There is a wonderful photo of a BNSF freight at Winona, Arizona on pages 68-69 of the July issue. And then you read in the caption about the Arizona Divide. Is Winona just east of the Divide? Or is the Divide at Winona? Has the Arizona Divide been moved by Trains Magazine?
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM8J2F_Arizona_Divide_7335_ft_Riordan_AZ
Ed
former Flagstaff, Winona and Bellemont resident.
SSW9389:
As you are aware after having resided in the area, the Arizona Divide is west from Flagstaff, 6.5 miles west from the depot in Flagstaff to be specific. Winona is not shown in BNSF track charts nor in my 1977 Albuquerque Division employee's timetable but it would be about 13 miles east from the depot thus some 19-20 miles east from the Arizona Divide. Interstate 40 distance between the two locations would be greater because of its route south of Flagstaff.
Can't help but think that Bobby Troup is chuckling somewhere about now.
Don't know Bobby Troup. Please advise @ jackely@cableone.net
diningcar Don't know Bobby Troup.
Don't know Bobby Troup.
He wrote
Get Your Kicks on Route Sixty-Six
"...You see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino..."
The exit off I-40 is called Winona, on the railroad the point is called Darling. The photographer set up near the overpass on Townsend-Winona Road and shot the train coming out of the sag at West Darling. The sag is because of the upper reaches of Walnut Creek. I used to live in a double wide set at the base of the hill to the right margin of the photo. Kind of above the silver bridge on the right side of the photo. By my count the Arizona Divide is about 24 rail miles from the point where the photographer took the photo. The other funny thing is the San Francisco Peaks that loom in the background are covered up by the photo caption. The caption should have been placed in the lower left part of the photo in my opinion. So once again a great photo with very sloppy editing.
Now that you have specifically identified the location of the photographer (bridge 328.7) we can determined from the BNSF track chart that it is 22.1 miles to the AZ Divide (MP 350.8).
Chuck, here's a bit of trivia about the song Route 66.
Bobby Troup wrote it in 1946, and since US 66 ran through my hometown, the song made quite an impression on me.
I remember reading how Troup was driving to California, and his wife at that time, Cynthia Hare, said that he should write a song about the trip, and he did.
His second wife was Julie London, who I thought was a very, very good singer and pretty, too. She stopped singing and started acting, making quite a hit, starring in the TV series 'Emergency' along with Bobby Troup.
Now what's really strange is, she married Bobby in 1959 after divorcing, in 1954, her first husband, Jack Webb of "Dragnet" fame (Nothing but the facts, ma'am). And who was the producer of 'Emergency'? Jack Webb!
SSW:I saw that photo and immediately thought of a trip my then 6th grader and I took to Arizona a few years ago. Do you recall how you helped us out in finding locations to watch trains?
We only spent about 3 hours total (in 2 days) but had a great time, including time at your "office'.
That is a great photo and depicts the area quite nicely.
My son and I also spent an hour before sunset at the actual Arizona divide west of Flagstaff and then found the ASU observatory at dusk. Quite a time we had.
He is now going into his senior year of HS and has grown into a 6'7" young man. Time flies.
I remember Ed, and am always happy to help someone find a good location out there. My 10 years in Northern Arizona are all memories now, but good ones. And I have to wonder what is now closed off that used to be available for photographs.
MP173 SSW:I saw that photo and immediately thought of a trip my then 6th grader and I took to Arizona a few years ago. Do you recall how you helped us out in finding locations to watch trains? We only spent about 3 hours total (in 2 days) but had a great time, including time at your "office'. That is a great photo and depicts the area quite nicely. My son and I also spent an hour before sunset at the actual Arizona divide west of Flagstaff and then found the ASU observatory at dusk. Quite a time we had. He is now going into his senior year of HS and has grown into a 6'7" young man. Time flies. Ed
Looking at Winona, or what passes for it, on Google Earth, there appears to be a good sized gravel pit with what looks suspiciously like the color of the Santa Fe ballast I recall seeing a lot of in Arizona.
The Google Earth image is a year and a day ago and shows a spur off to some loading-type facilities at the pit.
Anyone care to chime in with more information?
Chuck when I lived out that way it was called the Darling Pit. The trackage from East Darling to the Pit was called Pit Pass. The cinders were hauled away on a regular basis to Phoenix to be used in making bricks. Search the term Superlite and you should find the brickmaker, it was a valid brand when I looked it up last time. The loaded hoppers were called Superlites by the railroaders.
And yes there are several old abandoned cinder mines that once used to furnish ballast to the railroad. There's one behind the rest area at Bellemont that dates to the 1890s.
Ed Cooper
former Flagstaff, Winona and Bellemont resident
Some of the material for the products made by the linked company are mined at the Darling Pit in Winona, Arizona. See http://www.superliteblock.com/products.htm
SSW9389 And yes there are several old abandoned cinder mines that once used to furnish ballast to the railroad. There's one behind the rest area at Bellemont that dates to the 1890s. Ed Cooper former Flagstaff, Winona and Bellemont resident
Thanks for the comment. I actually did a little prowling on Google and found the December 1915 Santa Fe company magazine which had an article on the Albuquerque Division cinder pits, which included the one at Winona. According to the article, the main pit was the Nevin pit about 14 miles west of Flagstaff, which looks to be just west of Bellemont on the north side of the ROW, which provided a huge amount of ballast for may hundreds of miles of railroad. Lots of other interesting articles and bits in that edition.
Map link to the Darling Pit: http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lon=-111.4098769&lat=35.2264004&datum=nad83
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