The UP 5107 leads the westbound AAMWS (Autos - Amarillo to Warm Springs) through the Truckee River Canyon on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain crossing known as Donner Pass. On the opposite side of the river, the old elevated Sierra Pacific Power Company water flume (which once diverted water from the Truckee River and into an old on river power plant) can be seen. The diversion structure was originally constructed in 1899 of wood and rock. It was built to provide water for the Farad Hydro-Electric Plant. The flume measures 10 feet high and 10 feet wide, and could divert somewhere between 325 to 400 cubic feet of water per second out of the river and towards the hydro-electric power plant. Roughly corresponding to a 50-year flood event, January of 1997 brought an exorbitant amount of water into the Truckee River. The river crested with a peak flow of approximately 15,000 cubic feet of water per second. This flooding washed out parts of the flume leaving it unproductive. Thus, its remains are now just one of many Comstock Era ruins that dot the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Train and Flume
I hope you all enjoy the photo,
Ryan Dadgari
California_railfan
Sacramento, Ca
Ryan Dadgari California_railfan Livermore, Ca
Nice shot, but even more appreciated is your description of the scene, the elements, and the history. That makes it 1000x more meaningful.
RWM
Ditto to what RWM said ^^^.
Ryan - as I intended to post last week - That's a great photo - you did well with the exposure for the train, what with the bright background - it's postcard or calendar material for sure. And the caption is exceptional - you must have spent a lot of time researching that - not many lay people could phrase the hydrology summary so well. Thanks for sharing the photo, and the information - without it, I'd have wondered forever what that snake-like structure was, but never would have guessed it without going there and doing the research myself, or getting lucky by asking a local, etc.
For what it's worth, I just submitted a post under the current thread regarding "What are the best RR photos?" near the bottom of Page 1 of 1 (presently) at - http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/167056/1835865.aspx#1835865 - which refers to this photo as an excellent example of what a caption can add to a photo, and RWM's comment on same.
Thanks again.
- Paul North.
Paul_D_North_Jr Ditto to what RWM said ^^^. Ryan - as I intended to post last week - That's a great photo - you did well with the exposure for the train, what with the bright background - it's postcard or calendar material for sure. And the caption is exceptional - you must have spent a lot of time researching that - not many lay people could phrase the hydrology summary so well. Thanks for sharing the photo, and the information - without it, I'd have wondered forever what that snake-like structure was, but never would have guessed it without going there and doing the research myself, or getting lucky by asking a local, etc.
Paul, I am sure that most of the people who saw the flume had no idea of its nature, much less of its purpose. Until reading the post, I thought that its purpose was to provide a good flow to some mill; the thought of a hydroelectric plant did not enter my head.
The flume, of course, makes it possible to take advantage of a sudden drop in the level of water and thus provide much more power to the generating equipment than would be possible if only the power of the water flowing past the plant were used (as at Niagara Falls the weight of the falling water provides much more energy than the water flowing in the river can provide).
Johnny
The flume does not provide for a sudden drop of water level or even to provide a steady flow of water, it's to provide "head." Head is the differential between the top of a water column and the bottom, and it is the basis for turning potential energy into kinetic energy. The flume carries the water from far upstream to Farad at a much lower gradient than the river, so when the flume water reaches the power plant, it is a great deal higher than the river flow. If it weren't for the flume, a high dam would be needed to provide the same amount of drop (I.E. - top of dam to bottom of dam). Back in 1915, environmental concerns were non-existant, so I'm assuming a flume wa built because it was cheaper than a dam.
As for Niagara Falls, it's the "head" that imparts energy to turn the turbines, not water flow or weight of the water. Ditto for all high dams. Water flow is way to slow to drive turbines, but water wheels? Yup, that's thousand year old history. It's all about potential energy being converted to kinetic energy, nothing more. FWIW, the Farad power staion was off-line since the 1996 flood and I'm unsure whether is was ever brought back on-line. Driving down I-15 as late as 2005, the flume leaked like a sieve, altho I heard there were plans to start Farad back up again. No clue what it's like now.
DeggestyPaul, I am sure that most of the people who saw the flume had no idea of its nature, much less of its purpose. Until reading the post, I thought that its purpose was to provide a good flow to some mill; the thought of a hydroelectric plant did not enter my head.
I remember seeing the flume several times when living in Carson City ('65-'67). I had thought it was an old logging flume - several had been used in the general area to float timbers to be used for the Comstock Lode mines.
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