Doug Tagsold's Model Railroad of the Colorado & Southern Faithful to the Original

Model railroads are not featured here often for the simple reason that they're an imitation of the prototype, a re-creation that has license to include or exclude what the creator wills. That's their right and their creation reflects their devotion to the aspects they wish to create. Yet once in a while comes a layout so noteworthy and consistent with what one can see in the historic record that they have to be held up with pride and recognized as an authentic representation of the railroad and its environs. 

Such is the case with the above video, Colorado & Southern Denver to Silver Plume Freight. Doug Tagsold's Clear Creek District layout tour showcases his representation of the old Colorado Central line from South Denver through all the points of interest one can reasonably recount to the far famed loop above Georgetown and finally Silver Plume. While the pacing can be slow, it follows all the steps necessary to ready a steam engine for the trip. Soon enough, you're on your way. 

Everything feels and looks accurate, considering the historic photos available from the books and libraries. If I wanted to show a friend what the Georgetown Loop trip would have looked like a century ago, this would be about as close as I could come without time travel. 

Well done, sir! ⚒

Video: Alpine Tunnel by Drone

One area of lasting interest by railfans and historians in Colorado is Alpine Tunnel. Built by the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad in 1881, it connected Denver and locally Leadville with Gunnison, reaching the station on the west side of town in 1882.¹ Crossing beneath the Continental Divide, the tunnel carried traffic in all seasons until the line was abandoned just 28 years later in 1910 by the Colorado & Southern after a partial cave-in. The Denver & Rio Grande, having connected Denver to Leadville and across Marshall Pass to Gunnison, had siphoned away most of the business between these points. 

This video by YouTube member Searching for the C&S narrow gauge is of such good quality, I had to share it. It has almost a Google Earth-like quality to it, showing the west portal and climbing high to peek over the Continental Divide at the approach to east portal while remaining over the west side. It is a unique and compelling viewpoint that until recently was impossible to get in such detail and resolution. Frankly, I was amazed to see so little vibration or wind for such a high and weather-intense location.

As you can see from the video above and this look at the east portal, the portals have both collapsed long ago, sealing off the tunnel itself from any would-be explorers. Nonetheless, the site attracts visitors from June into September each year. All other times, it is covered in snow, often dozens of feet deep. ⚒

¹ Colorado Railroads by Tivis Wilkins, Pruett Publishing

Class 1 Railroading in 1982

The illustrious David P. Morgan, longtime editor of Trains Magazine wrote towards the end of his time in 1982 about what constitutes a Class 1 Railroad in the United States. In 2020, we have just 5 railroads functioning in a semi-national capacity. In 1982, it was a much more interesting question. 

His January 1982 column, "How Many Class 1s?" states, 

For all practical purposes, there are officially 39 railroads in the United States. . . .  [They] employ 92 per cent of American railroaders, operate 94 per cent of rail mileage, and handle 98 per cent of rail traffic. These 39 are the Class 1 (annual gross revenues of 50 million dollars or more) line-haul railroads

Of the roads he goes on to list, fully 7 of them were active in Colorado at the time of his writing: 

• Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
• Burlington Northern 
• Colorado & Southern 
• Denver & Rio Grande Western
• Missouri Pacific (soon to merge with UP)
• National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)
• Union Pacific

Morgan continued his analysis, weeding out railroads like the C&S, which would be absorbed into BN later that year and concluded, "Now we have, in effect 17 Class 1's--less than half the number we started with..." Burlington Northern, Rio Grande, Santa Fe, Union Pacific were the Colorado railroads included. He reduced the number even further by saying "75 per cent of the Class 1 route-miles of the country are controlled, or predictably will be, by just seven camps:" ATSF, BN and UP were in Colorado at the time. He concludes, 

In sum, we have far fewer railroads in the U.S. than the number that appears at first blush, although in terms of the world (2 roads in Canada, 1 in Mexico, and of course 1 each in France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, U.K., etc.) we have a distance to go, particularly in view of the fact that 154 years after B&O's charter we still do not possess rails under one flag linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Well sir, if you're looking for a monolithic rail structure in America, it still hasn't arrived 38 years later, a whopping 192 years in total! Although, thanks to a round of mergers in the 1990s, we have today 2 Class 1 freight railroads in Colorado. Neither of which seem to have a vested interest in the state as the Rio Grande did back in 1982. ⚒

Billy Westall of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad

A favorite story of mine, especially when it comes to narrow gauge lore, is that of Billy Westall. The Denver, South Park & Pacific, one of Colorado's "other" narrow gauge railroads, got rolled up in the consolidation of a number of railroads that became the Colorado & Southern.

