Swanton pacific

[hoppercar]

Does anyone know the state of the 15" gauge swanton pacific railroad in california, with the wild fires going on, ive heard they have suffered considerable damage ??

[Mike Walsh]

Photos are starting to surface via Facebook. The roundhouse perished in the fire, with two steamers in it. I do not know the state of the diesel.

The carbarn also perished in the fire. Fate of the equipment is also unknown.

My thoughts go out to the Swanton Pacific Railroad and all of the volunteers who have put hard work into the railroad over the years.

[Gra2472]

I cannot speak officially, but I have received pictures that appear to show significant damage to the locomotives and engine house. I don’t know the exact situation or extent of the damage to the locomotives.

[jcbrock]

Mike Massee and Martin Hansen have posted more info on Trainorders.com. Felton is also evacuated so Roaring Camp is directly threatened. If it jumps Hwy 17 then the Glenwood, South Park and Pacific, the Fiddletown & Crooked Creek/Trailridge Traction and probably others I don't know of will be. Keep a thought for all in the area, this tragedy extends far beyond these railroads.

[Greg_Lewis]

The storm last week resulted in 10,800 lightening strikes, which sparked 367 fires, some of which merged together.

Here is a link to a fire map tracker. I don’t know if it works without a subscription: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... 8b03433e0b

Here is a link to a satellite time lapse video of the strikes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMfj2cgsoRI

The fire also threatened the Lick observatory. Here is a time lapse of that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecTavUlpIjs

Folks from humid climates just can't conceive of a fire that can race five miles in 15 minutes or burn a hundred square miles in a few days. These fires are up to a total of about 550 square miles. Having photographed fires when I was a photojournalist, I can say that the experience of seeing a grove of trees burst into flame like a cluster of gargantuan kitchen matches cannot be captured by news video. It creates a new respect for the folks who fight these things.

[Berkman]

How badly damaged would a steamer be after the fire?

Would questions about boiler integrity, frame integrity etc become a concern? Or would it mostly just be sheet metal etc damaged?

[Pat Fahey]

Hi All
I found this Photo off of Railway Preservation website, via Facebook, it is a sad scene, Pat WLS

Photo via FACEBOOK, off another website.

[FKreider]

How badly damaged would a steamer be after the fire?

Would questions about boiler integrity, frame integrity etc become a concern? Or would it mostly just be sheet metal etc damaged?

The short answer is yes- structure fire temperatures can change the integrity of steel.

[tetramachine]

Looks really bad. Any copper and brass melted, glass melted. Any heat treated materials like springs is now annealled. Any braze soldering is a gone.

Years ago I bought a car that had been on fire, that was just an engine fire. The sheet metal was all wrinkled, hood fenders and was replace. The carburetor was a lump of pot metal in the manifold.

But it was a SS396 Impala, 1966.

[rkcarguy]

The side view of the remains of one of the locomotives shows a "belly" on the boiler (looks like it sagged under the weight and heat) and I think the stack looks partially melted on one of them....that fire got hot!
Some of the cast iron wheels and detail parts may be able to be saved as they can tolerate the heat with minimal warping, but the boiler and sheet metal is going to be junk. The heat will have annealed or could make the various steels brittle.