Nostalgia & History > Necro Fluggenphoamin the Pequops (the money shots!)

These may not look like much- but more than any others in this series, these are the ones I've most wanted to take.
Here's why these are special...

It's fairly well know that the CPRR and UPRR construction crews worked right past each other until Congress found out and told them to knock it off- Promontory Summit would be the site of the Golden Spike.  Lesser know is just how, um, aggressive the UP was in their effort to claim as much territory (Federal Subsidy Money) as they could.  UP surveyors mapped well into Nevada, and in 1868 even sent crews far ahead of their own advancing railhead.
(Patience Grasshopper- in time this will all be yours....  )
These photos are of a half mile long cut & fill located about half way between Moor and Pequop.  It was constructed in the Fall of 1868.  It's unattached to anything else and was never used.  The UP apparently came to their senses and pulled back their crew about 2mo before the CPRR grading party arrived.  The CP ignored their work and passed by, just up the slope, on the way to Promontory.

Photo 1. Looking RR East.  In the foreground the cut has changed to a fill- this as far West as they got.  The CPRR Row is just up the hill behind the UPRR's work.
Photos 2&3.   I launched the camera again- this time looking North.  This is kind of a pan shot- use the fence and gate as a reference point.
Photo 4.  Now I've moved to the East end of the UP section.  It's gone from a fill to a cut, and now back to a fill again.  The RoW in the foreground is the CPRR grade, abandoned when Harriman relocated the line about 2 or 3 miles North of here.

I've included a Google Earth shot showing where I flew my camera.

SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/16 20:26 by BoilingMan.

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Did you go north and east to the partially completed fill at the other end of that section?  Interesting that CP actually crossed over the partially completed UP grade in that section.

I hope you staid behind the private fences and locked gates while shooting this...time was this stretch was accessible to the public, but those days ended a couple years ago.  Even if you did stay back, chances are the private landowner might have you and your drone on cameras of their own, which are scattered everyhwere in that neighborhood.   

There was one more partially completed UP grade, at the top of Moor Summit.

Thanks for these fantastic shots of my backyard and many places I know well...

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Thanks for the post ... a nice job of "sleuthing" and documenting what remains of the history ... amazing

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO

JDLX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did you go north and east to the partially
> completed fill at the other end of that section? 
> Interesting that CP actually crossed over the
> partially completed UP grade in that section.
>
> I hope you staid behind the private fences and
> locked gates while shooting this...time was this
> stretch was accessible to the public, but those
> days ended a couple years ago.  Even if you did
> stay back, chances are the private landowner might
> have you and your drone on cameras of their own,
> which are scattered everyhwere in that
> neighborhood.   
>
> There was one more partially completed UP grade,
> at the top of Moor Summit.
>
> Thanks for these fantastic shots of my backyard
> and many places I know well...
>
> Jeff Moore
> Elko, NV


I came in from Moor following RR east. To get to the west end of the site I didn't pass through any gates or cross fence lines. The gate in the foreground of photos 2&3 was locked, and I climbed over it to put it in the shot as a reference point.

If you look closely there is a fence line that crosses both RoW's. It had a gate and I passed through it to get photo 4, but it was unmarked and had no locks.
I did encounter a gate somewhere along the way with a sign asking "please close gate behind you", but I don't think it was while setting up this particular shooting.
I don't think I stepped on any toes.
Drones (I cringe at that word) have really taken on a bad image, and not w/o good reason, I'm afraid.
I fly mine "cap in hand" hoping not to offend. This little 4 day outing I'm out on is kind of a proof-of-concept tour to make a case for my "flying tripod" use of this thing as a tool in photographing historic sites.
SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/16 06:24 by BoilingMan.

Love these post keep posting them