Didn't he make a cameo appearance in your thread? There must be a story for that, at the very least.
(That's cameo appearance, not camero appearance.
)CK5
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The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)
- Thread starter mosesburb
- Start date
Didn't he make a cameo appearance in your thread? There must be a story for that, at the very least.
(That's cameo appearance, not camero appearance.
)
We met up at overland expo. We chatted about trucks for a while. He told me he was way behind on the trip reports and tech updates.
Thanks!! Glad you like them.
Bump. Surely this truck has done something in the last several months.
Update?
It has. Many, many miles through some amazing country.
Sniff, but I do. I really do. In fact, some of the tech I'm late on involves my trucks fans and more replacements thereof.
Didn't he make a cameo appearance in your thread? There must be a story for that, at the very least.
(That's cameo appearance, not camero appearance.
Yeah, that's about how it went. It was muddy as **** there so we turned it into a day trip and didn't stay.
We got back from a vacation Friday before last (non-Suburban vacation) and I have been sick ever since. Multiple days off work, professional medical assistance sought, etc. Has not been fun. New prescription tonight. Hopefully this is the winner. I am soooooo sick of being sick.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Le about being sick! That's no fun!
That's what you get for going on a non-suburban vacation.
I giggle at the brotherhood love in this post.
Hope you feel better soon, Nick......it is damn story time anyways.
Didn't you find away to tear down and repair said disco fans?
DW
DW
You're not kidding....
It did involve a Chevy truck that had one of those LS motors in it.
I giggle at the brotherhood love in this post.
Hope you feel better soon, Nick......it is damn story time anyways.
Yeah, the love and concern for my well-being is touching.
So...you're replacing some of your fans? This could be taken multiple ways...
Yes.
Not sure what you are asking there??
So, about a year ago, I had read about an abandoned train tunnel on an old alignment of the Santa Fe railroad in northern Arizona. I had seen a few pictures of it and thought it would be a fun day trip, so after doing some research on the area, I threw the boy in the truck and we were off to the great unknown.
The tunnel is east of Ashfork, west of Williams and north of I-40. After exiting I-40 we crossed a very old alignment of Route 66:
Along the way we passed Johnson Crater. I don't have any good pics to post of it, but it is kind of funny reading what people think caused it. It is a volcanic sink hole, but some people believe it to be an impact crater from a meteor. No idea what the rationale is behind that idea?? Anyways, before too long we find ourselves on an old railroad grade:
One nice thing about railroad grades is they are a nice gradual grade.
Shortly after this we came upon this seemingly insignificant obstacle:
It doesn't look like much, but we are on an elevated grade here and this area is washed out and the cut into the road is very deep. Now, after we returned I was doing some more research on the area and found a post somewhere that had some Toyota FJ Cruiser guys stopped dead in their tracks here because they said it is impassable by anything wider than a side-by-side. Good thing I didn't read that before we went as I would have known ahead of time that my Suburban would not fit. Not knowing this, however, allowed my very narrow and svelte Suburban to pass this obstacle with no troubles at all. Live and learn. I'm glad my truck is not as wide as an FJ....
Railroad remnants:
This picture shows some of the shoring used on the hillside to keep the grade in place:
A trip report wouldn't be complete without this:
First view of the tunnel:
A little closer:
I have read that the trail directly in front of the tunnel was a trestle and when they got rid of it they just back filled right over the trestle eliminating it as a fire hazard. I don't know if that is actually true or not, but I found it interesting nonetheless.
If you look a little above the tunnel and to the right, you will see the remnants of some history pertaining to the tunnel. Let's go back in time to WW2 when this line was the main line connecting the ports and factories of the west coast with the rest of the country. This tunnel held tremendous strategic value to the United States as well as those wishing to do her harm. It was decided that the tunnel needed protection from saboteurs. A guard shack was built up on the side of the hill offering a grand view of many miles of track leading to the tunnel from the west. I have read that there was also a tunnel on the east side, but I was not able to locate any remnants of it. Anyway, an armed guard was stationed in the shack to provide 24hr protection of the vital tunnel. This is what remains of the west guard shack:
We wandered around the hill on the outside of the tunnel where there was remains of a "service road/trail". My guess is it was used during construction as well as by the security crews. We found several can dumps along the way, indicating that it may have been an area used for preparing meals for the crews. Interestingly, the camps used by the tunnel construction crews is way up on top of the mesa above the tunnel. I have talked with a couple people that have hiked up there and they said there are no remnants of anything left up there.
