Colorado Midland Railway Engineering Report

[Dave V]

Thanks!  We'll see...  Eastern scenery is easy because everything's covered in foliage.  Western scenery is much more complicated, varied, and unforgiving. 

The two things I'm most nervous about here are:

1)  Rocks.  My hobby budget is tapped out for a while so I'm not buying pre-formed foam rocks.  Nope!  This is going to be hand-carved.  We'll see how that goes.

2)  Trees.  I think I can make decent aspen from my Supertrees armatures, but believable (and sufficient numbers of) pines may be my undoing.

[Chris333]

I wish I could carve rocks out of foam like this guy:

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'm starting to like the wood and steel trestles right next to each other. It's kinda showing a "new vs old" kinda thing.

[Dave V]

@Chris333, no kidding!  I've watched that video.  A little cheesy, but very informative!

@Ed Kapuscinski, I was thinking the same thing...although the Midland built their steel bridges (the books keep saying "iron," but I would think by 1888, they'd be using structural steel) at the same time as the trestles.  The only reason I can see as to why they built a colossal wooden trestle atop Hagerman Pass while building steel bridges over the other major gaps is that as they were finishing the Hagerman Pass tunnel, they were already thinking of building a longer, lower tunnel between Busk and Ivanhoe...making the looping switchbacks on the east side of the Hagerman High Line only temporary.

Interestingly, the Midland didn't have the money to build the Busk-Ivanhoe tunnel, so a separate company was formed to build it, from which the Midland leased the tunnel.

In 1897, the CMRy was facing bankruptcy and receivership and, unable to negotiate lease terms with the Busk-Ivanhoe company, went back and rehabilitated the Hagerman High Line.  It continued to use the High Line until the end of the Great Snow Blockade of 1899, after which both companies were able to hammer out an agreeable lease.  Nevertheless, the winter of 1898-1899 saw a steady parade of rotary snowplows and even a Jull plow working the Hagerman High Line until the snow became so great that the trains were abandoned in place for weeks to months.

[Mark W]

@Chris333, no kidding!  I've watched that video.  A little cheesy, but very informative!

Just FYI, if you're not already aware of the "Speed" feature on YouTube (same menu as resolution settings), setting this video (and all how-to videos really) to 1.5 or 2x makes them so much easier to watch.  Speed through all the non-sesnse and "dead air" and find exactly where the meat is.

[Dave V]

Speed through all the non-sesnse and "dead air" and find exactly where the meat is.

 

[chicken45]

[Missaberoad]

Does the meat spin?   

[chicken45]

Does the meat spin?   

FTW

[Dave V]

Does the meat spin?   

Like a lemon party!

[Dave V]

Installed 24 trestle bents at a 2% grade. Next I need to install all the latitudinal bracing and the fire barrel platforms. Lastly, it'll be painted and weathered to look like wood (hopefully!).  I noticed after the photo one of the longest bents (closest) looked out of alignment, so I fixed it.  Without the latitudinal bracing, the trestle's not stable enough to stand up on its own.



Using Woodland Scenics hydrocal plaster castings for some of the tunnel portals and retaining walls. Unfinished on the right, weathered and stained with acrylic craft paints on the left. I used a surviving Midland Terminal Railway tunnel north of Cripple Creek as inspiration for the coloring.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

But if that's what it looks like today, what did it look like 100 years ago?

[Dave V]

But if that's what it looks like today, what did it look like 100 years ago?

Your guess is as good as mine!  FWIW, my cedar fence looks roughly this color and it's 17 years old, about the same age as the infrastructure of the CMRy was by 1905.  The fence is actually a little grayer...  This looks more like creosote.

Back to the drawing board!

EDIT:  I can't vouch for the use of creosote specifically on Midland infrastructure (it does look like the ties were left untreated) but at least creosote was in widespread use by the late 1880s.

[Chris333]

Paint one portal light green, the other oxide red 

[Dave V]

Whoa!