, this will set above my helix, and a line of company houses (are those from Sears, or Monkey Wards?) stretching along the ridge will make a nice view block.

But seriously, if you all can get your palms on a track layout, that would be a big help. I have a space that is about 24" deep by 80" long. I am starting to get excited about this project--after the convention.