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View Full Version : '37 Packard on old RR bridge



Daveroo
November 14th, 2012, 10:35
this is a photo shoot thing the folks and thier friends did in the Baynes 1937 Packard,( just between us?,Ed claims its a model 180,but when i search model 180s online,they started in '38,and were bigger) i think this is a 120,it has a straight eight,and is a very nice car,it does have some "provinaunce" but i cant remember the names of the people..but it was baught new by some rich guy in '37,and given to his secratary as a gift,she drove it until her death,and then it was put into a collection,and ed bought it from there....the provinance is the part about the rich guy..ect.

the bridge it is on is the Mountain Quarries railroad bridge,construction began in 1910 and was finished in 1912,at the time it was the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world ,they used mostly 2-8-2 mikado type locomotives with 3 or 4 car trains,and hauled limestone from a quarry in the canyon bottom up to "flint" which is in auburn california,"flint" was "camp flint" in WWII,a POW camp for German and italian POWs.the railroad had 17 tressels and one switchback.the bridge is now used as part of the "western states trail" which the do two major endurance races on,,they both start at squaw valley,cal,,and end at auburn,its a 100 mile trip over the sierra nevada mountain range,supposed to be done in 24 hours,not many can do it....one is for horses and is called "the tevis cup" and the other is on foot,and is called "the western states 100",there is also a stupid story about a local woman named Ina Robinson who was riding a horse across the bridge in the 60s during one of the tevis cup compititions,and she raised her arms,dropped the riens and hollared "look no hands"...and all the "cool people " started calling it "no hands bridge",but there is a huge push...partley by Ina herself...to stop calling it no hands,and call it by its correct name...i find it amusing..side not..Ina was married to a man named Don Robinson,hes now passed on,but on thier wedding day,they had the service,and he and Ina left to go to the reciption,but never showed....so my dad and several others got curious,they knew he had a paving job to get done for a new shopping center.....sure enough,there they were,don driving the dump truck loaded with asphalt,and Ina on the Barber green laying pavement....LOL..also don was coming across the nevada desert in a brand new kenworth ,got buzzed by a low flying jet..almost wrecked..pulled over in to a ditch,,got out looked his truck over and the paint on the cab roof was all blistered and buckled...true story...it really happened,wasnt an urban myth.one more little don story...he and Ina lived near the auburn airport,a plane had a misshap in the fog,,and ended up IN a large ( HUGE) heritage oak,don went out,yelled to the pilot,,you ok?..pilot said yes...don said..good stay there,cause if you step foot on my land imma charge you 1000 dollars or charge you with tresspassing and destruction of private property...and stood there with a shotgun in his hands.........the pilot was shaken,,scared ect.from just crashing...and theres don making mean jokes....lol

link to info about the quarry railroad and bridge...http://www.trainweb.org/foothill/mqmain.html