NEB&W Presents Soph Marty's Photo Album - Structures

Last Update: 2009-07-15

Soph Marty's Photo Album Table of Contents
Many of the photos in the Clark Propst Photo Album were taken by Soph Marty. (See Clark Propst's Photo Album for these.) Soph has since gotten a scanner and now is sending them on directly. He is working his way through the alphabet. (I am getting around to posting some of these photos out of the sequence Soph is sending them.)

  1. SD Marty photo of the Alamosa depot. (Sort of a subtle Spanish Mission style.) He said: "I have run out of structures in Box No. 1 (there are 98 boxes...honest!), but there still are many box cars in it, so I thought I would fill in with D&RGW structures, of where there is over 1/2 box, until I get to Box No. 2.
    "We will start with Alamosa, CO on July 28, 1969, elevation 7,546 feet. (I am often surprised by the stuff I stick on some of these slides.) This is the main Depot. All of the tracks in the foreground are dual-gauge. The hi-side gondola to the right is narrow gauge."

  2. SD Marty panoramic photo of the Alamosa depot. Soph said: " In this view, we will continue "walking" eastward from the depot. The depot can be seen in the background. The town is 1/2 block beyond the depot. The wide area is the railroad yard, filled with dual gauge tracks. Both standard and narrow gauge cars were evident. The photo was made on July 28, 1969."
    "I was last in Alamosa in 1996. (Maybe later, but I don't remember.) The depot and a storage shed, to be shown below, are all that remain. The rest is a barren waste land. And this is progress!"

  3. SD Marty photo of the Alamosa yard, with neat dual guage trackage. Soph said: "If you turned around in the photo above, this is the view you would receive. This is the D&RGW Alamosa dual gauge yard looking eastward.
    "I am aware that looking at yard tracks is not exciting, but I am trying to give you a feel of how all the structures to follow fit together. In the right center of this photo is a red shed. Just to the right of it is a standard gauge boxcar followed a gray narrow gauge work boxcar. Immediately behind and to the right of the gray car is a lovely brick shed. We will be looking at it in the next few days.
    "As far as I can recall, I was last in Alamosa in September 1996. (That was when I shot the K-27, K-36, K-37, and K-28 photos in pouring rain.) All that was left in Alamosa was the depot building and that brick shed. It might seem strange to your younger people, but it upsets me to look at these photos and realize that all is gone, never to return. I cannot ever go back..."

  4. SD Marty photo of the Alamosa yard, with more dual gauge trackage. (View is just to the right of the above photo, with the same red fire hose house visible in both.) Soph said: "In this view, we continue out eastward walk through the D&RGW's Alamosa, CO, facility. I am not showing all of the yard photos...just a few pertinent ones so that when we get to the buildings just visible on the right, you will be oriented. The date remains July 28, 1969.
    "I call this a "double dual gauge" switch. I have them on my layout. They are murder to build, not because it is difficult to fit the parts together, but you need to fit them in such a way that our two rail DC or DCC does not short. They are indeed a challenge, but it is a joy to watch equipment go through them.
    Note the difference in size between standard gauge and narrow gauge boxcars. The bright red shed...was this for fire equipment?..was to the right center of the last photo. We are heading towards the brick building near the top center of the photo."

  5. SD Marty photo of a brick shed (almost like a tiny freight house) at Alamosa. Soph said: "Now we reach that small brick building or shed in the D&RGW yard in Alamosa. It is not near any other structure. My guess is that it might have been used for storage of explosives or inflammables. I think it is a lovely little building which cries to be modeled. Oh, where are you, Thomas A Yorke or Downtown Deco, when we need you?
    "Note the fire hydrant and adjacent water hose. Lovely bit of detail, which in my limited experience, I have not seen modeled. The date remains July 28, 1969."

  6. SD Marty photo of the other side of the brick shed. Soph said: "This is the other side of the builging I showed above. I feel that this building just cries to be modeled. And, as if 1996, it was still standing...and I presume it still is. The yard through town is east-west. At this end, the east end, all the yard tracks curve to the south to head towards the roundhouses and shops...soon. You can see the curved dual gauge tracks."

  7. SD Marty photo of the roundhouse. Soph said: "Still on the D&RGW in Alamosa on July 28, 1969. If you stood by the shed I sent yesterday, and looked south, you would see this small roundhouse. It has five stalls and, as I recall, was standard gauge. Note how the turntable has four rails, the two outer for standard gauge and the two inner for narrow gauge. How do they get from three rail dual gauge to four rails? We will see tomorrow.
    "Note the boxcar to the right of the roundhouse. We will be exploring this area in the near future. What we are doing is starting at the most easterly structure and moving westerly to the other roundhouse and the shops."
    And note the timber-lined turntable pit.

