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JAMIE'S RANDOM AMERICAN RAILWAY PHOTOS.


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On 31/10/2021 at 00:48, jamie92208 said:

 This view will all change soon as the line down to San Jose is being electrified. 

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The State of California is planning on electrifying the Caltrain line for the proposed California High Speed Rail system that will run between San Francisco/Sacramento and San Diego via Los Angeles.

 

Wendell

Idaho, USA 

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Bon Apres Midi from the Charente.  The Tardis is still in San Francisco. It' still the 12th September 2012. The yard with all the stored cars also had other treasures.   It's a long time since AEI manufactured cables. I presume that it's conductor wire as insulation may be in a bit of a sorry state 50 years later.

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We walked back up the street to catch a tram and this one was on the depot opposite.

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Then it was change and head through the Twin peaks tunnel and out to the coast.   The terminus is very close to the beach.  As we were going to head right across to Maine I had to do the feet wet in the Pacific pose. At least I'm not showing my knees.

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This is the rather tight turning circle less than 50 yards from the previous photo.

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An interesting display of signs.    Irony there, someone having to sleep in a car might welcome being arrested and getting some free board and lodging.  

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And this is the view up the road from the turning circle.  The trams kept appearing and disappearing as they crested each rise.

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More tomorrow.

 

Jamie

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Good moaning from the Charente where the mist and fog is clearing.   Just like San Francisco on 12th September 2012 where the Tardis is at the moment. One more shot of a tram arriving at the terminus.

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Then it was back to the BART to head back to Oakland, rather tired after the very long day and the time change on the 11th. Tony certainly appreciated the trams.  The next morning we had a ride down to Warm Springs south of Oakland to see a load of stored UP locos and got tangled up in the BART extension works as well as seeing the Tesla car factory.  Then back up to our motel and another ride under the bay.  This time it was the cable cars that needed to be seen and ridden.

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First off the California Street line with it's double ended cars.

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Then change onto the Powell mason Line and down to Fisherman's Wharf.

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Where the turning ceremony was watched.  Still person powered.

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Next morning we got packed and were off early to meet my friends Dave and Sally for Breakfast near Walnut Creek.  That was excellent.  Then it was time to drive back to Arnie country aka Sacramento and their light rail system.  My agreement with Tony was that he would put up with trains if we stopped at every city en-route that had trams. The tardis has now got to 14th September.

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More tomorrow.

 

Jamie

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I think that the conductor works a lever to lift the grip from the cable and presumably re-engages it when the car is over a new cable. The same must occur where the lines cross. I found this site interesting when we visited San Francisco.

 

https://www.streetcar.org/wheels-motion/cable-cars-work/

 

The system was a lot more extensive than today's remnants, and went out into areas which at the time had not even been built on but where the street blocks had been laid out.

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Good morning from a cool but dry Charente.   It's sunny in Sacramento though and it's the 14th September 2012. The light rail system looked impressive with trains of up to 3 units operating though the central streets.

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One line took us to the former SP station with the old loco shops to the north.   Amtrak trains are now a quite long walk from the depot though.

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It was nice to see that the lovely old benches had been kept inside the building.

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This was the terminus of the line that goes to Folsom after going through the city centre.

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And another shot of the station interior with a giant muriel showing the start of the building of the Central Pacific.

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Another line, the green one also runs into this area to stimulate new growth. This is the terminus, It was then known as the River line. The operator kindly allowed us to stay on the tram as it reversed.

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Jamie

 

 

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Good moaning from the Charente.   The tardis is still in Sacramento, CA, and it's still the 14th September 2012.  The River route, as it's known ended in the middle of nowhere, apparently part of an urban regeneration project.  As such it was only operated by a single unit in a special green livery.

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We had actually driven past Sacramento and parked at the end of the tram route not far from Roseville.  So after riding most of the system, apart from the Folsom branch we headed back to the car and then went on to Roseville.   By now, after only 3 nights in motels we were heartily sick of plastic cutlery so stopped at Walmart and bought some stainless steel equipment.  This caused much amusement and comment in other motels in the weeks to come.  The next morning I had a good drive around the yard whilst Tony had a lie in.  I noted at least 100 loco numbers, quite a haul.

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Quite a lot of smaller power was in evidence.

