Re: Early NG D&RG films from 1890's, 1900's, and 1910's.
| November 19, 2020 09:54AM |
GeorgeGaskill Wrote:
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> Machines of Iron has a video of the Uintah.
It is my understanding that that is made from Sprague family home movies and dating from the 1920's and/or early 1930's.
As to the original question, after the Silver Crash in '93 the narrow gauge lines are fading from the public eye. There are far fewer pictures taken by professional photographers and the lines are generally regarded as out of date and unimportant. Even most of the people who depend on them seem to consider them obsolete and are pushing for them to be standard gauged ASAP.The vast majority of the photos that exist from the 1890-1920 era are amateur efforts, mostly holiday snaps with a train as a prop or "papa at work" and so on.
I don't know, but I'd expect that if film footage of 2' or 3' gauge from the pre-WWI era does exist, it would be mostly accidental. As in, "I was set up to shoot the Scenic Limited and this old narrow gauge train on another track ruined my shot." Not sure when the movie cameras got cheap enough for the middle class to indulge but I would be very surprised if it was earlier than the mid-1920's. Railfan photography was just barely getting started at the time, Otto Perry's first efforts date from ca 1915-16, IIRC, and I just haven't seen or heard of many movies of narrow-gauge trains from prior to the 1930's. Doesn't mean they aren't out there, just that they are well hidden.
At one time(1970's) Al Chione was offering copies of 8mm film shot by Dr. Richard "Dick" B. Jackson in the late 1930's. I was about the age then that I_Love_D&RG seems to be now and used to drool over the offerings flyer. Since I had no movie projector, and could barely scrape up the money for the reproduction slide sets Al was offering at the same time, I never did buy any of them. I've watched for years for them to appear on VHS or DVD but haven't seen them.
Those, and some efforts of others over the following 10-15 years (many of which are on Machines of Iron or Green Frog DVD's now,) are the oldest I've ever heard of. Stuff from the 1930's is rare, stuff from pre-WWI? Let me know if you find any!
Hank, being a grump and pouring cold water on the enthusiastic.
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> Machines of Iron has a video of the Uintah.
It is my understanding that that is made from Sprague family home movies and dating from the 1920's and/or early 1930's.
As to the original question, after the Silver Crash in '93 the narrow gauge lines are fading from the public eye. There are far fewer pictures taken by professional photographers and the lines are generally regarded as out of date and unimportant. Even most of the people who depend on them seem to consider them obsolete and are pushing for them to be standard gauged ASAP.The vast majority of the photos that exist from the 1890-1920 era are amateur efforts, mostly holiday snaps with a train as a prop or "papa at work" and so on.
I don't know, but I'd expect that if film footage of 2' or 3' gauge from the pre-WWI era does exist, it would be mostly accidental. As in, "I was set up to shoot the Scenic Limited and this old narrow gauge train on another track ruined my shot." Not sure when the movie cameras got cheap enough for the middle class to indulge but I would be very surprised if it was earlier than the mid-1920's. Railfan photography was just barely getting started at the time, Otto Perry's first efforts date from ca 1915-16, IIRC, and I just haven't seen or heard of many movies of narrow-gauge trains from prior to the 1930's. Doesn't mean they aren't out there, just that they are well hidden.
At one time(1970's) Al Chione was offering copies of 8mm film shot by Dr. Richard "Dick" B. Jackson in the late 1930's. I was about the age then that I_Love_D&RG seems to be now and used to drool over the offerings flyer. Since I had no movie projector, and could barely scrape up the money for the reproduction slide sets Al was offering at the same time, I never did buy any of them. I've watched for years for them to appear on VHS or DVD but haven't seen them.
Those, and some efforts of others over the following 10-15 years (many of which are on Machines of Iron or Green Frog DVD's now,) are the oldest I've ever heard of. Stuff from the 1930's is rare, stuff from pre-WWI? Let me know if you find any!Hank, being a grump and pouring cold water on the enthusiastic.
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
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