Fifty Gold Mines Mill Car Loader.

Posted by Chris Walker on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Roof-Hatches-Mill-Car-Loader-and-Bumping-Tables-tp19659p19647.html

Jim,

I hate to pour cold water on your discovery but on reflection of several factors I'd be rather sure it wasn't for loading the "roofhatch" Boxcars.  I do realise we all strive to find validation in our model world, done it myself back in the day.  

That photo DPL X-2052 is early, after construction of the last Mill on that site.  Later photos of the Mill show the apperatus removed, the last use was 1935 according to The Gilpin Railroad Era  by Abbott and McCoy: see pg 277.  The Roofhatch car(s) were up Clear Creek (DPL OP-6260) in 1939 and(DPL OP-6282) in 1941, long after severance of a Leadville connection and the(probable) traffic use specifically for the Climax Mill expansion.

Your concentrates image(DPL X-60603) is taken inside the Clear Creek Mill at Empire(Jct); I didn't at the time see the need to include it: see http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Silver-Mountain-Mill-At-Empire-Station-tp18080.html 
I had written the DPL after the Silver Mountain Mill article to update their caption correcting the stated location of those photos taken there but they didn't action it for some reason still listing it as being at I.S.

Your modelling efforts in compressing the Fifty to avoid going broke on detail castings is admired. fwiw.