What is this?

[Jeff Young]

OK, here's Silica ca. 1941.  The core of the lime kiln is in the background.  But what is the (presumably silver) duct-work object in front of the boxcar in front of it?

[Keith Hayes]

Jeff, I suspect it is some kind of ventilator or blower that is part of the loading system? I am guessing that the lime is powdered, so if you had a means of blowing it into the car, that would reduce the labor of loading considerably.

I wonder if this is the silo that remains today near the entrance to Roxborogh State Park?

[Chris Walker]

Wow, I didn't have any idea where that Kiln actually was, would have gone to have a look if I had.  Hopefully I can again in 2017.



As for the Cyclone, it looks portable, I had wondered if it was for bagging the product before placing said bags in the Boxcar.  As there is other facilities, stockpile of material nearby, it seems to be a rather odd setup.  Blowing powered product into a Boxcar would be better than shovelling/barrowing.  Seems odd that this wasn't done inside a building to me then the bags barrowed across a loading dock.  

Were the number of carloads of bagged product only a small part of the output?  The greater number of highsiders there indicate to me that there is a predominance in shipping a granulated product rather than powdered.  I doubt the C&S reached any reasonable speed to allow the product to be blown off the carloads either.  Hard really to draw a conclusion.  

[Jeff Young]

Well, the lime kiln was built to process limestone mined nearby, and then combined with the silica mined on site to make lime bricks.  I don’t think lime was ever shipped out.

The brick factory failed in 1916.  The site was bought in 1919 by a local rancher, who re-opened only the silica quarry.  Given that this picture is from 1941, it’s hard to imagine any machinery from the brick factory still being in reasonable shape.  (It doesn’t appear to be cast iron, and I don’t think they used stainless for that type of thing back then, so it’s longevity shouldn’t have been very good.)

Note also that the silica comes from the Dakota Hogback, which is sandstone.  So it’s not even in sand form yet, but rather coal-sized lumps of sandstone.

I wonder if the rancher is also loading/unloading some form of ranch product here?

[Jeff Young]

BTW, for anyone interested in further info on Silica and the Silicated Brick Company, there’s a wealth of info in the Landmark Application for the lime kiln:

http://www.roxhistory.com/uploads/2/4/1/2/24129156/silicated_brick_co.pdf

(Except for anything about what this dang alien spaceship is, anyway.)

[Chris Walker]

Couldn't find a pic of similar loading that I thought was relevant, here's a google "modern" set-up of the same thing.



In the 70-80's we used to run 40 miles to a Limeworks, that put out hundreds of 15 ton wagonloads per day in the season.  This crushed limestone was used as fertilizer, there was a similar cyclone at the loading sheds, only on the rarest occasions was some bagged and put in Boxwagons.  FWIW.

I'd say it would have been of Galvanised steel only stainless was needed for Foodgrade products and that only came about in the EU paranoia in the late 80's.  

Another thought as this has to be towards the very end of rail service, has the quarry upgraded its facilities to facilitate the switch to trucks, some thing I saw all too often here.

[Keith Hayes]

I had no idea the C&S was extended that far south. I thought the kiln was a silo. Yet another mystery solved!

The fan structure is galvanized.

[Jeff Young]

And it’s standing in front of boxcars, something I hadn’t really internalized earlier.  The broken sandstone (silica) is the only thing produced by the quarry at this point in time, and it’s shipped out in coal cars:


http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/42642/rec/1

Aside from labor the only input should be explosives, and I can’t imagine them needing a couple of boxcars worth for such a small operation.  

So the rancher must be either bringing in something non-quarry-related, or shipping it out.  I think the presence of the quarry, derelict lime kiln and razed brick factory are possibly all red herrings here.

There's also this contraption at the level crossing:

[Chris Walker]

Jeff Young wrote

There's also this contraption at the level crossing:

Motorcar/Speeder/Trolley/Jigger, depending where you sit in this world.    Coinciding with possibly a loading bank (truck dump?) behind it to make it look impressive.   Sectionmen often used Xings to get "off-track".


http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/76858/rv/singleitem/rec/54

[Jeff Young]

Ah yes, I think you're right: there are two different things there.  

There's a very light track in the foreground of this picture, the right end of which probably goes to the unloading facility.  I wonder if the left end curves around to the trestle feeding the top of the lime kiln?  (The quarry behind the factory is the sandstone/silica quarry; the limestone and coal for the lime kiln came from "nearby", but I don't know what the transportation method was.)

[Keith Hayes]

Jeff, with the sheet metal being shiny, could it be that the device was just shipped from Denver?

Nice pop car portrait, Chris.

And don't forget that cattle guard!

[Jeff Young]

> And don’t forget that cattle guard!

He he.  That’s actually why I have that picture:



And while we're on that subject, my lime kiln is coming along nicely too:

[Jim Courtney]

Jeff,

Do you have a date for the wonderful photo of Silica with the string of coal cars?

The nearest coal car looks to be a Peninsular 3 board coal car in the block lettering scheme (extra stake pockets between each side stake); the far end has been removed but the near end is intact.  I was wondering if it was one of the 4600-4616 drop end rebuilds, suggesting that one of the Peninsular cars survived in service as one of those rebuilds into the 19twenties.

Any car number visible on your photo?

BTW, great modeling. The brick space ship kiln is really coming along!!  And let's see that water tank hiding in the background, too.

Jim

[Jeff Young]

Hi Jim,

The photo’s attribution is “circa 1910”.  I don’t have the original, so I’m no help on the car number.  (I believe the original might be in the Roxborough State Park’s archive, though, so I might see if I can view it one summer when I’m over there.)

Chees,
Jeff.