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Even a proper switcher.P9149182_resize.JPG.73a5cbd8a39ca2693fbf6ab6ebc4ddfa.JPG

And of course a Roseville special GP38 plus part of a rotary.

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Then, after a short detour to get a watch battery changed we set off towards Donner Pass and stopped at Auburn where there is this huge concrete monument to Charlie Crocker's Chinese who built most of the Central Pacific.

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Jamie

 

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Good morning from a bright but initially frosty Charente.   The tardis is still heading along I 80 towards Donner pass, following the Central Pacific late SP and now UP main line.   Lets make it simple, call it the Overland Route.  We carried on up I 80 then turned off onto US40 that runs nearer to the line and soon were up at 7000'. This is Norden Lake at the summit.   One interesting feature was that the houses had wooden tunnels leading from the roadside to their front doors, with steeply pitched rooves.

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We parked up and were lucky enough to find a freight heading west, just a modest 5 units on the front.

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Two more of the five

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And two DPU units at the rear.    All trains must stop here and set retainers on the brakes before starting the 1 in 45 descent to Roseville.

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Here is Tony and our transport, some sort of Ford.

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Then past Norden township where the covered roundhouse used to be when the cab forwards were in use.  From the road we got a view of the original CP route that the Chinese built.   This section over the Sierras took nearly 4 years to build.  It was in use until sometime in the 1980's i think when the line was singled and the second track in tunnel was enlarged to take doublestacks.

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Jamie

 

 

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Good afternoon from a cool and cloudy Charente.  The tardis is still in California at the summit of Donner Pass, about 7,500' up n the Sierra Nevadas. It's still the 15th September 2012.   From the summit we could look down onto Donner lake.    The railway came along the southern side of the lake and I 80 and US40 along the north side.

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From  a lay by we were able to get a good view of the CP route in particular the Chinese wall as it's known.

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We stopped in Truckee at the far end of the lake and went into a cafe.  They had this rather nice painting on the wall as well as an excellent cherry turnover still warm from the oven.

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We jad a ;ook round the town before heading on.  This is the depot.  Behind where I was standing is a yard which includes a triangle for turning the rotary and other plough trains. We are at about 4000' here and would hardly drop below that elevation until we got well across Nebraska several days later.

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From Truckee we followed the Truckee river to the Humboldt sink.   This took us past reno and Sparks where some locos were seen.  Then headed north and east towards Winnemucca.

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From the low point of the sink we followed the Humboldt River on long straight and nearly empty roads.P9149217_resize.JPG.b2ee5a0419426a5c0113fecbab19a090.JPG

The line was mainly to our left in this area.

 

Jamie

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Good moaning from a chilly but bright Charente.  The tardis is still in Nevada on 15th September 2012.  We are somewhere on I 80 approaching Winnemucca. This had been our intended stopping point but Dave Moore had described it as a 'mucky hole'  and advised us to press on to Elko.  We followed that advice but did stop for petrol and a coffee.  We drove through town, that matched it's earlier description, then stopped a few miles beyond to drink the coffee.  This was our view.

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A place called Button Point this with a local heading west.  This is the area where the Western Pacific and Southern Pacific ran parallel for many miles and it has been operated as a double track main for many years.

Then on across the desert towards more mountains.

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I believe that this is called battle Mountain.

Then into Elko, a motel was found and a Denny's meal. After that we headed down to the station to see the Amtrak train stop before turning in. The next morning we found a Basque owned owned restaurant that provided a superb breakfast.  This Geep was on display in the centre of town.P9159225_resize.JPG.192cb53cf77e5eb2dd32cc35e271a484.JPG

After seeing the locos in the yard east of town we headed on to Wells, a Casino town near the border with Utah. I believe that it used to be Humboldt Wells as the source of the river. The remains of the Original Oregon Short line were visible.

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However the main line was distinctly empty looking east.

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And just as empty looking west.

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More gas and supplies of water were then obtained before the next part of our adventure.

 

 

Jamie

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Good morning from  sunny and cool Charente.  A two day break due to a short break trainspotting in Paris has occurred.  Photos from that trip will appear on my Moves at Limoges thread in the French Railways section in due course.  Fortunately the tardis is still in Nevada and it's still 15th September 2012. W carried on on I 80 over IIRC Pecquod summit and entered the Great Salt lake basin.  Then we turned north following the west side of the lake. Before long we crossed the trackbed of the northern section of the Nevada Northern railroad which is rather out of use.

