I am trying to remember the standard distance between water towers on lines like the C & S. Seven miles sticks in my head, but my head sometimes is.... Instead of digging through boxes to find the right book (all of my books are still packed...three years after my move!), does anyone here have the figure? I imagine it depends on grade etc. as well. John
What is the scale on this? I see the towers are not evenly spaced, which one would expect given the grades etc. on the C & T. Thanks!! John
Standard Day At one time (early standard guage railroading; turn of the previous century), one hundred miles was a standard work day. How many times would you stop for water in a "standard" work day? Seven miles may be short, but 50-60 miles is probably too far. Maybe 10-15 miles? And that doesn't consider terrain types. Narrow guage? Maybe 7 miles is about right. This "standard" work day started by the railroads influnces all manner of contracts today.
I'm not sure there was an exact standard. Remember that Colorado is a very arid climate. Water towers needed to be located near a water source. The water sources varied in the distances between them. I'm not sure of the operating range of the locomotives but that may give you a better idea. Eric
Eric, that is very true, and in fact most of the tanks I know of are located near streams, even in the high mountains. Where are you located in Colorado? I grew up near Boulder and spent many years in Montrose and Cortez. John
John, I live in Georgetown. Now that we are in tourist season, I'm lucky enough to hear a steam whistle every moring. I grew up in Hotchkiss, not far from Montrose. Eric
Georgetown WOW!! Shays over the loop. My son was just saying that we need to go ride it again (I took him when he was three or four, now he is nine). John
Not anymore. The Colorado Historical Society didn't renew the contact for the owners of the Shays. They got a new company that is running a puny 2-6-2 from Hawaii and a two axle 44 tonner. However, I drove by their yard the other day and saw C&S #9 sitting in front of the engine house. They also have plans to get a couple more historically accurate locomotives. Eric
Holy cow!! Where are the shays then? Not that it really matters since shays really never ran the loop (as far as I know???). Do you know where the got the C & S 9 from? John
The two running Shays and all the rolling stock that they had went to the Colorado RR Museum. They have a small narrow gauge line that runs around the museum. The museum occasionally runs the shays. I think they were relettered as the Argentine Central - they did originally run shays. As far as Shays not being prototypical - if you were to add up all the hours and miles traveled by the Shays, they have more running time than the C&S locos had. I'm not sure where #9 came from. I know the historical society bought a 2-8-0 from the city of Boulder. It was a loco that was on the Colorado and Northwestern. They were also looking at buying the 2-8-0 that is on display in Idaho Springs. Eric
I remember that engine, it was in a park in Boulder when I was a kid. Haven't been to the CO RR Museum in a long time, last time there I saw a goose running around that track. John
