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121-553: The YVRR replaced the stagecoach routes that had dominated travel and tourism in the area since the mid-1870s. However, by the 1920s, the increasing popularity of automobiles had started to overtake the railroad in terms of tourist volume. By the 1940s, the completion of the Yosemite All-Year Highway and the decreased recreational passenger traffic due to World War II had all but eliminated demand for rail passenger service. The YVRR also transported log cars for

242-406: A coaching inn , a highwayman demanding a coach to "stand and deliver" and a Wells Fargo stagecoach arriving at or leaving an American frontier town. The yard of ale drinking glass is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though it was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts . The stagecoach was a closed four-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses or hard-going mules . It

363-436: A live load to dead load ratio of 2-to-1. If this ratio is 2-to-1 or greater, then a six-panel truss must have counter-braces and these must at least one-third as strong as the braces. The counter-braces in an eight-panel truss must be at least two-thirds as strong as the braces, and the counter-braces in a 10-panel truss must be at least equal in strength to the braces. If rapidly moving live loads of any ratio are expected on

484-612: A brace, connected from the top of the last vertical post to the end of the lower chord. Struts are used to connect the two parallels of the chords to prevent lateral bending and reduce vibration. Two diagonals, connecting to the top of the vertical posts, are used. One of the diagonals should be a single piece, while the other is framed into the first piece or made of two pieces connected to it. X-braces, usually made of slender metal rods with threaded ends, are installed between vertical posts to help reduce sway . Knee braces, usually flat bars with eyelets on either end, are used to connect

605-424: A bridge of six panels or less (about 75 feet (23 m) long) needs no counter-bracing. An eight-panel truss requires counter-braces in every panel but the end panels, and these should be at least one-fourth as strong as the braces. A 10-panel truss requires counter-braces in every panel but the end panels, and these should be at least one-half as strong as the braces. A Howe truss bridge can be strengthened to achieve

726-540: A button in the White House which set the power house machinery in motion. The Yosemite Valley Railroad experienced success with passenger revenue in its first 20 years, but the completion of a modern highway in 1926 and the increasing popularity of automobiles and buses caused a significant decline in revenue. At the same time, suspension of operations by the Yosemite Lumber Company in 1927 led to

847-654: A coach could travel at full gallop across levels, combined with more staging posts at shorter intervals, cut the time required to travel across the country sometimes by half. A Cobb & Co (Australia) proprietor arrived in New Zealand on 4 October 1861, thus beginning Cobb & Co (New Zealand) stagecoach operation. Beginning in the 18th century, crude wagons began to be used to carry passengers between cities and towns, first within New England by 1744, then between New York and Philadelphia by 1756. Travel time

968-531: A combination of wood and iron, or all iron. Whichever design is used, wooden timbers should have square ends without mortise and tenons . The design of an all-metal Howe truss follows that of the wooden truss. The parallels in each chord are usually built up out of smaller beams, each small beam fastened to one another to create a continuous beam. In wooden Howe trusses, these slender beams are usually no more than 10 to 15 inches (250 to 380 mm) wide and 6 to 8 inches (150 to 200 mm) deep. In iron trusses,

1089-417: A day and a half, including a night stop at Bab al-Wad (Shaar HaGai), the trip in the opposite, downhill direction took 12 hours. The stagecoaches belonged to private owners, and the wagoners were mostly hired, although sometimes the wagoner was also the owner of the wagon. The license to operate the stagecoaches was granted by the government to private individuals in the cities and to the colony committees in

1210-489: A fifty percent plunge in freight revenue. The stock market crash of 1929 and the depression worsened the situation, leading to the railroad's bankruptcy in 1935. To try and save the struggling company, the Yosemite Valley Railroad was publicly offered for sale as a "real railroad as a Christmas gift" for five million dollars in newspapers throughout California. The railroad was re-incorporated and showed

1331-533: A half after leaving Manchester." A similar service was begun from Liverpool three years later, using coaches with steel spring suspension. This coach took an unprecedented three days to reach London with an average speed of eight miles per hour (13 km/h) . Even more dramatic improvements were made by John Palmer at the British Post Office . The postal delivery service in Britain had existed in

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1452-416: A hole may be drilled in the lug and brace/counter-brace and a dowel inserted to hold the beam in place. Iron angle blocks should have a hole cast in the upper lugs so that a bolt may pass through the lug and brace/counter-brace, securing the braces in place. The lower lugs in an angle block also have holes cast in them, to permit the angle block to be bolted to the chord. Two or more holes are cast through

1573-407: A level of redundancy which allows it to withstand excessive loading (such as the loss of a panel due to collision). Prestressing is critical to the proper function of a Howe truss. During its initial construction, the diagonals are connected only loosely to the joints, and rely on prestressing, done at a later stage, to perform correctly. Moreover, diagonals in tension can only withstand stress below

1694-438: A margin of approximately 10,000 visitors. The Yosemite Valley Railroad had a particularly successful year, setting new records by carrying 2,000 people in a single day. The large number of Yosemite-bound specials, along with log trains running regularly to Merced Falls , allowed the railroad's payroll to grow to 350 employees. Despite significant fixed payments in 1923, 1925, and 1926, the railroad generated enough revenue to report

1815-594: A monopoly on the supply of stagecoaches to the Royal Mail and a virtual monopoly on their upkeep and servicing for the following few decades. Steel springs had been used in suspensions for vehicles since 1695. Coachbuilder Obadiah Elliott obtained a patent covering the use of elliptic springs - which were not his invention. His patent lasted 14 years delaying development because Elliott allowed no others to license and use his patent. Elliott mounted each wheel with two durable elliptic steel leaf springs on each side and

