Cumbres Pass snowshed work in 2007

[John Cole]

In session F in 2007, my telegraph pole team did some emergency repairs on the Cumbres snow shed replacing a rotted telephone pole that was causing the roof to sag.

In photo #2710 from left to right is Chris Trunk, Eric Jensen, Chris Jensen, and Matt Jensen, as well as Bandit the dog working on replacing the bad pole. When we started pulling back the roof, we discovered that a section of the header was rotten and had to have a replacement section spliced in.

In Photo #2713 Bandit's owner Bill was helping us with the fitting and drilling holes in the replacement header piece for the steel doubler plates we added on the outside of the splice.

In #2715 that little excavator may look like a toy but it sure does some serious work and weighs over 3 & 1/2 tons.

In #2714 you can see where one of the 4"X6" rafters had broken under heavy snow load and how much the roof had sagged now with the new one installed next to the broken one.

In #2718 shows a section of the 8"X12" header that had to be replaced and spliced into the remaining header. The roof and side boards are pressure treated 2X12's and the battons are 1X3's.

In #2722 you have a interesting view of the section house and carman's house seen from 20' up on the snowshed.

In #2724 shows a rooftop view of the tail of the wye where (I think) Al Harper is proposing the location of the covered amphitheater. I hope you found my post interesting.

[Greg Raven]

Gotta say, I am no expert on structures, but this thing looks unstable!
Note the primary supports are not sunk in the ground, but look like they rest on timbers or maybe even ties.
There are braces on the interior upper corners, but they look pretty wimpy and some look kinda dried out.

I can't remember, but does it have buttresses on the outside?

Also I seem to recall the entire area is very wet and swamp-like- unstable ground?

I wonder if anyone understood the precise failure mechanism of the original structure.

[John Cole]

Yes there are many outside braces on the snowshed. The drainage was an issue before John Engs team installed a culvert under the tracks to drain off the lake that would sometimes form in the spring from snow runoff. Having walked on top the structure many times, and considering that the winter after these pictures were taken we had something like 15' of snow on the ground up there. Our work proved to be quite timely.

One of my first phone calls to Roger that winter was "please get some photos of the snowshed". For quite awhile, all he could do was stand on the roof of his SUV at the grade crossing and only see snow. I was VERY HAPPY when there was enough snow melt to see photos of the shed doing just fine.

[Greg Raven]

I found my pictures from 2007. I will comment after the images. Also, the full sized images can be seen here:
http://railroadtelegraph.com/pictures/thumbnails.php?album=8

[Greg Raven]

If you look at the high resolution pictures on my site, it looks like the angle braces on the upper inside corners are either rotting out or very dry wood at best.
I don't know how much these braces actually help strengthen the structure.

The buttressing poles on the outside are not impressive in my humble opinion. How are they set in the ground?

This structure is called a "snow shed", but perhaps it should be called a "snow accumulator". Totally flat roof, and even a bowl shape has developed in one area.
No wonder the thing collapsed before, not because of just age, but not a good snow country design???
Like many things narrow gauge, it would have been hastily built and never intended to last for decades.

What clever innovations could be developed to decrease the snow loading in winter?
Obviously you could put a peaked metal false roof. But that would be horribly historically inaccurate and the whining would never cease.

Is there some special coating or other mechanism that could be applied to a flat roof to decrease the snow loading?

[Greg Raven]

I thought of a possible simple solution. How about removing every other board from the top decking?
Maybe a bad idea, just brainstorming.

[John Cole]

Thanks for the photos Greg, I fergawt you came up there. I will have to dig up my picture of you over by the section house at the Friends dinner that night. Incredible place to have the work session dinner at the section house watching the sunset during the dinner.

BTW, on your photo of the shed on the end of the snowshed, did you notice that the 'walls' are the old doors of the Antonito engine house?

[Greg Raven]

BTW, on your photo of the shed on the end of the snowshed, did you notice that the 'walls' are the old doors of the Antonito engine house?

I never noticed! That's a cool fact. Are they really from Antonito or Alamosa?

Greg

[John Cole]

Gee Greg, I don't know for sure. I always assumed that they were the original doors from the NEW engine house in Antonito, and they upgraded them later to steel roll up. I will ask around, perhaps someone here knows.

[Greg Raven]

Ohhhhh I didn't understand you meant the NEW Antonito engine house. I was assuming you meant the original Antonito engine house...

Greg

[Jason Rose]

Here is an additional photo from John Cole. He asked to post this for him.

Great shot, John!

[Joe Kanocz]

Nice pic, how about this one for photo of the week?