The east end of the tunnel:
Because of the significant importance of the tunnel in east-west shipping, it was determined that the tunnel would benefit from a steel lining on the roof to protect from cave-ins. They used 3/8" boiler plate and hot riveted the stuff together in place. What a job.
It really adds a stunning element to an already super-cool tunnel.
As with so many places we go, the craftsmanship of the bygone era is very impressive. This is a 100% utilitarian tunnel, but instead of just slapping some grout in the walls, they actually took the time to trowel it off and strike the joints. Pride in workmanship.
So we came out the west end of the tunnel and we were wandering across the filled in trestle back toward the truck and I heard it first, but my boy saw it first:
It's right in the middle of the picture.
A cropped in cut of the picture to highlight the item:
It blends in pretty well, doesn't it?? I knew we were in no danger as we were on the right track of a two track and it was on the left side of the left track, but that didn't help my boy. He pretty much lost it right there. I then realized he had never seen a rattle snake in the wild before. If you've been following along, you know we have seen many snakes in our travels, but not a rattle snake when my boy was with me. It took some time, but I finally got him to calm down some. The whole scene traumatized him for awhile and it wasn't until we went over to my buddy Russ' house a few days later, that he finally started to believe what I was telling him about what they can do and how far they can strike etc. Russ is a keeper of snakes and very knowledgeable on the subject and was able to impart upon my boy the things to look for and distances to maintain for maximum safety.
The tunnel is east of Ashfork, west of Williams and north of I-40. After exiting I-40 we crossed a very old alignment of Route 66:
Along the way we passed Johnson Crater. I don't have any good pics to post of it, but it is kind of funny reading what people think caused it. It is a volcanic sink hole, but some people believe it to be an impact crater from a meteor. No idea what the rationale is behind that idea?? Anyways, before too long we find ourselves on an old railroad grade:
One nice thing about railroad grades is they are a nice gradual grade.
Shortly after this we came upon this seemingly insignificant obstacle:
It doesn't look like much, but we are on an elevated grade here and this area is washed out and the cut into the road is very deep. Now, after we returned I was doing some more research on the area and found a post somewhere that had some Toyota FJ Cruiser guys stopped dead in their tracks here because they said it is impassable by anything wider than a side-by-side. Good thing I didn't read that before we went as I would have known ahead of time that my Suburban would not fit. Not knowing this, however, allowed my very narrow and svelte Suburban to pass this obstacle with no troubles at all. Live and learn. I'm glad my truck is not as wide as an FJ....
Railroad remnants:
This picture shows some of the shoring used on the hillside to keep the grade in place:
A trip report wouldn't be complete without this:
First view of the tunnel:
A little closer:
I have read that the trail directly in front of the tunnel was a trestle and when they got rid of it they just back filled right over the trestle eliminating it as a fire hazard. I don't know if that is actually true or not, but I found it interesting nonetheless.
If you look a little above the tunnel and to the right, you will see the remnants of some history pertaining to the tunnel. Let's go back in time to WW2 when this line was the main line connecting the ports and factories of the west coast with the rest of the country. This tunnel held tremendous strategic value to the United States as well as those wishing to do her harm. It was decided that the tunnel needed protection from saboteurs. A guard shack was built up on the side of the hill offering a grand view of many miles of track leading to the tunnel from the west. I have read that there was also a tunnel on the east side, but I was not able to locate any remnants of it. Anyway, an armed guard was stationed in the shack to provide 24hr protection of the vital tunnel. This is what remains of the west guard shack:
We wandered around the hill on the outside of the tunnel where there was remains of a "service road/trail". My guess is it was used during construction as well as by the security crews. We found several can dumps along the way, indicating that it may have been an area used for preparing meals for the crews. Interestingly, the camps used by the tunnel construction crews is way up on top of the mesa above the tunnel. I have talked with a couple people that have hiked up there and they said there are no remnants of anything left up there.
