Ummmm, please don’t tell me that you had to pay for that.
On to Construction…
Heavy timbers and even heavier chains! The big bucket is digging its way to 42nd. and Park avenue!
Lots of earth to remove!
Click to make bigger, so many details to see!
GCT_1908-W by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
Clicking on Eds 1908 construction photos allows me to see to see the workers on site, therefore giving me something to be able to scale the magnitude of the work being undertaken. Ok, they had steam power but I bet there was still a lot of sweat that went into that job.
While we may intellectually accept that’s how construction was done back then, I think it is hard to actually imagine it, more so if we go back a generation or two when only horse power, manpower, and dynamite was available. (Modern Health and Safety Authorities would have conniptions!)
This diorama is at the Tawhiti Museum in Taranaki. It is a prime example not only of scratch building everything, but also of employing “forced perspective” as the diorama would only be 18 inches deep. I’ve been lucky enough to talk to the modelmaker on a couple of occasions, a very talented but very modest gentleman
Click on photo to enlarge…
Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them. Kia Kaha.
Cheers, the Bear. 
Nope. It’s NASA.
Good morning, folks. Rain just finished moving through the area last night and it seems like we got quite a bit. Seems like it’ll be a pretty nice day all things considered!
Railroad construction seems like a very interesting topic. I’ll see what I can dig up on the first railroads being constructed through Indian Territory since it gives me an excuse to dive into the rail history of my home state.
In the meantime, you’ll have to contend with railroad reconstruction. The Rock Island in the mid 1930s went through great lengths to improve its rail network - particularly its bridges - so every mile of trackage could support their fleet of freight Northerns. When they were originally built in 1929, their range was limited, I believe due to how heavy they were. The effort was well worth it, though! 1933-1955 was easily the most prosperous period the Rock Island had.
Good morning, everyone. There are lots of happy people in my area – it rained last night. It’s just what farmers needed and soon they will start planting corn.
If you are interested in space, space travel, and rockets, be sure to go to the SpaceX website. SpaceX is launching rockets nearly every other day, with the main rocket landing and being reused. Compared to five years ago, when the landings were hit or miss, they are virtually flawless today. All the launches are shown live on the site, and they have great graphics of the launch and flight information, as well as live video from the rocket itself. Very neat!
https://www.spacex.com/launches/ng24
This is the Union Pacific construction in Weber Canyon, Utah. As Bear mentioned, it’s hard to imagine the manual labor involved in building railroads back then!
Have a great day, everyone.
Hello everyone. Just got back from a little vacation. Trying to catch up on diner happenings. I’ll post more later. I’ll try to find a photo of the neat railroad bridge I saw while driving on the interstate. Rode the MBTA train, but didn’t get a great picture of it. I’ll post what I did get later.
Cheers!
What do the initials G C T IMPT below the NYC emblem stand for?
Grand Central Terminal Improvement. Below is from ChatGPT:
- the current terminal was built between 1903 and 1913 as part of a massive reconstruction and electrification project.
- Contemporary railroad practice commonly labeled construction equipment with the project name or department it was assigned to.
- The entire undertaking was widely referred to as the Grand Central improvement project—covering excavation, track lowering, electrification, and the creation of “Terminal City” above the yards.
So a steam shovel marked “NYC RR – GCT IMPT.” would indicate:
Property of the New York Central Railroad, assigned to the Grand Central Terminal Improvements work.
Thanks.
Good morning, everyone. It’s another rainy morning on the mid-plains.
I won’t be visiting the diner for several days – we’re spending the holiday with kids and grandkids. We’ll be driving this afternoon. I don’t particularly like driving in the rain, but we should be out of the wet weather within a short time.
Laying track in the 1800s:
Laying track in the 2000s:
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Hope ya have a great and safe time!
If you get the “Movies!” TV network…
On Tuesday you can watch Beneath, Escape, Conquest and Battle for the Planet of the Apes while Artemis swings around “The”. You know, we really need a better name for our moon than “The”. 
Gidday Chloe, I hope the two Johns both have safe and pleasant travels.
When discussing railway construction, it should be remembered that some railway schemes were based more on optimism than practicality. While looking for early railway construction photos, I came across this photo of Te Karaka Station in 1909.
Gisborne Rotorua Railway. by Bear, on Flickr
“THE ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN FROM GISBORNE AT TE KARAKA STATION, POVERTY BAY.”
From the Auckland Weekly News, 8 April 1909. “On The Gisborne-Rotorua Railway Route.”
Photographer: M. McMahon, Auckland Weekly News.
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19090408-09-03
No known copyright restrictions.
The locomotive is a NZR D class, 2-4-0T, 33 of which saw service with the NZR serving from 1874 until 1927, with all then serving with various owners on industrial work for many years. 7 have been preserved with two in operation.
Two Neilson & Co built D class worked the Moutohora Branch from 1902 until 1910, D 143, and possibly D144 (?).
What caught my eye was the “On the Gisborne-Rotorua Railway Route” title. Prior to 1902, no doubt fuelled by a large amount of parochial provincialism this was a “great scheme” connecting Gisborne on the isolated East Coast directly to the North.
In reality, with construction starting in 1902 the Moutohora Branch only reached a total length of 48 miles, reaching its terminus at Moutohora, November 1917, the line requiring major earthworks, two viaducts, various bridges, 4 tunnels, tight curves ,and grades up to 1 in 30 to get that far!.
While it had crossed the main divide, 13 separate surveys carried out up to 1920 failed to find a practical route, and while another survey was undertaken in 1928, with the East Coast Main Truck reaching Taneatua, with Just (with a capital J) a gap of 78 miles, the Great Depression followed by WW2 put paid to that scheme.
Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them. Kia Kaha.
Cheers, the Bear.
Howdy diners! Janie, a big glass of milk and a pile of chocolate chip cookies please.
Finally got the station platform finished and in place on the layout. Yes, it still needs figures and maybe a couple other details like trash bins and luggage wagons, but for now, it’s done. Pay no attention to the background. I don’t have a nice layout space, unlike most of you guys.
Then, apparently just to get one last dig in at me, one of the LED’s started flickering after it was installed. Great. It has stopped though, so I’m not messing with it at the moment. I can still pop the roof off in case I need to. Here it is after dark. The LED’s cast a warmer, more yellow tone than what shows in the photo, but this is pretty close.
