Re: Mis-Labeled Photos at DPL part 4: C&S Content.

Yeah, Ken,

Here is the description:

Portrait of a Navajo woman. Her hair is pulled back, she wears a patterned blouse, and is wrapped in a blanket. She has a squash blossom necklace and a turquoise heishe necklace around her neck, a silver concho belt, and a silver bracelet. She stands on a sheep skin. A Navajo rug is draped over a chair.

In looking at the photo, I see no patterned blouse, no blanket, no squash Blossom necklace (but a nice Cameo), no turquoise Heishe or Silver Concho belt or bracelet. No blanket or chair, either. She has nice leather gloves and a purse or messengers case with her and she is holding a circular hat of some sort.

Obviously the wrong description with the wrong photo.

As far as the question about dirt between the rails. I really can't tell you why they did that unless it was an early way to try to keep the rails and ties from shifting back and forth when used.

There were no rail anchors in use then to keep the ties from shifting, but I do see curve anchors to keep the rail from rolling. The majority of the ties are adzed, but there seem to be a few cut ones interspersed here and there. There are also no tie plates whatsoever. The Rail Joints look to be the usual four-bolt style.

I have seen this type of track in many other early railroad photos. Of course, this was before the day of track inspections and minimum maintenance standards. There was no Excepted or Class 1 through 6 track as defined by the ICC and later the FRA.

Rick