  8. SD Marty photo of the Alamosa, CO turntable and roundhouse. Soph said: "Continuing around with the D&RGW roundhouse and engine hoist in Alamosa, CO. Burnham Shops are behind the hoist and to the right. This is another nearly black slide rescued by the HP S20."

  9. SD Marty photo of the Alamosa yard. Soph said: "We are still in Alamosa, same date.
    "Note how the transition track goes from three-rail dual guage to four-rail. No switch point is necessary, just a guard rail. I have built these on my own model railroad and they work very nicely.
    "Note the space between the standard gauge and the narrow gauge roundhouses. There are five tracks. The K-36's and K-37's were just packed in there, disconnected from their tenders. Since the D&RGW still owned the Durango-Silverton branch, and C&TS was not yet in existance, the locomotives were all slated for scrap. I tried to photograph them. I had a 25 mm lens which distorted the photos so much that I consider them worthless. It was the best I could do. It was depressing..
    "I still have the photos, but I got rid of that lens..."

  10. SD Marty photo of the Alamosa roundhouse. Soph said: "We are still with the D&RGW in Alamosa, July 28, 1969.
    "This is the next slide in the series." (I hope I've posted them in the right order - JN) "The stacked-to-be-scrapped narrow gauge locomotives are to the left. This is part of the narrow gauge roundhouse.
    "The slide is black and virtually worthless, but the magic of the HP S20 brought out the roundhouse colors and detail. I am still amazed by what this scanner will do."

  11. SD Marty photo of the D&RGW Alamosa, CO narrow gauge roundhouse, July 28, 1969. Soph said: "This is a continuation of the other photos; we are moving to the right. This is another nearly black slide rescued by the HP S20. If it is possible to love a scanner, this one is a good candidate. I didn't remember the three tenders stored there until I scanned the slide. They are invisible on the original Kodachrome."

  12. SD Marty photo of Alamosa. Soph said: "The photo shows the D&RGW locomotive hoist in. A whole locomotive could be lifted off its drivers and placed on shop trucks. This is the west end of the hoist. In the other photos with the roundhouse, we were looking at the east end. The end of the roundhouse is at right. The tracks in the foreground belong to the transfer table. Date remains July 28, 1969.
    "The D&RGW does nice weathering!" I hope all this isn't too confusing.

  13. SD Marty photo of Alamosa, CO, on July 28, 1969. Soph said: "We are nearly beneath the east side of the hoist. The narrow gauge roundhouse wall can be seen just to the left. The little gray shed contains the controls for the transfer table, just visible to its right. Burnham shops are in the background. The track to the left, going across the transfer table, is narrow gauge. The track going to and beneath the hoist is four-track dual gauge.
    "Alamosa was a fascinating place, and there is nothing like it left. Neither C&TS nor D&S have any dual gauge track, with all the "fun" (to model) crossings and switches."

  14. SD Marty photo of Alamosa. Soph said: "The D&RGW transfer table in Alamosa was located between the hoist and the shops. This view is looking north, with the hoist on the right and the shadow of the shops on the left. Same date as the others."

  15. SD Marty photo of Alamosa. Soph said: "This is the other side of the D&RGW transfer table. We are now looking south. The end of the narrow gauge roundhouse is on the left and the shadow of the shop is on the right. Can anyone tell me why there are three wires for the electrical power and controls?"

  16. SD Marty photo of Alamosa. Soph said: "We are looking at the east side of the D&RGW shops complex at Alamosa. The narrow gauge roundhouse is at the left. The hoist and transfer table are in the center, and the Burnham shops in the background. The white building near the center right is an office of some sort, but I do not remember what sort. Note all the nice detail junk..."

  17. SD Marty photo of Alamosa.

  18. SD Marty photo of Alamosa.

  19. SD Marty photo of Alamosa.

  20. SD Marty photo of Alamosa.

  21. SD Marty photo of Alamosa. Soph said: "Remember the tracks which curved southward in the photo of the west side of the D&RGW Burnham shops in Alamosa? They led to a smaller transfer table which ran parallel to the south side of the shops. This was a much smaller transfer table and was used primarily for car repair. Cars were placed on the table, moved eastward to behind the building and pulled into the shop. I do not know how the cars were moved. Anyway, this photo is of that smaller transfer table. The wooden fence marks the end of the D&RGW's property. On the other side is a residential area."

  22. SD Marty photo of the coal loader at Alamosa.

  23. Another SD Marty photo of the Alamosa coal loader. Soph said: "As far as I know, Alamosa never had a coaling tower. Unless my memory is faulty - not unusual - Alamosa had a coal trestle. Drop bottom gondolas filled with coal were pushed up the trestle and the coal dumped into bins, from which the tenders were loaded. By the time I arrived in Alamosa, July 28, 1969, the trestle was long gone, and the pictured coal loader had been used. Note the past tense; everything steam was dead. The only thing alive was a diesel switcher.
    "Bill Davis: Note drop bottom gons nos. 751 and 824."

