Western Railroad Discussion > Flanger Power Light, 6 on 6, and a Rotary (Hey!) on Donner Today

Photo 1.  3 GP's take a break from snow service and head down to Roseville for, well, service I guess?    Rawhide Crossing.
Photo 2.  P-42 #6 taking another spin on #6.  (I'd snagged a photo of this combo last week).   Gorge, CA overlooking The Giant's Gap
Photo 3.  Okay, see, if you don't title this stuff right, nobody looks.  It's not like I lied...        I-80 EB offramp at Alta, CA
SR

You know what's cool about the Flanger/Spreader power up here?  Blomberg trucks.  They'd otherwise be all but extinct on Donner!

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Photo number two is absolutely SPECTACULAR! (One of my favorite places on the Hill...)

This whole thing about a rotary on Donner should shake-up alot of folks here on TO! (LOL)

Best wishes,

ShastaDaylight

Impressive to watch Caltrans rotaries
 

I agree with ShastaDaylight SR.  Number 2 is an off the charts beautiful black and white photo.  I think the b&w master up in Dunsmuir might agree with us too.
Steve B.

The Amtrak photo is fantastic!

real funny

Nice stuff! Thanks for the Caltrans shot, SR. Those guys work in some tough conditions.

Stan Hunter
Fair Oaks, CA

Posted from iPhone

Outstanding images!!!

All three are good, #2 is spectacular! Thanks for sharing... Gorge, Casa Loma, what ever it's called was one of my favorite places to camp on photo trips. 

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

mojaveflyer Wrote:
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> All three are good, #2 is spectacular! Thanks for
> sharing... Gorge, Casa Loma, what ever it's called
> was one of my favorite places to camp on photo
> trips. 

This is kind of a pet project of mine-  to establish a proper name for this spot.  Casa Loma is the name of a small enclave of cabins up on the hill above this point.  They have nothing to do with the RR and I doubt you'd find the name in any RR reference.  Some wrongly call this American.  It's not- American is (was)  about 2mi East of here.  I've heard MoW track crews call this Rocky Point, but I'm not sure if that's officially written down anywhere.
So did the SP ever have a name for this point in it's timetables?  Yes.  In the 1920's there was a telegraphers office out here that was part of the Staff System used to move trains in those days: Gorge.
Gorge was only name the SP ever used in their timetables for this point overlooking the North Fork of the American River and I'm suggesting we revive it.
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mojaveflyer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > All three are good, #2 is spectacular! Thanks
> for
> > sharing... Gorge, Casa Loma, what ever it's
> called
> > was one of my favorite places to camp on photo
> > trips. 
>
> This is kind of a pet project of mine-  to
> establish a proper name for this spot.  Casa Loma
> is the name of a small enclave of cabins up on the
> hill above this point.  They have nothing to do
> with the RR and I doubt you'd find the name in any
> RR reference.  Some wrongly call this American. 
> It's not- American is (was)  about 2mi East of
> here.  I've heard MoW track crews call this
> Rocky Point, but I'm not sure if that's
> officially written down anywhere.
> So did the SP ever have a name for this point in
> it's timetables?  Yes.  In the 1920's there was
> a telegraphers office out here that was part of
> the Staff System used to move trains in those
> days: Gorge.
> Gorge was only name the SP ever used in their
> timetables for this point overlooking the North
> Fork of the American River and I'm suggesting we
> revive it.
> SR

In the past threads about this location I believe some of the old SP guys refered to Picture #1 as Rawhide (as in the mine).

Yes, the road down to the Rawhide Mine crosses the RR just East of the point (Hence: Rawhide Crossing). They don’t usually plow that road in Winter. In Photo 1 my car is parked at the crossing’s crossbuck.
SR

#2 is awesome, and I have to admit, you got me with the rotary!   I remember watching Caltrains clear I-80 and thought those were pretty cool machines.  

Nathan

Stein called photo 2 "Rocky Point". Ask Bill Lynch and he calls it Curve 205



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/19 11:08 by WAF.

WAF Wrote:
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> Stein called photo 2 "Rocky Point". Ask Bill Lynch
> and he calls it Curve 205

When TRAINS ran it's big Stein's Donner issue they called it American in a caption.  This surely added to the confusion!  I've always wondered about that caption and how it came about, but I never remembered to bring it up (dang) when I was with Stein.  He always seemed a very in-the-moment kind of guy.
SR

Curve 205 doesn't sound too epic/romantic- but I kinda like it...
Duly noted!

BoilingMan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WAF Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Stein called photo 2 "Rocky Point". Ask Bill
> Lynch
> > and he calls it Curve 205
>
> When TRAINS ran it's big Stein's Donner issue they
> called it American in a caption.  This surely
> added to the confusion!  I've always wondered
> about that caption and how it came about, but I
> never remembered to bring it up (dang) when I was
> with Stein.  He always seemed a very
> in-the-moment kind of guy.
> SR
>
> Curve 205 doesn't sound too epic/romantic- but I
> kinda like it...
> Duly noted!

But look at Diesels Over Donner in his description of a ride on a freight and he calls that curve "Rocky Point", so who knows. Many got it wrong including me. You were the first to point out the real location of "American".So  I think we have a tie in three names.. Gorge, Rocky point or Curve 205. Whatever you call the location it, its" Epic", just like a shot at T42/13 with Donner in the background. The "American" goes back to Beebe's book on the CP/SP, I think. Its wrong in Signor's book, but that station of Gorge is in it, so there is some redemption and a caption mentioing between Midas and Gorge ( boy, that covers some distance). Rawhide location is correct. That I can trace back to an article in the Sacramento Bee in 1969, with a reporter on a freight and the brakeman points out "That's Rawhide". Still, Rawhide is the closest "active:" name to the curve.
Rawhide on curve 206. Why are we knocking ourselves out about names when MOW just calls everything Curve whatever unless its straight?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/19 12:08 by WAF.

Agreed  (The Dude abides)
SR


Gorge-  1920's ETT name
Rock Point-  A common nickname used by T&E, MoW, and railfans
Curve 205-  Engineering Dept identification

Rawhide-  Grade Crossing just East of the point, but not really the point itself.  (often used by local residents here in DF/Alta area)
Casa Loma-  Name of the county road going out near the point. (taken from enclave of summer cabins nearby- not RR related)


 

"Place of many names"

Great pics. That first one is really awesome. What length lens are you using? 

It's a 17-40. 
#1&2 were at 17.  #3 was the same lens at 24, and then I squared up the trees with software.
SR