Monday and Tuesday, November 17 and 18, saw the MD&SM crew buiding a trestle bridge across Black Widow Gultch. The original plan called for concrete footings poured on sight. With news of the arrival of Engine #3, the crew chose a quicker way of footing the trestle bents. Some prototype bents are placed on one foot diameter posts (piles) driven into soft earth. These bents are on four to six inch copper tube piles. Each bent has two piles instead of the prototype five. There is a one inch long piece of half inch dowel nailed to the bent sill. The dowels fit into the copper tubing and hold the bent in place.
In preparation to run Engine #3, track was laid over Black Widow Gultch to Rattle Snake Hill on Tuesday, November 18.
To Mojave Desert and Southwest Mountains Railroad home