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just tarmacked over  but the track circuit bonds were still in place.

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From doing a bit of reading the NN connected with both the WP then onwards towards the SP. Nowadays it only connects with the WP.  We drove on north and crossed the stretch of the SP that heads down towards the Lucin cut off that goes across the Great Salt lake.  This eastbound appearedP9159241_resize.JPG.971a63ad61cede334e7722f0905751f1.JPG

 

Then continued eastward into the vastness of the surroundings.

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And  headed on towards Lucin and the lake.

 

Jamie

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Good morning from a bright Charente.  In tardis land though it's still 15th September 2012 and we are heading north parallel to the Great Salt Lake. The satnav was trying to take us a very roundabout route on Interstates round the north side of the lake but the road atlas showed a road that ran closer to the northern shore line. This would save us many miles so when we found the turn off we took it.  The adventure now started.  Before long it became a dirt road which gave us occasional views of the lake.

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There are a lot of very confusing dirt roads in this area but they generally follow the route of the abandoned section of the Central Pacific to Promontory Summit where the CP met the UP in 1869. 

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The satnav was worse than useless though we did find the ghost town of Kelton that now seems to consist of one wooden toilet hut. We did eventually get onto the old CP right of way that stretched forever into the distance. After Kelton we did get onto the CP right of way. The Promontory mountain range is now in the distance.

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These were the mountains that the UP had CP had decided to cross rather than go round the southern side of the lake like the Western Pacific eventually did. There were still some remnants that reminded us we were on an old railway.

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Graded diversions take the road round the remains of these bridges.

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In this area is the stretch where the CP laid 10 miles of track in a day with hand and horsepower alone.  The stretch was in use till the opening of the Lucin cutoff across the lake in 1916.  The track remained to serve farmers until the wartime scrap drives of 1942.  Eventually after passing Locomotive Springs and going across the mountains we finally saw the National Park Site at Promontory in front of us.  The site is in a pass through the mountain range which stretches about another 40 miles south.  The original Lucin cutoff was mainly built on a timber viaduct which crossed the tip of the Promontory.  It has now been rebuilt and is a causeway built with many millions of tons of rock from the mountains.  The range is now a little shorter.  the old timber viaduct was eventually salvaged and the timber sold for quite a good price.  

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Promontory is indeed a desolate and windy place and  the UP and CP abandoned it vey quickly and made the junction point at Ogden.  In this photo we are looking south with the CP approaches from the right and the UP from the left.

 

Jamie

 

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I presume you were in a rental car. Did the rental agreement say anything about driving on non-metalled roads? Like “don’t”?

 

I’ve had that clause specifically pointed out to me at the rental counter when renting in the southwest of the USA, with the warning that to do so voids the insurance during or afterwards!

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As my sadly missed chum Jim Boyd (former editor of Railfan & Railroad) used to cry: "Remember it's only a rental!"  It was probably the likes of him (and me!) that have bu**ered it for the rest of you!

 

I once took a rental car back to SLC literally covered in mud including the roof.  The receiving clerk's face was a picture.  "Just run a bulldozer over it to get the worst off and it'll be fine" I said as I walked off.  Never heard any more about it.  Another time I left Ford Taurus upside down in the Mohave Desert.  Again, no comebacks - Hertz were only interested to know if there were any injuries and promptly replaced the car.

 

Another of Jim's pets was to accuse us Brits of driving on the wrong side of the road.  "No Jim, you may drive on the right side but we drive on the correct side."

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1 hour ago, pH said:

I presume you were in a rental car. Did the rental agreement say anything about driving on non-metalled roads? Like “don’t”?

 

I’ve had that clause specifically pointed out to me at the rental counter when renting in the southwest of the USA, with the warning that to do so voids the insurance during or afterwards!

I didn't check but we were OK fortunately.  There was an awful lot of talcum powder fine dust on the back. We brushed the worst off in Ogden then gave it a good wash in Denver.  It was quite an experience.  There was a video on Trains Magazine website when Jim Wrynn and a companion went in the opposite direction and managed to get lost. They did manage to drive the whole 10 miles in a day stretch and ended up at Lucin. I did have a link for it somewhere.