1936-647: A net profit. In 1925, passenger travel reached an all-time high, with over 85,000 people paying to ride the railway. To keep up with the growing popularity of private automobiles, the YVRR started offering auto ferrying services, building special platforms at Merced and El Portal to load cars for the trip to the Valley and back. This service proved especially popular with wealthy passengers and even attracted Hollywood movie stars, such as Buster Keaton , Fatty Arbuckle , Mae West , Mary Pickford , and Doug Fairbanks . In 1922,

2057-530: A network of stagecoach routes existed. Stagecoaches, often known by the French name "Diligence" - a smaller model with room for six passengers and a bigger one for ten, drawn by two horses (in the city, on the plain or on a good road) or three (on intercity and elevated roads) - were the main means of public transportation in Ottoman Palestine between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of

2178-424: A parallel in a chord are separated along their long side by a space equal to the diameter of the vertical posts, usually about 1 inch (25 mm). This allows the vertical posts to pass through the parallel in the chord. Batten plates are placed diagonally between the members of a chord, and nailed in place to reduce bending and to act as a shim to provide ventilation between chord members. The middle third of

2299-635: A popular solution. They built their first Concord stagecoach in 1827 employing long leather straps under their stagecoaches which gave a swinging motion. Describing a journey he took in 1861, in his 1872 book, Roughing It , Mark Twain wrote that the Concord stage was like "an imposing cradle on wheels". Around twenty years later, in 1880, John Plesent Gray recorded after travelling from Tucson to Tombstone on J.D. Kinnear's mail and express line: That day's stage ride will always live in my memory – but not for its beauty spots. Jammed like sardines on

2420-418: A relaxation, it seems as if we could never have survived the trip. The horses were changed three times on the 80-mile (130 km) trip, normally completed in 17 hours. The stagecoach lines in the U.S. were operated by private companies. Their most profitable contracts were with U.S. Mail and were hotly contested. Pony Express , which began operations in 1860, is often called first fast mail service from

2541-491: A second Howe truss design in 1846. The Howe truss bridge consists of an upper and lower "chord", each chord consisting of two parallel beams and each chord parallel to one another. The web consists of verticals, braces, and counter-braces. Vertical posts connect the upper and lower chords to one another, and create "panels". A diagonal brace in each panel strengthens the bridge, and a diagonal counter-brace in each panel enhances this strength. Howe truss bridges may be all wood,

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2662-453: A sloping firebox. The first three engines were purchased secondhand and used in construction and regular service. The remaining seven locomotives were new from either Alco or Baldwin and remained in service until the railroad ceased operations. All engines initially had wooden cabs, but most were replaced with steel cabs, except for Numbers 11 and 20, which were sold before 1925. With a history spanning nearly 60 years of activity, Number 21

2783-551: A small gross profit between 1935 and 1937, thanks to increased freight traffic due to the reopening of the lumber mill. However, the railroad experienced unexpected events such as a flood that wiped out 30 miles of track along the Merced River. A fire in Merced destroyed the tool shed and several passenger cars. These events caused significant damage and financial setbacks. To recover, the railroad required rehabilitation loans from

2904-522: A surge in iron bridge building occurred throughout the United States. The most commonly used designs were the Howe truss, Pratt truss, Bollman truss , Fink truss , and Warren truss . The Howe and Pratt trusses found favor because they used far fewer members. The 1962 built, World's Longest, Single Span, Wooden Covered Bridge at Bridgeport State Park, California, uses a Burr-Arch in combination with

3025-495: Is avoided in order to avoid buckling. In practice, most wood stringers are 16 inches (410 mm) in width due to limitations in milling. There are usually six stringers in a bridge. Building the deck for a railroad bridge requires that a stringer lie directly beneath each rail, and that a stringer support each end of the railroad ties . Ties are usually 6 by 8 inches (150 by 200 mm) in cross-section, and 9 to 12 feet (2.7 to 3.7 m) in length. They are set directly on top of

3146-491: Is one locomotive that deserves special attention. Originally used for 25 years on the Wabash Railroad , it was later sold to the Yosemite Valley Railroad in 1906. Engineer Charlie Grant, who had a special attachment to Number 21, accompanied the locomotive to its new home on the Yosemite Valley Railroad, where he worked for 20 years before retiring with honors in 1926. Despite its age, Number 21 continued to operate until

3267-407: Is used to secure the vertical post to the chord. Special plates or washers of wood or metal are used to help distribute the stress induced by the vertical post onto the chords. Vertical posts are in tension, which is induced by tightening the nuts on the vertical bars. Braces are diagonal beams which connect the bottom of a vertical post to the top of the next vertical post. They are placed in

3388-554: The Merced Irrigation District made the decision to construct the Exchequer Dam on the Merced River. This required the relocation of 16.7 miles of the main rail route, from Merced Falls nearly to Bagby Station . The relocation involved erecting five steel bridges and two trestles, with the 1600 Barrett Bridge spanning the reservoir. The relocation was much more costly than originally estimated, due to

3509-725: The Missouri River to the Pacific Coast, but the Overland Mail Company began a twice-weekly mail service from Missouri to San Francisco in September 1858. Transcontinental stage-coaching ended with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. The railway network in South Africa was extended from Mafeking through Bechuanaland and reached Bulawayo in 1897. Prior to its arrival,

3630-561: The Yosemite Lumber Company and limestone for the Yosemite Portland Cement Company as a freight carrier. The closure of these businesses in the early 1940s played a role in the railroad's decline, with the last regularly scheduled train running on August 24, 1945. Some structures and rolling stock of the YVRR are on display in El Portal , but little else remains of the railroad. Among many notable passengers,

3751-608: The 1930s before being put on standby service, making it one of the most enduring classic 4-4-0 locomotives in American railroading history. Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach , stage , road coach , diligence ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are drawn by six horses. Commonly used before steam-powered rail transport