The Columbine, Colorado's State Flower

It was around the time of this consolidation on Sunday, August 28th, 1898, that William G. "Billy" Westall was working for the railroad as an engineer, pulling a train of seven passenger cars with around 450 souls aboard. The passengers were participating in a regional phenomenon where, to beat the summer heat that regularly soars above 90°F in and around Denver, those with the means would take an excursion train to the high country. There the relatively clean alpine air, streams of cold, clear water that only hours before had been locked within snowbanks, and wildflowers like the Columbine and fauna in abundance would work their magic on the denizens of arid, dusty, and crowded Denver. Returning on a summer afternoon, it would have been perfect if not for one simple but intractable problem. As editor Ed Haley writes in M.C. Poor's Denver South Park & Pacific,

Just as the engine rounded a blind left curve near Dome Rock, engineer Westall caught sight of a large pile of sand and gravel on the track directly ahead, which had been washed down the mountain side by a recent heavy rain. He could have easily "joined the birds" and jumped in the clear, but chose, instead, to stick to his engine and try his best to stop the train with its human cargo. His fireman, Joseph Nichols, also stayed with the engine but was thrown into the clear as the engine turned over and [thus] escaped injury. Westall was successful in saving the lives of all his passengers at the expense of his own. His body was pinned to the ground by the handhold on the right side of the tender. He lived 12 hours, dying in the arms of his fireman. Westall's last words were: 'Tell my wife I died thinking of her'.

The Westall monument
at rededication

Billy Westall and Joseph Nichols are heroes for refusing to leave their positions and giving every last ounce of effort to preserve the lives for which they were responsible. His co-workers and friends were deeply moved by Westall's sacrifice and through their union, the American Order of United Workmen, they placed a large granite memorial near the site of the wreck a year later. Three separate trains were necessary to carry the passengers to the dedication of that monument. The monument sat for over a century before being adopted by a class of middle school students. They rehabilitated the monument and placed a placard detailing Westall's story for the public.

Westall was buried in Denver's Riverside Cemetery, known as the "Pioneer's cemetery." It is connected to the other monument by the Platte River, which runs along its northwest side. On the other side, it's bound by the active tracks of BNSF, the successor to the C&S and the DSP&P.⚒

The Ghost Railroad Hiding In Your Backyard

Every once in a while, an e-mail from the contact form catches my eye, like this one:

Dear Colorado Railroads,
Wasn't there a line running generally SE from Longmont, CO, generally thru Erie, then past Broomfield? If so, what became of it?


Regards,

Gregory Iwan

Dear Gregory,

Yes, there was! In fact, this area is steeped in the history of numerous railroads because the Front Range corridor between Denver and Cheyenne was the first to see development by railroads, and all of them wanted to be the first to get to wherever it was they were going! The period of 1870 to 1890 was a wild time here, with legal and financial wrangling, a great deal of courting of public opinion, strong arming, and more than a few shady dealings like kidnapping judges and taking of property by force!

I must admit that when I was initially searching, I was confused. I came across a narrow-gauge line running due north from Broomfield to Longmont. But you aren't referring to that line. The only line with all three points you mentioned was standard gauge and, strangely, it was built by the same company as the narrow gauge line! Suffice to say, this railroad has a complex, if brief, history.

The Denver, Utah & Pacific had narrow-gauge aspirations as a mountain railroad, and its ambitions were as big as its name. However, its progress seems a little more mundane. The first goal was to lay claim to a route west through the canyons and that's where their line through Longmont comes in. They were working on reaching Lyons and a potential route west over the Continental Divide. This appears to have caught the attention of the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The CB&Q was also looking to expand westward of Denver and bought control of the DU&P. Because the CB&Q was a standard gauge carrier, the DU&P began converting or flat out re-building its system to match the Burlington's gauge.

The line was constructed in 1889 from Burns Junction on the Denver, Marshall & Boulder main line a little west of Broomfield by the Denver, Utah & Pacific in standard gauge. To save time and money, DU&P used 5 miles of a grade built by the Denver, Western & Pacific but not actually used. Once complete, they leased the line to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad on September 1st of that year. CB&Q operated the railroad via its Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in Nebraska (phew!) subsidiary until February 1908, when the title was obtained by CB&Q outright.

The line connected through Erie with Longmont's branch to Lyons, which had to be standard gauged along with the connection to Denver, but the Burlington would eventually link it with Montana by controlling the Colorado & Southern whose Wind River Canyon line through Casper and Thermopolis, Wyoming.

Map

The line itself served many mines that came and went, but coal mining was curtailed by miners strikes in the late 1910s and early 20s, and the mines waned in profitability. Most of the spurs were gone by 1936 and passenger traffic also dwindled. Then in 1951, 1.5 miles of the main line between the connections with the Lafayette Loop was abandoned, diverting all traffic over the loop. From then until 1970, the line remained intact, more or less.

