The Summit Peddler
Completion of the Gorre and Daphetid RR’s Summit Subdivision would have
seen yet another change in traffic. One might speculate that the Andrews
Peddler may have been retained as the westbound peddler to service West
Divide, Andrews and Corsa, and a new eastbound peddler, the Summit
Peddler, inaugurated to service Cold Shoulder, Angels Camp and J. Cain &
Son and the interchange with the Tioga Pass RR at Cold Shoulder on the
completed Summit Subdivision.
The Gorre & Daphetid RR would no longer require the Southern Pacific RR’s
connection (the cutoff) to reach Great Divide. Instead, Gorre would
represent the western terminus of the Gorre & Daphetid RR and Great
Divide the eastern terminus. Both, having turntables, could turn
locomotives, although the relatively short 54-foot turntable at Gorre
restricted turning many locomotives in the Gorre & Daphetid’s roster and,
in particular, the locomotives customarily used on the Gorre Peddler.
The Southern Pacific RR would continue provide connections east and west
for cargos generated along the route of the Gorre & Daphetid and entering
and departing from the harbor at Port. However, now both the River and
Summit Subdivisions might be important as a means for traffic on the
Southern Pacific RR to access Port and its harbor.
From a model railroading perspective, traffic over the cutoff might
represent cargos moving to and from the east and west. For example,
cargos heading west from Gorre could be perceived as heading west on the
Southern Pacific RR, but in reality they would arrive at Great divide as
cargos arriving from the east via the Southern Pacific RR. Likewise, cargos
heading east from Great Divide would traverse the cutoff to arrive at Gorre
and cargos arriving from west via the Southern Pacific RR. While the track
plan formed a close loop, conceptually it represented east/west traffic to
and from the Gorre & Daphetid.
Such would appear to be John Allen’s genius in model railroad design! In the
early days of construction the so-called cutoff provided a connection via
running rights on the Southern Pacific RR to Great Divide. On the completed
railroad it provided a means of circulating through traffic; traffic
connecting via interchanges with the same Southern Pacific RR.