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3872-518: The 20th century. The first stagecoaches were brought to Palestine by the German religious group known as the " Templers " who operated a public transportation service between their colonies in the country as early as 1867. Stagecoach development in Palestine was greatly facilitated by the 1869 visit of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I . For this distinguished guest, the road between Jaffa and Jerusalem

3993-512: The English Mail Coach. Although normally well-sprung and enclosed, seating eight or more passengers, some types had a semi-open seat, for three or more passengers, shared with the driver. This latter was known as the banquette. Although most vehicles were coachman driven, others were in the care of postillions . The number of horses varied according to difficulties of the route. Three, or a unicorn team were not unfamiliar, especially on

4114-591: The Howe truss to be the best form of wooden truss bridge, and believed it to be the most commonly used truss bridge in the United States at that time. All-iron Howe trusses began to be built about 1845. Examples include a 50-foot (15 m) long iron Howe truss was built for the Boston and Providence Railroad and a 30-foot (9.1 m) long railroad bridge over the Ohio and Erie Canal in Cleveland. Iron, however,

4235-419: The Howe truss, the counter-braces used in the center panel should be equal in strength to the braces, and the panel next to the end panel should have counter-braces at least one-half as strong as the braces. Where diagonal braces and counter-braces meet, they are usually bolted together. Braces and counter-braces are held in place with angle blocks. Angle blocks are triangular in cross-section and should be

4356-501: The Howe-Truss to achieve this over 210' span. The only maintenance a Howe truss requires is adjustment of the nuts on the vertical posts to equalize strain. The diagonals in a wooden Pratt truss proved difficult to keep in proper adjustment, so the Howe truss became the preferred design for a wooden bridge or for a "transitional" bridge of wood with iron verticals. Engineering professor Horace R. Thayer, writing in 1913, considered

4477-820: The Pratt and Howe trusses spurred Benjamin Henry Latrobe II , chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , to build large numbers of iron bridges. After two famous iron bridge collapses (one in the United States, the other in the United Kingdom ), few of these were built in the North . This meant most iron bridges erected prior to the American Civil War were located in the South . About 1867,

4598-883: The Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe to get the line back into operation. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought excitement to the Yosemite Valley Railroad by riding it and touring the Yosemite Valley, which included a lunch stop at Mariposa Big Trees Grove . The railroad picked up the President's party from the Southern Pacific in Merced and pulled the ten cars, including the President's private car, to El Portal using three freshly-painted, decorated locomotives. By evening, Roosevelt and his entourage were on their way back to Merced. In 1939,

4719-577: The YVRR carried two presidents: William Howard Taft in October, 1909 and Franklin Roosevelt on July 15, 1938. The Yosemite Valley Railroad's construction marked a transformative moment for travel to Yosemite. Prior to its inception, the only means of transportation was a two-day stagecoach journey that was uncomfortable and dangerous due to the risk of stagecoach robbery. The Southern Pacific's famous "Cannon-ball" stage from Raymond to Yosemite Valley

4840-542: The Yosemite Valley Railroad earned the nickname as the "Grand Central of the West", attracting tourists from all over the world to Yosemite National Park. Despite growing competition from buses and automobiles, the railroad continued to draw in visitors, including world leaders like Prince Axel of Denmark and King Albert of Belgium who traveled in private rail cars. In 1921, Yosemite claimed first place in attendance among national parks, surpassing Yellowstone National Park by

4961-416: The Yosemite Valley Railroad experienced a doubling of passenger travel as the country began to recover from the depression. Despite running 79 special trains and nearly reaching $ 100,000 in gross profit, the amount was not enough to cover fixed costs. The trustees recognized the need for a refinancing plan, but the sale of the lumber company's timber rights to the government ended any hope of that. Consequently,

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5082-644: The Yosemite run. The railroad's headquarters were in the new Merced depot, which had a roundhouse in use and a small station at El Portal. The four-story Hotel Del Portal at the eastern terminus attracted celebrities and politicians, including Senator Benjamin Tillman , Governor James Gillet , William Randolph Hearst , J.B. Duke , and John Muir . The Yosemite Valley Railroad management improved operations and added new locomotives, passenger-express mail cars, and leased passenger cars. More than 50 people were making

5203-412: The angle block. The upper lug may be a single flange that fits into a groove cut into the surface of the diagonal, or there may be two to four lugs which form an opening into which the brace and counter-brace are seated. The diagonals are kept in place by tightening the nuts on the vertical posts. Cleats can be nailed to a wooden angle block to help keep braces and counter-braces seated. Alternatively,

5324-567: The authorities. This could be overloading of passengers in excess of the licence or minor matters such as luggage too high on the roof. They did this in return for a portion of any fines imposed, sometimes as much as half. The tax paid on passenger seats was a major expense for coach operators. Harris gives an example of the tax payable on the London to Newcastle coach route (278 miles). Annual tax amounted to £2,529 for 15 passengers per coach (4 inside and 11 outside). Annual tolls were £2,537. The hire of

5445-471: The basket, and generally presents a pile, half as high again as the coach, which is secured by ropes and chains, tightened by a large iron windlass, which also constitutes another appendage of this moving mass. The body of the carriage rests upon large thongs of leather, fastened to heavy blocks of wood, instead of springs, and the whole is drawn by seven horses. The English visitor noted the small, sturdy Norman horses "running away with our cumbrous machine, at

5566-401: The beams of the upper chord to one another. In the lower chord of a wooden bridge, clamps are used to couple beams together. Although generally of the same length, beams are positioned so that a splice (the point where the end of two beams meet) is near the point where two panels meet but not adjacent to the splice in an adjacent pair of beams. The individual small beams which make up