The east end of the tunnel:
Because of the significant importance of the tunnel in east-west shipping, it was determined that the tunnel would benefit from a steel lining on the roof to protect from cave-ins. They used 3/8" boiler plate and hot riveted the stuff together in place. What a job.
It really adds a stunning element to an already super-cool tunnel.
As with so many places we go, the craftsmanship of the bygone era is very impressive. This is a 100% utilitarian tunnel, but instead of just slapping some grout in the walls, they actually took the time to trowel it off and strike the joints. Pride in workmanship.
So we came out the west end of the tunnel and we were wandering across the filled in trestle back toward the truck and I heard it first, but my boy saw it first:
It's right in the middle of the picture.
A cropped in cut of the picture to highlight the item:
It blends in pretty well, doesn't it?? I knew we were in no danger as we were on the right track of a two track and it was on the left side of the left track, but that didn't help my boy. He pretty much lost it right there. I then realized he had never seen a rattle snake in the wild before. If you've been following along, you know we have seen many snakes in our travels, but not a rattle snake when my boy was with me. It took some time, but I finally got him to calm down some. The whole scene traumatized him for awhile and it wasn't until we went over to my buddy Russ' house a few days later, that he finally started to believe what I was telling him about what they can do and how far they can strike etc. Russ is a keeper of snakes and very knowledgeable on the subject and was able to impart upon my boy the things to look for and distances to maintain for maximum safety.
So with that behind us, we ventured back to the intersection of the trail and the railroad grade where a section house once stood. We found some items abandoned in the area:
I thought this foundation was from the section house, but after some research I found it was actually the foundation of a bunkhouse. In my research I found a copy of the title when the railroad sold the section house to a woman after the line had been bypassed. I found a plat for the site too.
Bunkhouse foundation:
So we went wandering around the area and found, on the other side of a fence, the junk pile from the bunkhouse.
It was pretty neat as back then garbage was thrown over the fence and that was that. As typical the organic and paper had long since decomposed and or blown away, but the cans and glass were still there. One neat thing we found in the garbage was pieces of the dinner china used in the Santa Fe dining cars. Some routes had their own china and different time periods had different pieces as well. Really neat finding this stuff out there.
An old coffee cup:
So after we had our fill of junk, we headed back down to that old alignment of Route 66. We headed west to a place called Stone Dam:
In the early days of railroad the steam engines needed water--a lot of it if they were pulling a hill. One thing that northern Arizona is not known for is surface water. The railroad built a steel dam years before the stone dam, but it was quickly realized more water would be needed so they built the larger Stone Dam. It is very utilitarian and not much to look at. The Steel Dam, however is quite different.
The approach:
The underside with paint test information on it:
The business side:
Pretty neat. I had never seen anything like it before. So we got back out of where we were and back on that old alignment of 66. we went past where we had crossed it to go to the train tunnel and found ourselves heading down a surprisingly nice piece of old road:
We were on a shelf road on the side of a hill when we came to a washout:
On the other side of the washout was modern day:
Looking back the way we came in:
So we decided we had seen what we wanted to see for the day and got turned around and headed toward home. On the way back we stopped at a neat old alignment of US89.
It was really neat with the two old bridges right next to each other. I asked my boy if he wanted to head down the old alignment and meet up with the new road or if he wanted to head back out to the new road now. He opted for traveling the old road. My choice too. Maybe not the best idea though. The old alignment showed to meet up with the new road about 7-8 miles south of where we were according to my map. Well, it kind of did, but there was a game fence the entire way. We continued on looking for an opening in the fence, but never found one. All we found was more godforsaken pinion pine trees. The further we went the closer they got together and the narrower the trail became. I ma still cleaning that crap out of the truck to this day. We ended up having to back-track all the way to the new road to get back on it. No big deal other than dealing with the pinion pine debris. Man that stuff is resilient. We got back on the road and headed south. We stopped in Prescott for some food and came back through the Black Canyon as usual. All in all it was a fantastic day trip that will probably never be forgotten by my boy.