  24. SD Marty photo of Alamosa. Soph said: "When we first began to look at the Alamosa complex, we headed towards a brick shed in the center of the yard. From the shed we turned our view south towards the turntable, roundhouses, and, westward, towards the shops. Now, if we return to the shed and look to the right (north), we will see the D&RGW water column.
    "The water tank stood further to the north and to the east behind a long line of narrow gauge box cars. It was not until I began to pull these slides that I found that I had not photographed the water tank. I do have a nice slide of it shot by Richard Kendig in the late 1940's or early 1950's, but it is a commercial slide sold by Al Chione."

  25. Photo of the Alamosa ash pit. This has dual gauge track into the depressed area (for a gon to be loaded with ashes, via shoveling), but in order to maintain clearances, the three-rail track goes to four.

  26. And another view of the Alamosa ash pit. Note the rail supports, and the "pebblely" type of concrete.

  27. SD Marty photo of the D&RGW's Cumbres & Toltec Scenic R.R.'s well maintained water tank and handcar shed at Antonito, CO, photographed on September 16, 1989. Soph said: "Note the hatch in the tank roof. The ladder on the roof to the hatch is in place, but the ladder from the ground up to the roof is missing. I wonder if that was to keep idiot tourists and railfans from climbing to get a downward shot of the train as it was leaving?"

  28. SD Marty photo of the Amtrak depot at Borie. A post-steam era type of construction. Soph said: "What I am doing is just going through the alphabet. Some will be exciting and much will be boring. This offering is 'boring'" (or is that Borie - Ed.) "The structure is the Amtrak Depot at Borie, Wyo, as seen on August 13, 1981. When you see in the next photo what Amtrak has done to the area, you may understand why not all of us love Amtrak.
    "Amtrak would come north out of Denver to Cheyenne, pull into the UP Depot, heading east, uncouple the locomotives, run around the train, and couple to the other end to continue the trip west, a very time consuming operation. By building the depot out in the country at Borie, Amtrak could just come north, take the Speer cut-off, stop briefly at Borie, and then head on west. Passengers were bussed between Borie and Cheyenne."

  29. SD Marty photo of a second Amtrak depot at Borie, WY. Soph said: "Scroll forward about 15 years (June 5, 1995), and we have a little dump with a port-a-pottie. Passengers generally waited aboard the bus for the train to arrive, no matter how late it might be. A station agent was present only when the train was due, otherwise, the place (?) was kept locked up. "
    Tim O'Connor send the following on Borie: "I visited Borie in 1991 and there was NOTHING there at that time but a patch of asphalt. I think Amtrak installed the port-a-pottie shortly after that! I suppose it's all gone now, since the Pioneer was pulled off a few years ago."

  30. SD Marty photo of the Amtrak depot at Lapeer, MI. Soph said: "Rachel and I were driving to Nova Scotia when we encountered the Amtrak depot at Lapeer, MI, on May 27, 1988. Not very exciting. Just a neat little station which cries for modeling."
    This is a classic Queen Anne style depot of the 1880's - WWI era. The use of a belt rail and contrasting trim above and below the rail is the epitome of the Ruskinian philosophy of decoration that held sway then, to use the intrinsic nature of the building material itself for contrast. The hip roof is another hallmark of Queen Anne depots.

  31. A photo from the SD Marty collection of old-time Corry PA (1861), with an Atlantic & Great Western box car.

  32. SD Marty photo of a turntable on the Atlantic & Western. (It is neat how it is so buried in the foliage.)

  33. SD Marty photo of an Atlantic Coast Line roundhouse.

  34. And an SD Marty photo of the adjacent yard. (Boy, that picture would also make a neat backdrop.

  35. SD Marty photo of the D&RGW's depot at Antonito. Boy, it looks strange to me, like either someone's idea of what a Victorian building should look like, or a resheathing (aluminum siding?) over the original walls. The trim in the gables suggest medieval half-timbering, and thus I would look for other Queen Anne touches, such as wainscoting of a different type of siding.
    Soph said: "We will move on to a small number of photos at Antonito.
    "The luscious narrow gauge structures are at Chama and, if we all live long enough, we will get to those slides. There simply is not much left at Antonito.
    "The C&TS depot at Antonito, CO was photographed on September 16, 1989. I do not have earlier photos of Antonito.
    "In 1969, my family and I visited Alamosa, and then went to Durango and Silverton. When we left Durango, we went to Chama, then straight south to El Paso. Unfortunately, there was insufficient time to visit Antonito. Just as well; the road between Chama and Antonito was the old one, and not to be taken lightly. "

  36. Soph said that just down the street from the Livery Stable and the Gilpin Hotel in Blackhawk, CO, is the so-called "Lace House" (a textbook example of Carpenter Gothic if ever I saw one). Check our section on architectural history for more information on this.