5687-445: The body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs attached to the axles . After the expiry of his patent most British horse carriages were equipped with elliptic springs; wooden springs in the case of light one-horse vehicles to avoid taxation, and steel springs in larger vehicles. Steady improvements in road construction were also made at this time, most importantly the widespread implementation of Macadam roads up and down

5808-412: The canyon's steep walls, located at Hopeton , Pleasant Valley, and Bagby , with a total of 65 smaller bridges and trestles along the route. The completed route had 63.5 miles of grades and 32.9 miles of curves with a maximum grade of 1-2%. The main line had Bessemer rail weighing 70 pounds to the yard, and there were 505 curves, as well as 10,265 miles of yards and sidings. A telephone and telegraph line

5929-423: The center of the angle block, to allow the vertical posts to pass through and be anchored on the other side of the chord. End panels are the four panels on either side of the end of a Howe truss bridge. These should be the same height as the chords, but not more. The upper chord does not extend past the portal (the space formed by the last four vertical posts at either end of the bridge). The end panels need only

6050-466: The charter's granting. Tracks were completed to Merced Falls on March 4, 1906, and the formal opening of the railroad's regular schedule took place on May 25, 1906. Regular service marked the end of the stagecoach business along the route. Construction to El Portal ran through rough foothill and mountain country, and supplies and equipment were transported by pack horses, ropes, sleds, two-wheeled horse carts, wheelbarrows, and drags for grading. By May 1907,

6171-418: The city of Merced, where connections were made with the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railways, and extended 78 miles to El Portal. Running the alongside the Merced River, this was the only feasible route for summer and winter travel to Yosemite Valley. Though several companies had shown interest in constructing a rail line, it was a group of Oakland and San Francisco financiers who obtained the right-of-way for

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6292-514: The company faced a shortage of labor, prompting them to advertise for 1000 workers at wages of $ 2.25 per day. The recruitment effort caused overcrowding in hotels and long lines at the employment office in Merced, prompting the company to expedite the hiring process with an arbitrary sign that read, "Bus leaves for camp each morning at 7 AM. Everybody can have a job. Don't ask questions!" The workforce grew to about 1500 men in January 1906, but turnover

6413-431: The construction of some of the first spring-suspended coaches in the 1660s and spoked wheels with iron rim brakes were introduced, improving the characteristics of the coach. In 1754, a Manchester -based company began a new service called the "Flying Coach". It was advertised with the following announcement - "However incredible it may appear, this coach will actually (barring accidents) arrive in London in four days and

6534-509: The construction site, and sometimes even entire trusses could be manufactured and assembled off-site and transported by rail to the intended location. Some sort of falsework , usually in the form of a trestle , is required to erect the bridge. The development of the Pratt and Howe trusses spurred the construction of iron bridges in the United States. Until 1850, few iron bridges in the country were longer than 50 feet (15 m). The simple design, ease of manufacture, and ease of construction of

6655-440: The country. The speed of coaches in this period rose from around 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) (including stops for provisioning) to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) and greatly increased the level of mobility in the country, both for people and for mail . Each route had an average of four coaches operating on it at one time - two for both directions and a further two spares in case of a breakdown en route. Joseph Ballard described

6776-991: The countryside the 1860s did see the start of a coaching revival spurred on by the popularity of Four-in-hand driving as a sporting pursuit (the Four-In-Hand Driving Club was founded in 1856 and the Coaching Club in 1871). New stagecoaches often known as Park Drags began to be built to order. Some owners would parade their vehicles and magnificently dressed passengers in fashionable locations. Other owners would take more enthusiastic suitably-dressed passengers and indulge in competitive driving. Very similar in design to stagecoaches their vehicles were lighter and sportier. These owners were (often very expert) amateur gentlemen-coachmen, occasionally gentlewomen. A professional coachman might accompany them to avert disaster. Professionals called these vehicles 'butterflies'. They only appeared in summer. Cobb & Co

6897-497: The course of his business, and noted that it seemed far more efficient than the system of mail delivery then in operation. His travel from Bath to London took a single day to the mail's three days. It occurred to him that this stagecoach service could be developed into a national mail delivery service, so in 1782 he suggested to the Post Office in London that they take up the idea. He met resistance from officials who believed that

7018-423: The creation of new routes. Within the month the service had been extended from London to Norwich , Nottingham , Liverpool and Manchester , and by the end of 1785 services to the following major towns and cities of England and Wales had also been linked: Leeds , Dover , Portsmouth , Poole , Exeter , Gloucester , Worcester , Holyhead and Carlisle . A service to Edinburgh was added the next year, and Palmer

7139-501: The early 1840s most London-based coaches had been withdrawn from service. Some stagecoaches remained in use for commercial or recreational purposes. They came to be known as road coaches and were used by their enterprising (or nostalgic) owners to provide scheduled passenger services where rail had not yet reached and also on certain routes at certain times of the year for the pleasure of an (often amateur) coachman and his daring passengers. While stagecoaches vanished as rail penetrated

7260-557: The early 19th century. ... Driven from an elevated box seat, its footboard supported by brackets. At first unsprung or dead axle, but later hung on braces, elbow and finally Telegraph springs, as with the Mail Coach . ... Most stage coaches were named and painted in special liveries . The American mud wagon was an earlier, smaller, and cruder vehicle, being mostly open-sided with minimal protection from weather, causing passengers to risk being mud-splashed. A canvas-topped stage wagon

