Model Forum / General / Railroads / February 2010

Rode through Indio on my bike last weekend and was surprised to see
that the Southern Pacific's old enginehouse was still standing.  So I
rode back down there with my camera today (Jan 31, '10) and took a few
pictures.

This is the entire structure as seen from just off Hwy 111 looking
north west.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320029917/sizes/l/

This is where I parked the bike to take the first photo: right next to
an abandoned flatcar loading ramp in the middle of what used to be the
S.P.'s Indio yards.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320028679/sizes/l/

Some detail for anyone who'd like to model a prototypical loading
ramp. It's built of structural steel shapes and poured concrete. I
suspect it's still there only because it would take a small nuke to
move it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320764134/sizes/l/

The coupler pad is made of 1/2" sheet steel backed with perhaps two
dozen sheets of 1/2" plywood. The steel has been bent, and the plywood
crushed over the decades.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320032259/sizes/l/

Enginehouse as seen from the south west. Note there are four run-
through bays capable of housing two cab-forwards in each one.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320026113/sizes/l/

Abandoned enginehouse interior. Of interest are the arched brick
floors (worth a mint these days) that promoted drainage from leaky
steam engines, the filled-in drain troughs that sit just outside the
railheads, the similarly filled-in service pits that were once between
the rails, and the black/white paint that was once on the structural
uprights: presumably to keep workers from walking into them.

If you look closely at the right hand side of the picture you can also
see the rotted remains of the wooden louvers that once ran between the
uprights and passed for enginehouse walls. (Summer temperatures in
Indio are frequently well above 100 degrees, so rather than use real
walls the S.P. filled the places where they would normally go with
overlapping 1' wooden louvers that shaded the work area while still
allowing the passage of fresh air and the escape of the hot air and
fumes that came along with occupancy by multiple steam locomotives.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320025107/sizes/l/

Even the roof was made of prestressed and steel-reinforced concrete!
Why? Because the San Andreas fault lies only a couple of miles north
of the enginehouse, and the ever-generous S.P. didn't want the whole
thing falling on the shop workers -and the very expensive steam
locomotives inside- in case the Big One hit.

Note the cast-in holes that were originally there for the now long-
gone smokejacks. Note also the fifty-year-old remains of steam engine
smoke stains on the underside of the roof. West is to the left in this
picture, and the prevailing west winds in Indio blew through the
louvers and would have pushed the smoke to the right of the picture
which explains why the stains are mainly to the left side of the old
smokejack's locations.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320072613/sizes/l/

Just west of the enginehouse, the foundations of the old 60,000 gallon
water tank till stand. Note that someone has driven into one of the
old concrete footing blocks and snapped it in half!

This would likely have had interesting side-effects if the water tank
had still been there -and full- at the time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320027487/sizes/l/

I also managed to locate the old footings for the water tank at Garnet
(just west of Palm Springs) on my way back home. The sand dunes have
about half-covered the remains.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320767768/sizes/l/

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4320035533/sizes/l/

Steam is long gone, but traces yet remain for those who would search
them out.

~Pete