New Alpine Tunnel Book + Platte Canyon Construction Question...
Posted by chtrout on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/New-Alpine-Tunnel-Book-Platte-Canyon-Construction-Question-tp14818.html
For those of you who have not seen it yet, author Michael Brown has just published a new volume entitled "Across the Great Divide – the History of the Alpine Tunnel in Images," which if I understand correctly, just came out in September 2019.
The book consists of (128) pages, with only (4) pages involving any text, the rest simply being a compilation of various photographs and station layout diagrams, approximately 90% of which have been seen previously in other publications. The title is somewhat misleading in that the book actually covers the entire South Park line to Gunnison and beyond, and relatively few pages are dedicated to Alpine Pass and the tunnel itself. The reproduction values are fairly good, and the main positive point on this book is seeing all of these many photographs collected together in one volume. The gentle criticism I would make is that most captions only consist of several words at most, and very few photos are accredited to their original photographer, or to the collection from which they were derived.
The book is readily available on Amazon.com and other sources in paperback at about $18.95. I do recommend this book, but also recommend that you manage your expectations in terms of hoping to add any detailed information to your reference library.
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All that being said, I did see one photograph that is entirely new to me, and judging from the composition, I suspect it may be an enlargement from a portion of a larger view. It is simply described as "DSP&P construction train in the Platte Canyon." Due to the relatively low quality of the original photograph, or at least its published reproduction, it is difficult to make out many details, but it appears to be an early DSP&P engine pushing a flat loaded with equipment and construction workers, and pulling one or two staked-flats loaded with cross ties or bridge timbers. Due to the low quality and deep shadows, it is difficult to make out the wheel arrangement of the engine, and the smokestack may either be a Diamond or Nesmith stack (I lean towards the latter), and the location (conjecture only) may be just upstream from the "upper bridge" (a.k.a. Deansbury Bridge) as the tracks approach "Big Boulder."
As several random observations, I am not sure that it is actually an original construction train, since the track does not appear to be all that raw (fully ballasted and such), and this may simply be a westbound work train going to repair a washout or to upgrade an existing bridge.
Has anyone seen this photo before, and do you have a better copy?
Does anyone have contact information for author Michael Brown so that I might ask him about this photo?
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/New-Alpine-Tunnel-Book-Platte-Canyon-Construction-Question-tp14818.html
For those of you who have not seen it yet, author Michael Brown has just published a new volume entitled "Across the Great Divide – the History of the Alpine Tunnel in Images," which if I understand correctly, just came out in September 2019.
The book consists of (128) pages, with only (4) pages involving any text, the rest simply being a compilation of various photographs and station layout diagrams, approximately 90% of which have been seen previously in other publications. The title is somewhat misleading in that the book actually covers the entire South Park line to Gunnison and beyond, and relatively few pages are dedicated to Alpine Pass and the tunnel itself. The reproduction values are fairly good, and the main positive point on this book is seeing all of these many photographs collected together in one volume. The gentle criticism I would make is that most captions only consist of several words at most, and very few photos are accredited to their original photographer, or to the collection from which they were derived.
The book is readily available on Amazon.com and other sources in paperback at about $18.95. I do recommend this book, but also recommend that you manage your expectations in terms of hoping to add any detailed information to your reference library.
- - -
All that being said, I did see one photograph that is entirely new to me, and judging from the composition, I suspect it may be an enlargement from a portion of a larger view. It is simply described as "DSP&P construction train in the Platte Canyon." Due to the relatively low quality of the original photograph, or at least its published reproduction, it is difficult to make out many details, but it appears to be an early DSP&P engine pushing a flat loaded with equipment and construction workers, and pulling one or two staked-flats loaded with cross ties or bridge timbers. Due to the low quality and deep shadows, it is difficult to make out the wheel arrangement of the engine, and the smokestack may either be a Diamond or Nesmith stack (I lean towards the latter), and the location (conjecture only) may be just upstream from the "upper bridge" (a.k.a. Deansbury Bridge) as the tracks approach "Big Boulder."
As several random observations, I am not sure that it is actually an original construction train, since the track does not appear to be all that raw (fully ballasted and such), and this may simply be a westbound work train going to repair a washout or to upgrade an existing bridge.
Has anyone seen this photo before, and do you have a better copy?
Does anyone have contact information for author Michael Brown so that I might ask him about this photo?
Craig H. Trout
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