Wood trestles, bridges and grades

[Ken Martin]

At the 2012 DSP&PHS meet in Bailey we got in and saw the bridge at Estabrook.

Ken Martin

[Ken Martin]

There were also pyramid capstones on the bridge at Romley. I took this picture of one in the dirt below the bridge.
It would seem this was a standard feature on South Park bridges, at least in Chalk Creek.

Ken Martin

[Jim Courtney]

Wow, Ken, great photo!

I have a couple of Cimarron Works kits for these bridges in Sn3.  If I can ever manage to even semi-retire, I hope to build a model of the two span bridge at Pine Valley c1909.

Jeff, maybe your should go back and re-title your original post for this thread as "C&S Wood Trestles and Bridges".  I never mean to hijack a thread but perhaps we could continue posting more photos of these wood structures here, perhaps a comprehensive photo compilation for future reference.

In that spirit, I will repost this photo by Dr. Scott of the Selkirk trestle, c 1900-1902:



Jim in the still raining Pacific NW

[Chris Walker]

I've been busy, but when checking this thread at lunchtimes I can't help but choke on this RGS content.  

Probably the best illustrations of CC/C&S tall Trestle handiwork I have seen.

Bridge #61 39ft high Mountain City (Packard Gulch)


http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/71186/rv/singleitem/rec/10

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/74688/rv/singleitem


http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/69910/rv/singleitem/rec/2


And the lower Switchback, Bridge #57

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/76187/rv/singleitem/rec/18


http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll21/id/12602/rv/singleitem/rec/363
 

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/69884/rv/singleitem/rec/3


http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/76180/rv/singleitem/rec/10


http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/70878/rv/singleitem/rec/2

[Jim Courtney]

OK, Chris, I promise no more RGS stuff. Would hate to make you choke, you're much too far away to administer the Heimlich maneuver! So from now on, only C&S material.

Since you've well covered the Central City switchback trestles (talk about your girts!), lets move over to the other side of Boreas Pass and take in some trestles.

A lady named Maureen Nichols, in 1994,  put together a photo history of the Gold Pan Mining Company's operations in the Breckenridge area:




It is a fascinating read.  I don't know if it is still in print, but copies of the book turn up on Amazon from time to time.  Unless otherwise noted, all the photos in this post are from her book.

The C&S had two major wood trestles in the Breckenridge area, the crossing of the Blue River, near the Gold Pan Pit, and the crossing of the upper part of Illinois Creek, as it climbed the grade to Rocky Point:




1.  The Crossing of the Blue River



This is the earliest view I've seen of the C&S bridge over the Blue, c1902.  The Gold Pan Pit is just beginning construction, the sluice boxes to divert water from the pit are in place. It is not clear whether hydraulic mining in the pit is yet underway. The Gold Pan shops are in the center background. Above the shops, the C&S grade climbs Ford Hill.



 
A bit later, the elevator trestle, to remove gravel from the pit, is under construction.  Men are trying to keep the Blue River in its channel, flowing under (not around) the C&S trestle.




The Gold Pan gravel elevator is complete in this view.  The gravel from the pit is overwhelming the Blue River and the C&S bridge.  Henceforth, gravel from the pit will be hauled up the elevator and dumped, creating a huge gravel fill around the elevator.




A view of the C&S trestle over the Blue from the completed Gold Pan elevator.

The Gold Pan Pit is to the left.  Large boulders from the pit were pile to the right.  The C&S tracks crossed beneath the elevator trestle, immediately after crossing the Blue River trestle.

The Blue River appears to have been diverted though a long wooden flume, crossing under the C&S trestle's far right span.




This late 19teens view shows a C&S freight crossing the Blue, heading east from Breckenridge, toward the Boreas grades.  The Gold Pan Pit has been abandoned.
 
The Gold Pan elevator trestle has been completely filled with extracted gravel. Would make a nice scenic divider for a model railroad scene, wouldn't it? One bag of cat litter should do the trick for HOn3, maybe two bags for Sn3.

The boulder pile is to the right center, the Gold Pan Shops (now the Tonapah Placers Shops) is in the background. Illinois Gulch is in the right distance.


2.  The Gold Pan Trestle

The C&S tracks, above the Hook Eye curve, crossed the upper part of Illinois Gulch on one of the few tall C&S trestles (I haven't a clue why it was named the "Gold Pan trestle"):



C&S Photo, in Digerness, Mineral Belt II, page 130.

In this 1929 view, the trestle is viewed from upgrade, near Rocky Point.  Our friend, the 1929 Denver Water Board special is visible in the far distance, descending N-word Hill. Wonder how the company photographer got back to the train?



Richard Jackson photo, in Colorado Rail Annual No 12, page 237

The last motive power movement from Dickey, as in the color view on the Discussion Forum main page, crosses the Gold Pan trestle heading for Como for the last time.



Richard Kindig photo, in Digerness, The Mineral Belt II, page 131.

The scrapping train crosses the Gold Pan trestle in 1938. The third bent from the left appears to have a very short second story.