 

Jamie

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8 hours ago, pH said:

I presume you were in a rental car. Did the rental agreement say anything about driving on non-metalled roads? Like “don’t”?

 

I’ve had that clause specifically pointed out to me at the rental counter when renting in the southwest of the USA, with the warning that to do so voids the insurance during or afterwards!

When I visited the US more than forty years ago on a fly drive I followed the road down the Shenandoah Valley, it started out as a quite good metalled road that gradually degenerated into a rough track. In fact I stopped at a lakeside fishing boat hire shop to get confirmation that I was still on the right road (which I still was).

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I've had many happy hours driving rentals cars off road.  As long as the ground clearance was sufficient, all was good.  I did stay clear of deep sand, and would often walk ahead of the car just to check.

 

My worst moment came on the interstate from Flagstaff to Phoenix... entering the northern suburbs of Phoenix in the dark, in a raging storm with rain, dust and lightning the highway narrowed to a single lane between concrete barriers in a construction zone.  At 50mph the car in front swerved suddenly and threw up a piece of concrete the size of a football... I watched it describe a beautiful arc towards my face.  I had no time to react other than to think 'oh sh1t...' but it landed just short of the bonnet and ricocheted under the car.

 

It took out the radiator grille, the front bumper, the a/c unit, and some of the exhaust box. I was really shaken up.

 

Next morning I limped it back to Hertz expecting them go bananas and hit me with a hefty bill.  The lady who received it looked at it, looked at me and said 'rough night, huh? Let's get you another car hun'

 

No charges and no issues.  I've stuck to Hertz ever since! 

 

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14 hours ago, pH said:

I presume you were in a rental car. Did the rental agreement say anything about driving on non-metalled roads? Like “don’t”?

 

I’ve had that clause specifically pointed out to me at the rental counter when renting in the southwest of the USA, with the warning that to do so voids the insurance during or afterwards!

I've not had it pointed out to me, but I spotted it for myself in rental agreements in the Northeast US in 2018 and 2019. I've wondered when this first appeared routinely because I'd not noticed it until then, but maybe I wasn't looking closely enough. Also wondered how rigourously this is pursued in states where unmade roads are given designations by the state or the county.

 

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Good moaning from a rather cloudy place.   The tardis is still near Promontory summit and it's still 15th September 2012. The site, which, IIRC, is run by the national Park Service, is well worth a visit and has an excellent visitor centre.  The stars are the two replica locos that re-enact the last spike ceremony most days when it's open.  I think that they were built for the centenary on 1969 so are getting on a bit.  Here is the replica of UP 119.

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And the CP's Jupiter.

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The enactment was over when we arrived but the locos were still parked at the spot where it takes place.  Their shed is off to the right of this picture.

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After spending a bit of time in the visitor centre, and buying a good book about Utah's abandoned railways we set off for Ogden.  A unique feature of this stretch of the original overland route is that UPP and CP actually graded parallel routes for nearly 300 miles, 150 either side of promontory.  This was due to the historical accident that the original pacific railway Act hadn't specified a meeting place. As they were being paid by the mile they just carried on with the grading.  The two routes run parallel for many miles.  A peace treaty was negotiated and Promontory was named as the meeting point.  On both sides one grade was better than the other.  After the completion the two competitors settled on Ogden as a more convenient meeting point and the SP then did some swapping about of tracks to use the most favourable grade. From the visitor centre it's possible t drive either side on the parallel grades.  We hadn't time to do the bit of the CP that we had missed so decided to drive the eastbound section. Here we are on what I believe is the ex UP section. The other grade can be seen on the right, rather overgrown as it was abandoned by 1870.

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Here two parallel embankments can be seen across the road.

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It's well worth a drive if you ever get the chance.  The other grade can be seen below on the right.

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When this stretch was being graded there were tales of the two opposing gangs of Chinese and Irish labourers blasting rocks onto the opposing grade.  How true that is I don't know.  However Brigham Young was busy hiring out his followers to work for both companies so many of the opposing gangs may well have been Mormon.

 

Jamie

 

 

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The trucks were of vary basic design, like an H when viewed from above, with little more than the frames and the bolster (plus axle boxes, springs, spring plank, etc, for the suspension. There wasn’t anywhere else to hang the brakes from. I suspect those brakes were as much for parking the loco as anything else, too. Not sure when loco brakes came into general use: presumably a steam brake cylinder mounted between the drivers either side of the firebox was used here.

