A Union Pacific McKeen motor car went into Fancy Creek near Randolph, Kan., en route from Manhattan to Marysville, on Oct. 16, 1915. Eleven people were killed and 44 injured. Heavy rains had undermined a bridge approach.
That sounds like the Santa Fe's Turquoise Room on the Super Chief--Chicago-Los Angeles.
I regret that I did not ask about using it when my wife and three children went from Chicago to Albuquerque in 1973. The steward on board was of the Old School, and was quite helpful.
The two of us did eat in the Turquoise Room on Santa Fe Plaza in the fall of 1980, when we took part in a special movement from the Bay Area to Denver and back. The private car consist also included a former Burlington Silver Bird series sleeper and Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg' Gold Coast.
Johnny
You really want to travel "first class"? This railroad would reserve you your own private dining area? Name the RR and the accommodation
The 148 mile SD&AE running from San Diego to El Centro is a fascinating railroad. The line enters Mexico at Tijuana and runs for 46 miles to Campo where it re-enters the US. From Campo it runs east through the desolate Jacumba Mountains through the spectaular Carrizo Gorge where it crosses Goat Creek Canyon on a curved wooden trestle reputed to be the highest bridge of its kind in the US. The eastern end of the road runs through the flat desert lands of California's Imperial Valley. At one time there were 21 tunnels on the line but several of them have collapsed and were subsequently by passed.
The SD&AE was owned by the Southern Pacific for a number of years. The SP sold the line to its present owner, San Diego Metropolitan Transit which currently operates light rail transit (the "Green Line") over the portion of the line from San Diego to San Ysidro. The Tijuana and Tecate RR presently leases and operates freight service and occasional passenger excursions on the portion of the line between its two namesake cities. The eastern end of the line between El Centro and Plaster City is currently operated by the Union Pacific.
The rest of the line between Tecate and Plaster City has been out of service for several years but the rails and trestles are still in place over the entire route. Since the SD&AE and its several lessor/operators (San Diego and Imperial Valley, Pacific Imperial Valley, and Carrizo Gorge RR's) ceased operations the only rail service to/from San Diego has been via the BNSF coast line to Los Angeles. Recently there has been talk of reopening the entire SD&AE line to give San Diego direct rail freight service to eastern points.
Mark
FlyingCrow Well, the only railroad I know dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" was Spreckles' San Diego & Arizona Eastern. However, you got me with the 3' gauge segment???
Well, the only railroad I know dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" was Spreckles' San Diego & Arizona Eastern. However, you got me with the 3' gauge segment???
Yes indeed Buck, the SD&AE is the "Impossible" road I was looking for. The 3' gauge line is not a common carrier and has no connection with the SD&AE. It's the US Gypsum Co's RR which runs about 25 miles from the company's gypsum mines to their large wallboard plant at Plaster City CA. Next question please.
That would be 2 foot guage...
Sandy River and Rangley Lakes. Sandy River.
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Sorry Dave but not one of the Silverton roads.
I suspect that is in one of the three Silverton railroads, tthe Silverton and Northern, the Silverton Gladstone and Northerly, or just the Silverton, with Silverton being the point still seeing 3ft gauge track. Which of the three went to place called Eureka, is probably the one, but I forget which of the three it was.
Not the Colorado Midland Henry.
Colorado Midland. Leadville.
Before, during and even after it was built this road was dubbed "The Impossible Railroad". A 3' gauge line still runs to one point on this road. Name the railroad, its end points and the place where the narrow gauge line currently terminates.
You have the correct answer. I did not! The answer I was looking for was the realignment of the D&RGW Chama - Durango line along side he San Juan river when a flood control dam was built, which formed a lake flooding the original alignment. This was done around 1961. I rode the original alignment on a Chicago RR Club roundtrip 1960 and the new alignment in 1962. I forget which alighnment we rode in 1961.
Your question!
After virtually giving up all hope of answering this question one more thought popped into my mind.
In 1969 the White Pass & Yukon constructed a realignment to bypass the tall bridge over Dead Horse Gulch. This realignment involved the construction of a new tunnel and bridge and was necessary because the old cantilever bridge could not carry the heavier weight of the new ALCO locomotives it was acquiring. At that time the WP&Y was a common carrier.
