Re: Beaver Brook: The Devil is in the Details.

Posted by Rick Steele on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Beaver-Brook-The-Devil-is-in-the-Details-tp1903p1911.html

Chris,

Your supposition about the rotary versus harp stands may be true,  as they are definitely there during the UP ownership era. The rotary stands gave a bit more leverage, which was usually needed to throw heavier rail. We know that Platte Canyon wasn't relaid with heavier rail until the Trumbull Presidency on the C&S. Then it was relay rail from the old "Country Line" south of Falcon and some Main Line replacement on the Northern Division. So the heavier rail theory is out.

I just wonder if the damnable cold that occurred in Como was the reason for the harp stand replacement. They were cast iron and probably became brittle and broke during the winter, although the little used stands at Alpine Tunnel would seem to refute this. But the stands at the Tunnel were not used much and would have lasted longer at the tunnel as there was just a passing siding, engine house, and no yard to speak of.

Having used the Elliot stands on the Great Western Railway in Colorado, they were made mainly of forged and rolled steel. The throw handles were much more substantial than the Harp's Throw Rods, and they employed the notched table and center bar assembly like the modern Star switchstands. The difference with the Eliot is that they were attached to a single tie rather than to a pair of them. The construction of the Elliot stands was substantial with the weak points being the rivets that held the table to the legs and the long rivet (usually replaced by a bolt) that allowed the handle to pivot. I have seen some with a broken handle, but darned few of them.

Perhaps it was a difference in material that was the key and that the stands were a heavier duty replacement for the harps when the harps broke. There is still a harp switch stand on display in Rawlins, Wyoming next to their 2-8-0 on display there, so we know that this was not some wholesale replacement program on the part of UP.

Rick