Also, the lines were fairly straight - especially in areas where the brakes might be used, and the curves would have been far more gentle than most model railways, so with just a little bit of play in the hangers, the brakes would align with the wheels fairly well.

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Good morning from a somewhat grey and cloudy Charente.  The tardis is still in Utah on 15th September 2012. We continued our drive along the parallel grades two cuttings side by side.

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Then across the valley two long fills. I believe one is known as The big Fill.  However you can't drive along that stretch, the driveable stretch finishes at the access road which runs up the valley.

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A last shot of the parallel grades and in the background the Morton Thyokol plant that makes sold rocket boosters and other such things.  It appeared to be heavily guarded so cameras were put away.

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Down to Ogden and book into our motel on the northern edge of town.   En route we had finally found some tracks on the last remaining part of the route to Promontory. These were alongside the road as we got down into the main valley and turned south to Ogden.   After a meal we headed into town and found this beast parked next to the station.  One of the two surviving Big Blows.  What a machine. It's sheer size is difficult to appreciate.

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It's part of a railway museum that also has UP 833, a sister to 844, a Centennial, 6916 and what I believe is a Rio Grande GP40.

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These are all just outside the old station building which is now a community space but has some nice old photos inside, such as this one of a steam tram with two trailers.

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A;;in all a superb day with a lot of history crammed into it.

 

Jamie

 

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On 13/11/2021 at 02:28, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning from a rather cloudy place.   The tardis is still near Promontory summit and it's still 15th September 2012. The site, which, IIRC, is run by the national Park Service, is well worth a visit and has an excellent visitor centre.  The stars are the two replica locos that re-enact the last spike ceremony most days when it's open.  I think that they were built for the centenary on 1969 so are getting on a bit.  Here is the replica of UP 119.

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And the CP's Jupiter.

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The enactment was over when we arrived but the locos were still parked at the spot where it takes place.  Their shed is off to the right of this picture.

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After spending a bit of time in the visitor centre, and buying a good book about Utah's abandoned railways we set off for Ogden.  A unique feature of this stretch of the original overland route is that UPP and CP actually graded parallel routes for nearly 300 miles, 150 either side of promontory.  This was due to the historical accident that the original pacific railway Act hadn't specified a meeting place. As they were being paid by the mile they just carried on with the grading.  The two routes run parallel for many miles.  A peace treaty was negotiated and Promontory was named as the meeting point.  On both sides one grade was better than the other.  After the completion the two competitors settled on Ogden as a more convenient meeting point and the SP then did some swapping about of tracks to use the most favourable grade. From the visitor centre it's possible t drive either side on the parallel grades.  We hadn't time to do the bit of the CP that we had missed so decided to drive the eastbound section. Here we are on what I believe is the ex UP section. The other grade can be seen on the right, rather overgrown as it was abandoned by 1870.

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Here two parallel embankments can be seen across the road.

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It's well worth a drive if you ever get the chance.  The other grade can be seen below on the right.

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When this stretch was being graded there were tales of the two opposing gangs of Chinese and Irish labourers blasting rocks onto the opposing grade.  How true that is I don't know. 

 

There were definitely hostilities between crews building railways in North America. In southern British Columbia, there were several incidents all, as far as I know, involving the Great Northern Railway (no, not that one) or railways controlled by them. James J. Hill of the GN was vehemently opposed to the CPR, and would do all he could to inconvenience them. He was also inclined to obtain forgiveness after the fact, rather than permission before.

 

The most memorable was probably the 'Battle of Midway', 37 years before the better-known battle of that name. It happened just west of the small town of Midway, where the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern (controlled by the GN) and CP were starting to build competing lines towards Vancouver. There's an account of what happened on this site – scroll down to “The Railroad War”:

 

https://theawesomeduo.ca/2013_adventures.html

 

A siding built there was known as 'Hooligan Siding'.

 

There was also a confrontation in Sandon, BC in 1905. The Kaslo and Slocan (again controlled by the GN) had built a narrow-gauge line into Sandon. The CPR arrived shortly afterwards with the standard-gauge Nakusp and Slocan. K&S employees ripped up N&S track, set cars loose and demolished the CPR station by wrapping a rope round it, hitching it to a locomotive and pulling it into a creek.

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