Upon re-reading your original question I see you specified common carrier. The restored EBT and Georgetown Loop are tourist (or heritage if you prefer) railroads and not common carriers so you must have some other line in mind. I'm fresh out of ideas and will have to wait for someone else to answer the question unless you give us a hint which might trigger my thoughts.
The 1973 restoration of the former C&S narrow gauge Georgetown Loop.
Must be a short chunk of the East Broad Top. Can't put my finger on a date for an extension but it would have been for coal.
you are getting closer. The D&RGW's intent was to connect with the AT&SF which was planning a Famington branch that was never built. But that conversion to 3ft was end-point to end-point.
Much later and a short lifespan, but hope for revival.
The Durango - Farmington branch of the D&RGW was constructed as a standard gauge line in 1905 which made little sense since its only connection was with the Rio Grande's narrow gauge lines at Durango. In 1923 the Rio Grande rebuilt the Farmington Branch converting it to 3' gauge.
Much later. Not a complete end-point to end-point construction.
Would that be the Uintah Railway in NW Colorado, constructed mainly to haul Gilsonite used in making gasoline?
Possibly during the summer of 1945, No. 1 was at the B&M's Billerica shop for overhaul, and one of Sam Pinsley's other locomotives migrated form one of his other short lines to fill in for spell and was painted as a temporary No. 2?
When I rode the the Suncook Valley, it ran only as far as Pittsfield (NH), but earlier it ran all the way to Center Barnsted. Further north, there was a trackless railroad station with train order semaphore intetact at Alton Bay, but I understand that was a terminal for a branch from Rochester, NH.
There was a sports tog factory (tennis rackets, baseball bats, etc) at Pittsfied that operated and heated on coal and kept the SV in business.\\
New question: What was the very last three-foot gauge common carrier trackage constructed in the USA, for what railroad, for what purpose, and where?
Dave Klepper has the right to the current question.
Time to get this thread back on track. Who has the next question?
FlyingCrow I'm not sure why the hustle out the side door, but nobody has answered this correctly. Road #5 is the FRISCO. The Colorado Eagle used the SLSF from the KCT to Paola, KS to avoid having to turn the train out of KC. This lasted until 1959. Gee...I must have offended somebody.
I'm not sure why the hustle out the side door, but nobody has answered this correctly. Road #5 is the FRISCO. The Colorado Eagle used the SLSF from the KCT to Paola, KS to avoid having to turn the train out of KC. This lasted until 1959.
Gee...I must have offended somebody.
I don't think you've offended anyone Buck. I'm sorry but I honestly thought I had it when I mentioned the Denver Terminal Ry. which owned the Union Station. I was unaware that the Eagle ran on the Frisco at all much less for the 52 miles from KCT to Paola.
Correct as usual. The piers for the bridge are still in the middle of the river (the steel bridge was removed in the early 1950s.)
From what I can find of the Suncook Valley #1 was a 2-6-0 (confirmed from photos), #2 and #3 were GE 44 tonners.
The Concord and Manchester that shared a bridge with the B&M east of Merrimack River line that later was part of the Suncook Valley short line. The B&M main line was (is) west of the Merrimack River. The bridge was replaced by a double-track truss bridge with one track for the interurban and one for the steam trains.
New Hampshire is the state.
I rode across that bridge four times in the summer of 1945 at 13-1/2 years old on the Suncook Valley mixed, and the conductor described the interurban to me.
The B&M had plenty of 2-6-0's. But somehow my memory says that No. 2 of the Suncook Valley was a 4-6-0, even though all the books I;ve seen say they only owned a 2-6-0. I do remember the combination coach-bag-mail car with an open platform on one end and a baggage end on the other, and black leather-covered walkover seats for about 24 people. A switchback was located south of the bridge since the B&M branch that became the SV was built form the Hookset-Manchester end and not from the Concord end.
This interuban ran between the capital city and the largest city of a small state. It shared a bridge - in early days a three-span covered bridge - with its parent railways' branchline moguls.
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