3. The Other Gold Pan Trestle

The Gold Pan Shops, before the company's hydroelectric plant was constructed, ran with steam powering the machinery, fueled by coal. To facilitate coal delivery by the C&S, a large coal unloading trestle was built behind the shops:






Note the stock car being used to haul coal. The C&S mainline, is at the bottom right corner of the map.

[Robert McFarland]

Am I imagining things or is the smokebox door open on that photo with the Porter with the three car train?

[Jeff Young]

The Gold Pan Pit is now Maggie Pond, but there are still 3 trestle bents in the Blue River where it exits the pond.



Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jim Courtney]

The scenery at the crossing of the Blue certainly has changed, hasn't it!

Jim

[South Park]

  Oh yeah, ...  and SO MUCH BETTER NOW !

[Chris Walker]

I'm sure a Native American would have said the same thing looking at the Gold Pan rockpile and the Dredgescape all the way down the Blue.

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/2505/rv/singleitem/rec/33


Jim,
are we looking at a smaller trestle crossing a tributary just past the siding to the Shops?

[Jim Courtney]

Well, Chris, according to the Gold Pan Map at the top of my last post, that would be Illinois Creek.

Amazing, never noticed the coal trestle at the Gold Pan Shops in this photo before!

[Chris Walker]

On your map from Gold Pan Shops booklet, there is also a roadway crossing and the Illinois creek which appears closer to the crossing of the Blue; the photo from DPL is later I think, after the rockpile has accumulated.  I wondered if the creek been shifted due to the Gold Pan pit operation, that's all.

Not surprising there was a coaling trestle, given the scale of the operation.  It is somewhat reminiscent of the same at the Old Town mine on the Gilpin Tram.

[Jeff Ramsey]

Found this image while researching machine tool technology yesterday in Google Books; "Colorado NM UT NV WY AZ Gazetteer & Business Directory 1884-1885". Could have Wm. E. Edon designed, engineered and be contracted to build the trusses at Buffalo, Eastabrook, Mt. Princeton and near the Cascades? His offices would have been very close to the DSP&P's West Denver Shops.





 

[Jeff Ramsey]

There is a image that shows the trestle at the loop in Halls Valley in "Going Railroading" by M. Cole of a derailment of a stock car consist at this location, circa 1910 and shows a most unusual dry stone abutment. Wish my book collection was not in storage.

[Chris Walker]

Thanks Jeff, even that view doesn't define the depth of the watercourse there.  In that view there is some sort of spreader bracing not far below the Bent Caps of the two central Bents.  

[Jim Courtney]

Jeff,

Is this the photo you mentioned, on page 109 of Goin' Railroading?





The caption with the photo describes the trestle location as Trout Creek Canon in 1910.  Do we know for sure of the location?

Jim

[Jim Courtney]

Here is a picture from the same booklet, taken from the top of the Gold Pan Shops:





The Breckenridge to Alma road is just to the right of the shop building, disappearing into the distance. The little bridge over what I think is Illinois Creek is at the bottom right corner, though the creek, again, seems to have been redirected with a flume.

The closest track is the C&S mainline, the distant track is a long temporary spur built for the construction of the Gold Pan Pit.

Behind and parallel to the two tracks is the Gold Pan pipeline, which again looks more like a flume. Illinois Creek may well run between the Gold Pan spur and the pipeline, judging from the little road bridge with railings.

The spur to the elevated coal trestle is at the bottom left.

The location of the little bridge over Illinois Creek on the map looks in error to me, it seems pretty close to the shops.  The road crossing in your winter of 1929 view is covered with snow and not discernable.

Jim

[South Park]

Jeff,

Is this the photo you mentioned, on page 109 of Goin' Railroading?
(see photo above)
The caption with the photo describes the trestle location as Trout Creek Canon in 1910.  
Do we know for sure of the location?

Jim
Jim Courtney
Poulsbo, WA

============================

  Note the number of wires present - 4

  Prior to 1919, the South Park main from Denver to Como was 4 wires, with two going
over Boreas, and two going west toward Buena Vista.  I don't think there were ever 4 wires
going over Trout Creek Pass until the WU rebuild of 1919 put two arms full of glass and
wires all the way from Denver to Buena Vista.

  I would say, by the look of the mountainside in the background, the hard curve with bridge,
and the presence of a 4-wire telegraph rules out anywhere west of Como and makes this look
a whole lot more like Hall's Valley than anywhere else along the line that I can think of.

[Jeff Ramsey]

Yes Chris, Jim and South Park, that is the one, I realized this after visiting the site in Halls Valley and seeing that the unusually high dry stone abutment is still there. In the image it looks like the horizontal timber braces were formally outside guardrails from another trestle as they have been notched for ties. I was actually kind of disappointed that this image is mislabeled and was not in Trout Creek. I wonder if the reason of this derailment was the result of to many brake pressure retainers being set to high? What a great place to visit  and someday I will try to post some images of the site someday as soon as the snow melts.

[Jim Courtney]

I found this John Maxwell print in my files of the Hall's Valley trestle, west of Webster.

It is only a couple of years after abandonment, dated June 3, 1940.



Maxwell negative number 99.