7381-686: The early Zionist colonies. The license holders paid a special tax for this right and could employ subcontractors and hired wagons. The stagecoaches linked Jerusalem with Jaffa, Hebron and Nablus, the Zionist colonies with Jaffa, Haifa with Acre and Nazareth. They were also used for urban and suburban transportation in the Haifa region. The colony of Rehovot is known to have promulgated detailed regulations for stagecoach operation, soon after its foundation in 1890, which were greatly extended in 1911. Fares were fixed, ranging between 1.10 Grush for traveling to

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7502-638: The end of the 17th century stagecoach routes ran up and down the three main roads in England. The London-York route was advertised in 1698: Whoever is desirous of going between London and York or York and London, Let them Repair to the Black Swan in Holboorn, or the Black Swan in Coney Street , York, where they will be conveyed in a Stage Coach (If God permits), which starts every Thursday at Five in

7623-425: The end of the bridge suffer the highest amount of stress. The stress affecting counter-braces depends on the ratio of live load to dead load per unit of length, and how the live load is distributed across the bridge. A uniform distribution of live load will put no stress on the counter-braces, while putting live load on only a portion of the bridge will create maximum stress on the center counter-braces. Because of

7744-522: The existing system could not be improved, but eventually the Chancellor of the Exchequer , William Pitt , allowed him to carry out an experimental run between Bristol and London. Under the old system the journey had taken up to 38 hours. The stagecoach, funded by Palmer, left Bristol at 4 pm on 2 August 1784 and arrived in London just 16 hours later. Impressed by the trial run, Pitt authorised

7865-510: The few surviving pieces of rolling stock, is also on display. Locomotive 29, which was sold to a Mexican railroad after the Yosemite Valley Railroad's closure, is currently on static display in Veracruz, Mexico. The film Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day is based on the Yosemite Valley Railroad and 23-year old John McFadden's failed attempt to save it. The locations team revived the railroad on screen despite its 50-year dismantlement. The film

7986-466: The first half of the 20th century. The first crude depiction of a coach was in an English manuscript from the 13th century. The first recorded stagecoach route in Britain started in 1610 and ran from Edinburgh to Leith . This was followed by a steady proliferation of other routes around the island. By the mid 17th century, a basic stagecoach infrastructure had been put in place. A string of coaching inns operated as stopping points for travellers on

8107-509: The first year of operation, the number of recreation visits to Yosemite National Park increased by 30% to 7,102. By 1915, the annual number of recreation visits surpassed 30,000. The Yosemite Valley Railroad experienced a successful beginning, with its business picking up just two months after its first run. It signed mail and express contracts, and its freight revenue from mines and quarries began to increase. The Southern Pacific gave up on its competing route and began advertising connections with

8228-567: The flatter roads of the north west. In Germany, Austria and some parts of Switzerland the Diligence was known as the Post Coach or Malle Post. —D. J. M. Smith in A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles The diligence from Le Havre to Paris was described by a fastidious English visitor of 1803 with a thoroughness that distinguished it from its English contemporary, the stage coach . A more uncouth clumsy machine can scarcely be imagined. In

8349-425: The four coach vehicles needed was £1,274. The 250 horses needed for this service also needed to be paid for. Operators could reduce their tax burden by one seventh by operating a six-day-a-week service instead of a seven-day service. The development of railways in the 1830s spelled the end for stagecoaches and mail coaches . The first rail delivery between Liverpool and Manchester took place on 11 November 1830. By

8470-575: The front is a cabriolet fixed to the body of the coach, for the accommodation of three passengers, who are protected from the rain above, by the projecting roof of the coach, and in front by two heavy curtains of leather, well oiled, and smelling somewhat offensively, fastened to the roof. The inside, which is capacious, and lofty, and will hold six people in great comfort is lined with leather padded, and surrounded with little pockets, in which travellers deposit their bread, snuff, night caps, and pocket handkerchiefs, which generally enjoy each others company, in

8591-462: The hard seats of an old time leather spring coach – a Concord – leaving Pantano , creeping much of the way, letting the horses walk, through miles of alkali dust that the wheels rolled up in thick clouds of which we received the full benefit ... It is always a mystery to the passenger how many can be wedged into and on top of a stagecoach. If it had not been for the long stretches when the horses had to walk, enabling most of us to get out and "foot it" as

8712-492: The heaviest traveled routes by 1910. The railroad partnered with the Selig Polyscope Company to produce a travelog about the Yosemite run that was shown all over the world. In 1910, the Yosemite Lumber Company was established, and the railroad played a crucial role in transporting the logs from the mountains to the sawmill at Merced Falls . Special standard gauge flat cars with bulkheads were necessary for

8833-403: The last strut and last vertical posts on both ends of the bridge. Individual panels may be prefabricated off-site. When panels are connected to one another on-site, shims are used to pack any spaces and bolted in place. Floor beams extend between the parallels of a chord and are used to support the stringers and decking. Floor beams may sit atop the chord below them, or they may be hung from

8954-414: The late 16th or early 17th centuries, although a nationwide system was not organised until 1658. Considerable improvements came during the 18th century with the turnpike system and better engineering of public roads. ... Forced from its main trunk routes by railway competition from the late 1830's, although some lingered in remoter areas until the 1850's. In North America a few Concord Coaches survived until

9075-425: The lower chord is always reinforced by one or more beams bolted to the chord. This reinforcement is generally one-sixth the width of the cross-section of the lower chord. If a wood chord needs to be strengthened even more, additional slender beams may be bolted to the middle third of the each side of the lower chord. When construction is complete, the upper chord of a Howe truss bridge will be in compression , while

9196-414: The lower chord is in tension . Vertical posts connect the upper and lower chords, and divide the truss into panels. The Howe truss usually uses iron or steel verticals. These are straight and round, slightly reduced in circumference at the ends, and a screw thread added. The vertical usually passes through the center of the angle block and then through space left in the upper and lower chord. A nut

