Re: C&S Water Tank at Blackhawk, December 11, 1913.

Posted by rtoahd on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-Water-Tank-at-Blackhawk-and-the-Three-Bent-Water-Tanks-tp11993p14154.html

First time poster here (occasional poster on the NGDF), fan of the South Park for the last 60 years.  I'll give my 2 cents worth of opinion to the photo of #73 hauling the empty flat cars for the scrap train and the discussion of the Hoosiers tank in this thread.  I believe the footings in the stated picture are the footings for the Hoosier Tank.  It took me a long time to find the location of this picture as it looks today.  It is not near the top of Kenosha Pass, rather it is the stated distance (or close to it) as listed in Mac Poor's DSP&P book station list via the railroad from Kenosha.  The rock cut behind the caboose is one (I believe) where Richard Jackson took a picture of C&S #9 pulling a passenger train in the mid 30's a year or two or so before abandonment.  That picture is in the Pictorial Supplement.  It makes sense that if he was chasing trains it would have been a good location to get a picture.  He could park on the state road shoulder and not walk far to get a picture with decent scenery and no roads in it.  Today US285 has obliterated the rock cut the railroad went through, cutting it back to make room for it's pavement.  It then occupies the railroad grade through this location several feet above the the original grade, burying the Hoosier tank footings in the process.  The old state road still shows scars on the west side of the present highway.  What really nails the location is the hills and mountains in the background, they look the same as they did 80 plus years ago when the picture of #73 was taken.  Also the topo maps posted in this thread further cemented my opinion of this location, I'd never seen then before.  I took a picture of this location in the same direction and location as the original, but I'll be ----- if I can find that picture now.  Unfortunately I don't have any of my reference materials with me since I'm at work in New Mexico and live in Aurora, CO otherwise I could have given page numbers, exact dates, etc.