# UINTAH Homepage



## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

http://home.bresnan.net/~bpratt15/index.htm 

Need compilation of the Gilsonite RR

Manfred


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## Ron Senek (Jan 2, 2008)

Manfred I volunteer at Cross Orchards Museum where they restore Unitah equipment and rolling stock. Workforce is getting old. 
Ron


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Tk's or the post.. Very interesting reading and didn't know much about that R.R.


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

Good to hear from you ,Ron!! 
Could you get your hands on a couple # of gilsonite,please? Manfred


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Manfred

Unless you are modelling one of the gilsonite mines, you really don't need the real stuff. At the mine the gilsonite was put in large cloth (burlap) bags (my guess is about 100 pounds) and stacked on flat cars. Once in the bags it didn't see the light of day until it got to the end user.

If you want something that will substitute find some hard coal that is very shinny. Anthracite would be a very good substitute. When I cleaned my chimney, there was a shinny black residue that would also make a good substitute.

Chuck


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## Ron Senek (Jan 2, 2008)

Manfred - We drove the whole Unitah route about a month ago and all the mines are preserved as historical sites. Ron


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

A few years ago i had a chunk gilsonite,reading in a historical magazine that some people used it ,believed its coal and set their log cabin on fire! I tried the same (outside of course) and after ignition that stuff burns like a candle it liquified very fast and keeps burning what ever is in the way! i am not a pyromaniac ,just explorative!!(Got a match?) 

Manfred


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

For those who might be interested, there is an excellent book on the Uintah Railway (The Gilsonite Route), by Henry Bender, available from Amazon Books. 

Larry


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## stevedenver (Jan 6, 2008)

and the two vol set by rodge polley is amazing _The Uintah Railway -Sundance Publications

i recently was luck enough to get a set and have been really enthralled with it 

-one of the few that really gives the flavor not only of the rr itself, but what it was like in the surrounding area for those that lived by and used the Uintah 
amazing set of books-i think no longer available , and i think too sundance is more or less shutting down-or fading away gently 

i had known about uintah from cleggs early NG in the rockies, but had no idea what a cool rr it was-info was always sparse and the unique mallets (or were they compounds or whatever) were always the highlight of most info
, and the simply toy like sharpness of some of its curves and grades 
really a western desert railroad 


fwiw, LGB had a brass prototype of the 0-6-2 T (Baldwin with side tanks) in consideration for production at one time- 
a unique rr indeed -shays, rail truck, consolidation that could only run half way due to the curves being too tight,-0-6-2's , mallets, excursion cars, 

a superb rr to try to model imho, with not too much brain damage in being able to find appropriate equipment

and while the combine shown in the link above is what i always pictured as uintah passenger stock, 
they actually used the conventional wood sides , ala LGB, aristo, bachman etc and that is what is mostly pcitured in my books, 

the rr was a community anchor for its area until the arrival and popular use of the auto -shuffling folks back an forth between points on the line as well as over baxter pass

and i was amused when i saw the latest LGB/marklin uintah mallet (which i thought was handsome if not accurate) -with its green tanks-

i thought they had taken liberties-
But, as it turns out, based on my Polley books 

there is evidence that in fact this was the correct paint scheme, not engine black!


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