9317-433: The morning. The novelty of this method of transport excited much controversy at the time. One pamphleteer denounced the stagecoach as a "great evil [...] mischievous to trade and destructive to the public health". Another writer, however, argued that: Besides the excellent arrangement of conveying men and letters on horseback, there is of late such an admirable commodiousness, both for men and women, to travel from London to

9438-399: The most feasible route. The Yosemite Valley Railroad hired Nathaniel C. Ray in 1902 as the chief engineer to build the railway, which required political knowledge as well as engineering talent. The northern boundary of Yosemite National Park was further north than it is today, and Congress prohibited railroads from entering any national park. After several attempts to change the boundary, a bill

9559-554: The nearby village of Wadi Hanin and 5.00 Grush for traveling from Rehovot to Jaffa. The stagecoach was required to work six times a week (except for the Shabbat ) and to carry free of charge the mails and medicines of the Rehovot pharmacy. Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss

9680-557: The park, allowing the concessionaire to expand its offerings, including the luxurious Glacier Point Hotel built in 1917. This period was not without its setbacks. A disastrous fire on October 27, 1917, destroyed the Hotel Del Portal , causing an estimated loss of $ 100,000. The El Portal Inn, operated by a subsidiary of YVRR, replaced the Hotel Del Portal by the start of the next tourist season. After World War I,

9801-501: The posts in some foreign countries make in a day. The speed of travel remained constant until the mid-18th century. Reforms of the turnpike trusts , new methods of road building and the improved construction of coaches led to a sustained rise in the comfort and speed of the average journey - from an average journey length of 2 days for the Cambridge -London route in 1750 to a length of under 7 hours in 1820. Robert Hooke helped in

9922-424: The prestressing level. (The size of the member does not matter due to the loose fitting of the diagonal to the joint.) Proper prestressing during construction is therefore critical in the correct performance of the bridge. Maximum stress is placed on the center of the chords when a live load reaches the center of the bridge, or when the live load extends the length of the bridge. Both the vertical posts and braces at

10043-442: The principal towns in the country, that the like hath not been known in the world, and that is by stage-coaches, wherein any one may be transported to any place, sheltered from foul weather and foul ways; free from endamaging of one's health and one's body by the hard jogging or over-violent motion; and this not only at a low price (about a shilling for every five miles [8 km]) but with such velocity and speed in one hour, as that

10164-661: The railroad requested permission to abandon operations from the Interstate Commerce Commission on October 25, 1944. Due to decreased revenue, the railroad reduced its staff and service in 1944, and the last run of the Yosemite Valley Railway took place in 1945. The railroad was dismantled by the end of 1946, with most of the locomotives and equipment scrapped or sold. Today, the Yosemite Valley Railroad no longer exists, but some remnants can still be found. The El Portal Inn, which served as

10285-481: The railroad's terminus, burned down in 1932. Some sections of the re-routed railbed were submerged when Exchequer Dam was expanded in the 1960s. However, a few of the railroad's tunnels still remain under Lake McClure and in Merced Canyon. The National Park Service relocated several surviving structures, such as the original hand-turned turntable, from Bagby to El Portal . At El Portal, Caboose No. 15, one of

10406-512: The rails had almost reached the boundary of Yosemite National Park, but the government refused to give up more right-of-way for the train to enter Yosemite Valley. Thus, the railroad built a stagecoach road that ran the six miles from El Portal into Yosemite Valley at a cost of $ 73,260. The entire roadbed for the Yosemite Valley Railroad was blasted out of solid rock, which required approximately 3,000,000 pounds of dynamite and powder and 285 miles of fuse. Three Howe truss bridges were built to cross

10527-537: The rate of six or seven miles an hour". At this speed stagecoaches could compete with canal boats , but they were rendered obsolete in Europe wherever the rail network expanded in the 19th century. Where the rail network did not reach, the diligence was not fully superseded until the arrival of the autobus . In France, between 1765 and 1780, the turgotines , big mail coaches named for their originator, Louis XVI's economist minister Turgot , and improved roads, where

10648-407: The route between London and Liverpool . The stagecoach would depart every Monday and Thursday and took roughly ten days to make the journey during the summer months. Stagecoaches also became widely adopted for travel in and around London by mid-century and generally travelled at a few miles per hour. Shakespeare 's first plays were performed at coaching inns such as The George Inn, Southwark . By

10769-406: The same delicate depository. From the roof depends a large net work which is generally crouded with hats, swords, and band boxes, the whole is convenient, and when all parties are seated and arranged, the accommodations are by no means unpleasant. Upon the roof, on the outside, is the imperial, which is generally filled with six or seven persons more, and a heap of luggage, which latter also occupies

10890-403: The same form for about 150 years—from its introduction in 1635, mounted carriers had ridden between "posts" where the postmaster would remove the letters for the local area before handing the remaining letters and any additions to the next rider. The riders were frequent targets for robbers, and the system was inefficient. Palmer made much use of the "flying" stagecoach services between cities in

11011-442: The same height and width as the parallel of the chord. Angle blocks may be made of wood or iron, although iron is usually used for permanent structures. Angle blocks are attached upside down to the upper chord, and right side up to the lower chord. Angle blocks have lugs— flanges or projections used for carrying, seating, or supporting something. The ends of the braces and counter-braces should cut or cast to rest squarely against

11132-469: The same plane as the chord. Unlike iron or steel braces which are built up, wooden braces are cut to length. Where the parallel in a chord has a thickness of X number of beams, each brace should have a thickness of X minus 1 beams. The depth-to-width ratio of each member of a diagonal brace should be no greater than that of the brace as a whole. Braces may be a single piece, or several pieces spliced together with fishplate. Braces are in compression due to

