Anybody remember the old KSL tramway?

[bonnevillemariner]

This may not be completely on-topic, but I wrote a piece for the Tooele Transcript Bulletin about the old KSL tramway that used to carry engineers and technicians to the transmitters on Farnsworth Peak. It turns out it has a fascinating history.

The online version of the article is behind the TTB's pay wall, but as a freelancer I am allowed to repost my content on my own blog. Anybody interested can read it here:

Mysterious black towers bear testament to abandoned tramway that once held life and death in the balance

bonnevillemariner.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/mysterious-black-towers-bear-testament-to-abandoned-tramway-that-once-held-life-and-death-in-the-balance/

[dxstuboy]

I've attempted to hike Farnsworth in the past and wondered what these were. I always thought they were power lines, now I know the truth. Cool article.

[michaeljwyo]

Just wanted to post a thumbs up and thanks to Mariner for this. That is truly an awesome article on something that not many people know about. I didn't know about it either til I read it. Now I'll have to look for the tram towers next time I'm out that way. Extremely interesting stuff!!

Michael n Wyo

[kenglish]

The link was passed along to all KSL engineers.

[kenglish]

I don't think most folks realize that Broadcast Engineers risk their lives at times, to keep their stations on the air. One of the translator engineers lost a snow cat at Lewis Peak a few weeks ago, and had to be flown out by helicopter.

Did anyone see the big article/pictorial about the life of Mt. Wilson engineers? It ran just after the big fires:

www.televisionbroadcast.com/article/93554

Of course, I just remember the day a group of downtown window washers, climbing over the side of a 24-story building, told me "We'd never have the guts to do what you do".

[michaeljwyo]

I hadn't heard the story on one of the translator engineers going to Lewis Peak. Who was it? I know a few of them.
And you are absolutely right. Having made a few trips myself up some scary mountains, I have the utmost respect for those who literally put their lives in danger at times to get a station back on the air. Interesting that like an hour after reading this post yesterday I was on the phone with another engineer who was telling me some more scary stories....including how barren and isolated Humpy Peak is and about an engineer who spent the night in a snow cave on the way to humpy before being rescued the next day. THIS, however does indeed give me some bigtime respect for Simmons engineering, whom I'm sure on occasion I have bad-mouthed, saying "who cares about the mains for the humpy stations. No one cares as long as the salt lake boosters are on." They care. Apparently a LOT if they're willing to risk life and limb in the middle of winter to get over to Humpy to put a main back on. The engineer I was talking to said that is indeed one scary place. You can only DRIVE there about 40 days a year otherwise you're dealing with snow. And it's not a groomed trail, either so even on a snow machine you can easily (and WILL) get stuck numerous times trying to dig out your snow machine. And he says you are lucky to maybe possibly get a cell signal otherwise there's a lot of the 16 mile trip from the bottom where there is NO cell service. Some of these stories make my little mountian (Medicine Butte) here in Evanston sound tame even though I myself have had to go up in the middle of winter and I am NOTORIOUS for getting a snowmachine stuck in deep snow. Man I thought THAT was scary.
I've been up many mountaintops over the years and I absolutely love it. I hope to see others like Humpy peak, Lewis Peak and Farnsworth Peak soon.....however I think I'll opt for the summer time!
Hats off to all the engineers who make radio happen.....I don't think they'll ever truly get the respect they deserve.

Michael n Wyo

[kenglish]

It was Ron.
Same guy who is helping out some of the "poorer" counties, by taking care of their upgrades totally out of the goodness of his heart.

I think we ought'ta get the Governor to declare a "Broadcaster Appreciation Week" some time.

[CAwasinNJ]

Apr 7, 2010 8:12:30 GMT -6 kenglish said:

I think we ought'ta get the Governor to declare a "Broadcaster Appreciation Week" some time.

I'd second that, except that I think it would be better to have Congress do it for engineers nationwide, not just in Utah. Could do both I suppose.

[michaeljwyo]

I'll third that! I think a "National Engineers Day" or "National Engineer Appreciation Week" would be more than appropriate. I could see the TV stations and radio stations doing interviews with engineers and interesting "Behind The Scenes" stories. Heh I'd like to see that anyway! They could show things like "master control" and the cameras and the transmitter and the antenna. Then again maybe that's just me. I LOVE that stuff! I only got to see inside a TV station once....it was KGWN Channel 5 in Cheyenne back in 1995. And I'm sure that was tame compared to what I'd see if I could see KSL or KUTV. I'd actually like to take a tour WITH an engineer or someone who DOES know what all the stuff does. My friend at KGWN in Cheyenne did point out Master Control.....but he didn't have a whole lot of knowledge. He just kinda pointed out "yeah there's master contol. Lots of cool stuff there...not sure what all that stuff is or how it works." He was just a reporter and weekend news anchor. I did get to watch him do video editing and putting together a bit for air during the newscast. Anyways....I'm digressing again. I guess I can't speak for what "most viewers" would be interested in based on my interest. I still think spotlighting the "behind the scenes" of radio and TV every now and again makes for interesting features.

Michael n Wyo

[dxstuboy]

I fourth that, and I agree Michael. I am a stickler for behind the scenes stuff and ate the national DTV transition up because they showed a lot of the technical side of it. Fox 13 in Salt Lake always shows stuff behind the scenes, hence I get a lot of my local news from them (not to mention their reporters don't seem to have sticks up their you know whats).

A lot of you know I have a huge website dedicated to radio towers and such. I live for this stuff.

[CAwasinNJ]

Most of the public couldn't care less. Too bad.

For those who don't already know, Scott Fybush has a weekly feature spotlighting broadcasting facilities. www.fybush.com/featuredsite.html

[kenglish]

Apr 9, 2010 21:40:35 GMT -6 CAwasinNJ said:

Most of the public couldn't care less. Too bad.

Yeah. It's hard to get anybody, kids especially, interested in anything technical nowadays. I hate to think how many kids are growing up with the life goal of "being a Blogger".
And, it really irritates me to think how everybody has to "dumb down" everything, to suit the lazy-minded.

[kenglish]

Next time somebody goes to one of those mountaintops, they should strap on a "Helmet Cam", and put the trip on YouTube.

[dxstuboy]

How about an IMAX camera? 70mm sized prints of Farnsworth would make me shiver in the theater. Ooh, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

[bonnevillemariner]

I'm petitioning KSL's engineers for a July trip to the peak for an in-depth TTB story. I'll have a photographer with me, and I'll shoot some video for posting (well, as much video as they're willing to let me shoot and post).