I thought this foundation was from the section house, but after some research I found it was actually the foundation of a bunkhouse. In my research I found a copy of the title when the railroad sold the section house to a woman after the line had been bypassed. I found a plat for the site too.
Bunkhouse foundation:
So we went wandering around the area and found, on the other side of a fence, the junk pile from the bunkhouse.
It was pretty neat as back then garbage was thrown over the fence and that was that. As typical the organic and paper had long since decomposed and or blown away, but the cans and glass were still there. One neat thing we found in the garbage was pieces of the dinner china used in the Santa Fe dining cars. Some routes had their own china and different time periods had different pieces as well. Really neat finding this stuff out there.
An old coffee cup:
So after we had our fill of junk, we headed back down to that old alignment of Route 66. We headed west to a place called Stone Dam:
In the early days of railroad the steam engines needed water--a lot of it if they were pulling a hill. One thing that northern Arizona is not known for is surface water. The railroad built a steel dam years before the stone dam, but it was quickly realized more water would be needed so they built the larger Stone Dam. It is very utilitarian and not much to look at. The Steel Dam, however is quite different.
The approach:
The underside with paint test information on it:
The business side:
Pretty neat. I had never seen anything like it before. So we got back out of where we were and back on that old alignment of 66. we went past where we had crossed it to go to the train tunnel and found ourselves heading down a surprisingly nice piece of old road:
We were on a shelf road on the side of a hill when we came to a washout:
On the other side of the washout was modern day:
Looking back the way we came in:
So we decided we had seen what we wanted to see for the day and got turned around and headed toward home. On the way back we stopped at a neat old alignment of US89.
It was really neat with the two old bridges right next to each other. I asked my boy if he wanted to head down the old alignment and meet up with the new road or if he wanted to head back out to the new road now. He opted for traveling the old road. My choice too. Maybe not the best idea though. The old alignment showed to meet up with the new road about 7-8 miles south of where we were according to my map. Well, it kind of did, but there was a game fence the entire way. We continued on looking for an opening in the fence, but never found one. All we found was more godforsaken pinion pine trees. The further we went the closer they got together and the narrower the trail became. I ma still cleaning that crap out of the truck to this day. We ended up having to back-track all the way to the new road to get back on it. No big deal other than dealing with the pinion pine debris. Man that stuff is resilient. We got back on the road and headed south. We stopped in Prescott for some food and came back through the Black Canyon as usual. All in all it was a fantastic day trip that will probably never be forgotten by my boy.
Great as usual. Did you drive through the tunnel? How long of a tunnel is it?
Martin
Martin
I thought the electric fans on the burb were not ava anymore (disco) but you had figured a way around that...
That's one of the neatest trip reports you've done, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about that train tunnel
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Thanks for sharing! Always great fun!
The steel tunnel roof is really cool.
Great stuff
You expo guys make me want to build and expo rig sooooo bad
You expo guys make me want to build and expo rig sooooo bad
Great stuff
You expo guys make me want to build and expo rig sooooo bad
This. I love these trip reports.
Good work, as usual!
Tunnel is about 1/4mi long, but has a radius to it that prevents looking straight through it. We didn't drive through it as there are some mounds of dirt at both ends of it and the trail pretty much ends at the other end of the tunnel. It would be very difficult to turn the truck around past the tunnel.
No, the Hayden electric pusher fans are still available, but I will never use another one on anything in my fleet. The Horton fan clutch is the long discontinued piece.
That's one of the neatest trip reports you've done, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about that train tunnel
Thanks!!
Glad you liked it!!
It is really impressive in person. The magnitude of the job can not be accurately represented in photographs.
Great stuff
You expo guys make me want to build and expo rig sooooo bad
Thanks!! Really, no expo rig needed for this type of stuff. I could have run this whole deal in my daily driver. The key is actually getting out of the driveway.
This. I love these trip reports.
Good work, as usual!
Thanks!!
Very cool man! I like it.