11253-490: The scheduled coach left London at 19:30, travelled through the night (without lights) and arrived in Liverpool at 16:50 the next day, a distance of about 220 miles (350 km), doubling the overall average speed to about 10 miles per hour (16 km/h), including stops to change horses. [Stage coaches operated] between stages or stopping places, both in the ancient world and modern Europe/America. Revived in England during

11374-581: The stagecoach service between Manchester and Liverpool in 1815 as having price competition between coaches, with timely service and clean accommodations at inns. Stagecoaches in Victorian Britain were heavily taxed on the number of passenger seats. If more passengers were carried than the licence allowed there were penalties to pay. The lawyer Stanley Harris (1816–1897) writes in his books Old Coaching Days and The Coaching Age that he knew of informers ready to report any breach of regulations to

11495-430: The steep grades of the incline. The log cars ran from the woods down the incline and on the main line to the mill without reloading, saving labor costs. The lumbering venture doubled the railroad's freight income from $ 64,000 to $ 128,000. In November 1913, the first automobile stage replaced the horse-drawn stages for the 14-mile route from El Portal to Yosemite Valley. The 25-passenger White Motor Company buses completed

11616-487: The stress placed on the bridge, the Howe truss is suitable for spans 150 feet (46 m) in length or less. No provision is made in a Howe truss for expansion or contraction due to changes in temperature. The Howe truss was highly economical due to its ease of construction. The wooden pieces can be designed using little but a steel square and scratch awl , and the truss can be framed using only an adze , auger , and saw . Panels could be prefabricated and transported to

11737-404: The stringers, about 12 inches (300 mm) apart. Guard rails 6 by 8 inches (150 by 200 mm) in cross-section are set 20 inches (510 mm) from the center of the ties, and bolted to every third tie. The inner truss of a Howe truss is statically indeterminate . There are two paths for stress during loading, a pair of diagonals in compression and a pair in tension. This gives the Howe truss

11858-529: The tent hotel in El Portal before leaving for the Valley after breakfast the next morning, arriving at the Sentinel Hotel in the Valley before lunchtime. On their return, passengers would return in the afternoon, arrive at El Portal in time for dinner, stay overnight, and have breakfast before departing for Merced to catch the north and southbound trains on both Santa Fe and Southern Pacific. In 1907,

11979-415: The tightening of the nuts on the verticals. Counter-braces are diagonal beams which connect the bottom of a vertical post to the top of the next vertical post, and run roughly perpendicular to braces. They are placed in the same plane as the chord, are generally uniform in size, and should have a thickness one beam less than a brace. Unlike braces, counter-braces are a single piece. Generally speaking,

12100-510: The trip daily. In December 1907, the railroad added its first winter excursion, allowing visitors to easily access the park year-round for the first time. This was decades before the All-Year Highway was opened to automobile traffic in the 1940s. The railroad carried 23,089 passengers, showing a book profit of $ 73,000 in its first year of operation. In 1909, the Yosemite Valley Railroad established Pullman service, which became one of

12221-614: The trip in one hour and thirty-five minutes, compared to the four-hour journey required by the old horse stages. By 1915, passenger and freight revenue continued to increase, and eighty percent of the passengers during the summer season were tourists from the Eastern United States. In 1916, the Yosemite Valley Railroad leased the Hotel Del Portal and the stage line to the Desmond Park Service Company. The new railroad brought increased visitation to

12342-400: The unstable rock conditions in the area. The four tunnels on the new line required timbering for nearly their entire length, and the bridge abutments used significantly more concrete than initially calculated. On April 18, 1926, the new line saw its first scheduled passenger train. A grand ceremony was held on June 23, 1926, to dedicate the dam itself. At 11 o'clock, President Coolidge pressed

12463-503: The upper chord beams are the same length as the panel. Upper chord beams are usually made of cast iron , while the lower chord beams are of wrought iron . A minimum of three small beams are used, each uniform in width and depth. Fishplates are usually used to splice beams together. (Lower chord beams may have eyes on each end, in which case they are fastened together with bolts, pins , or rivets .) In wooden trusses, cotters and iron bolts are used every 4 feet (1.2 m) to connect

12584-449: The vertical posts. Floor beams generally have the greatest depth of any beam in the bridge. Floor beams are usually placed where two panels meet. If they are placed somewhere mid-panel, the chord must be reinforced to resist bending , buckling , and shear stress . Stringers are beams set on top of the floor beams, parallel to the chords. A stringer may have a depth-to-width ratio anywhere from 2-to-1 to 6-to-1. A ratio greater than 6-to-1

12705-464: Was 180 feet (55 m) in length. Both bridges were erected in 1840. One of Howe's workmen, Amasa Stone , purchased for $ 40,000 ($ 1,220,800 in 2023 dollars) in 1842 the rights to Howe's patented bridge design. With his financial backer, Azariah Boody, Stone formed the bridge-building firm of Boody, Stone & Co., which erected a large number of Howe truss bridges throughout New England . Howe made additional improvements to his bridge, and patented

12826-792: Was a construction contractor in Massachusetts when he patented the Howe truss design in 1840. That same year, he established the Howe Bridge Works to build bridges using his design. The first Howe truss ever built was a single-lane, 75-foot (23 m) long bridge in Connecticut carrying a road. The second was a railroad bridge over the Connecticut River in Springfield, Massachusetts . This bridge, which drew extensive praise and attention, had seven spans and

12947-462: Was a marginally faster option, taking between twelve and fourteen hours to complete the trip. However, these trips were unaffordable for most, reserved only for the wealthy. The construction of the Yosemite Valley Railroad required a significant investment of capital and presented many engineering challenges. The Yosemite Valley Railroad ran from Merced, California to El Portal, which is the western boundary of Yosemite National Park. The route began in

13068-413: Was available, a stagecoach made long scheduled trips using stage stations or posts where the stagecoach's horses would be replaced by fresh horses. The business of running stagecoaches or the act of journeying in them was known as staging. Some familiar images of the stagecoach are that of a Royal Mail coach passing through a turnpike gate, a Dickensian passenger coach covered in snow pulling up at

13189-419: Was becoming essential now that heavy railroad trains were using bridges. In 1830, Stephen Harriman Long received a patent for an all-wood parallel chord truss bridge. Long's bridge contained diagonal braces which were prestressed with wedges. The Long truss did not require a connection between the diagonal and the truss, and was able to remain in compression even when the wood shrank somewhat. William Howe

13310-587: Was constructed along the route and completed on July 1, 1907, connecting Yosemite with the outside world. On May 15, 1907, the Yosemite Valley Railroad's first scheduled full-length run departed from Merced for El Portal, which was 80 miles away and had 12 passengers on board. Through connections in Merced, tourists could reach Yosemite by train in less than a day's journey from San Francisco (9 hours) and Los Angeles (16 hours). The train schedule allowed passengers to leave Merced at 2 p.m. and arrive at El Portal at 6 p.m. Passengers would have dinner and stay overnight at

13431-650: Was established in Melbourne in 1853 and grew to service Australia's mainland eastern states and South Australia. The diligence , a solidly built stagecoach with four or more horses, was the French vehicle for public conveyance with minor varieties in Germany such as the Stellwagen and Eilwagen . Diligence. Late 18th century name for a French public coach working on long distance routes. So-named from its reputation for promptitude and good time-keeping, as with

13552-444: Was greatly improved, making possible the passage of carriages. Stagecoaches were a great improvement over the earlier means of transport used in the country, such as riding horses, donkeys or camels, or light carts drawn by donkeys. When the stagecoach ran into a difficult ascent or mud, the passengers were required to get off and help push the carriage. The trip between Jaffa and Jerusalem by stagecoach lasted about 14 hours spread over

13673-419: Was high due to the nature of the job. The Yosemite Valley Railroad's first regularly scheduled train left from the Santa Fe depot, which was located six miles outside of town, on December 18, 1905. This marked the exact three-year anniversary of the railroad's incorporation. The company was complying with its state charter, which required five miles of the railroad to be in regular operation within three years of

13794-800: Was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridge in the mid to late 1800s. The earliest bridges in North America were made of wood, which was abundant and cheaper than stone or masonry. Early wooden bridges were usually of the Towne lattice truss or Burr truss design. Some later bridges were McCallum trusses (a modification of the Burr truss). About 1840, iron rods were added to wooden bridges. The Pratt truss used wooden vertical members in compression with diagonal iron braces. The Howe truss used iron vertical rods in tension with wooden diagonal braces. Both trusses used counter-bracing, which

13915-499: Was passed in 1905 that transferred certain lands from the park to the forest reserve, allowing the Yosemite Valley Railroad to obtain a permit to operate in the reserve in 1907. Tracklaying began on November 1, 1905, with the arrival of the first 10 carloads of rail. To equip the railroad, the company purchased two locomotives from the Northern Pacific, a steam shovel, and a small narrow gauge work engine. During construction

14036-545: Was praised by the New York Times for its ability to capture natural beauty and evoke a vivid American past. It won the Cinematography Award at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival . The Yosemite Valley Railroad used standardized motive power for its 38 years of operation. Its ten locomotives were all oil-burning, steam-powered Americans or Moguls , except for Number 11, which was an unusual 2-8-0 with

14157-715: Was reduced on this later run from three days to two in 1766 with an improved coach called the Flying Machine . The first mail coaches appeared in the later 18th century carrying passengers and the mails, replacing the earlier post riders on the main roads. Coachmen carried letters, packages, and money, often transacting business or delivering messages for their customers. By 1829 Boston was the hub of 77 stagecoach lines; by 1832 there were 106. Coaches with iron or steel springs were uncomfortable and had short useful lives. Two men in Concord , New Hampshire , developed what became

14278-455: Was regularly used as a public conveyance on an established route usually to a regular schedule. Spent horses were replaced with fresh horses at stage stations , posts, or relays. In addition to the stage driver or coachman who guided the vehicle, a shotgun messenger armed with a coach gun might travel as a guard beside him. Thus, the origin of the phrase " riding shotgun ". Always a headed vehicle, fitted with roof seats or gammon boards, from

14399-516: Was rewarded by being made Surveyor and Comptroller General of the Post Office. By 1797 there were forty-two routes. The period from 1800 to 1830 saw great improvements in the design of coaches, most notably by John Besant in 1792 and 1795. His coach had a greatly improved turning capacity and braking system , and a novel feature that prevented the wheels from falling off while the coach was in motion. Besant, with his partner John Vidler, enjoyed

14520-608: Was the preferred bridge for automobile and railroads, and the Howe truss did not adapt well to all-iron construction. The Pratt truss' single diagonal bracing system meant less cost, and its ability to use wrought-iron stringers under railroad rails and ties, led bridge builders to favor the Pratt over the Howe. Heavier live loads, particularly by railroads, led bridge builders to favor plate girder and Towne lattice bridges for spans less than 60 feet (18 m), and Warren girder bridges for all other spans. Trusses have been widely used in architecture since ancient times. The Howe truss

14641-399: Was used for freight and passengers, and it had a lower center of gravity, making it harder to overturn. Until the late 18th century, stagecoaches traveled at an average speed of about 5 miles per hour (8 km/h), with the average daily mileage traversed approximately 60 to 70 miles (97 to 113 km). With road improvements and the development of steel springs, speeds increased. By 1836

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