What became of it? As near as I can piece together, vandals burnt the bridge at Idaho Creek, severing the line. Rather than rebuild it, the Burlington Northern (I presume, based on corporate timelines) elected to serve Lafayette and Longmont via their other connections made by the control and eventual merger with the Colorado & Southern. Erie lost service in the 1980s or 90s. It's vague and unsubstantiated, but that's the best I can come up with at this time.

For a serious look at the line, I managed to find a book available in Denver's Public Library called Denver, Longmont and Northwestern by Berlyn (Billy) L. Boyles of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club. I have not seen a copy of it myself but it looks promising, if a bit dated.

It's a little surprising to find this ghost railroad hiding in plain sight, running right through people's backyards. Who knows how much more history lies beneath the surface?⚒

References

Colorado Railroads by Tivis Wilkins
Tracking Ghost Railroads in Colorado by Robert Ormes
Colorado's Mountain Railroads by Robert LaMassena
Historical USGS Topo Maps
Rick Steel C&S History, UtahRails.net

Christmas Is Coming, How Are You Fixed For Cards

We might live in an era when Christmas cards are waning in popularity, a bother when so many of us are already over-committed in December. Yet, the tradition is still alive among railfans, some of whom pick cards from Leanin' Tree, a company in Boulder, Colorado for many decades now. Click the image to view the card details.

Painting - Rio Grande SD40T-2 5371 up the Front Range toward Steamboat Springs

Painting - Rio Grande Mikado 486 over Cumbres Pass

Painting - Rio Grande Consolidation 346 near Trout Lake

This post is a non‑compensated endorsement. I simply believe in supporting a long-running Colorado business that has an affinity for trains and railfans. In fact, they are offering a 15% discount to you, the reader. Use the code TG15OFF at checkout.⚒

POTD - BN Caboose Two Miles High

Photo of the Day: Mike Danneman

It is 1984, and the Climax local has just returned to the two-mile high city of Leadville under threat of rain from a July cloudburst overhead. Winter snows still cling to Mount Elbert above the covered hopper and Mount Massive (at far right), the two highest peaks in Colorado. The summer storm belies the fact that summer, if it comes at all, is far too brief at this altitude to make much of an impact. Nevertheless, as noted photographer Mike Danneman notes, this line survives as the Leadville, Colorado & Southern, a summer tourist railroad in business long after the neighboring Tennessee Pass Route has fallen silent.

The isolated segment of the Burlington Northern system, 150 rail miles from its nearest connection at Pueblo, is still generating revenue many decades after coming into the fold of Colorado & Southern as part of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad. To get there, the DSP&P climbed from Como in South Park over the Continental Divide at Boreas Pass, down through Breckenridge and Frisco before heading up over Fremont Pass (and the Continental Divide, again). Such up and down, north and south wanderings are why they had such turbulent corporate histories and why Colorado narrow gauge railroads are so beloved. ⚒

Burnham Shops In Final Countdown To Closure

For more than 140 years, the at-first narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and its standard gauge successors have maintained a locomotive maintenance facility and yard at 8th and Pecos in central Denver. In less than 3 weeks, that facility will turn it's last wheel.

Such news is a bitter pill to take.

It's no secret that declining coal traffic in Colorado and the unlikely prospect of its revival, at least in the domestic sense is driving the business decision. Nearly a year into a continuous drop in earnings, Union Pacific isn't shy about falling back on the tried and true method of shoring up a soft bottom line by consolidating operations and reducing expenditures. The bitter pill is the number of "relocated" jobs--at least 210--and the location, which is to some Rio Grande fans, sacred ground.

In his comments on the Denver Post news article announcing the closure, rail historian Dillon A. wrote

I propose that the Burnham yards be put on the Register of Historic Places. This facility is where hundreds of thousands of steam and diesel locomotives were overhauled and repaired. A good example of why this needs to be saved and saved NOW are one of the locomotives that came from this facility. These locomotives still survive on the Cumbres & Toltec scenic Railroad in Chama, New Mexico, Durango & Silverton scenic Railroad in Durango, and one at the Colorado Railroad Museum.  ... These locomotives were the narrow-gauge K-37 class of the Denver & Rio Grande Western. Out of 10 made, 8 still exist and one is currently operational. #491 is operating at the railroad Museum in Golden. These locomotives are the greatest example of the power and craftsmanship that this facility produced. That is why this facility needs to be saved NOW. It might just look like an old rail yard, but it holds MANY secrets and hold LOTS of opertunity [sic] for future historic rail preservation.

While my heart strongly echoes these sentiments, interested parties must either hastily coalesce into a preservation group or contact the existing preservation organizations like the Colorado Railroad Museum or History Colorado to get involved. Otherwise, we have little right to complain. 

At this point, UP spokeswoman Callie B. Hite says the railroad plans to prepare the 70-acre locomotive repair yard for sale. There are about two dozen buildings on the site, which is zoned for industrial uses. "The 70-acre property is located in an area experiencing renewed urban development," Hite was quoted in the article.

Opinion

More than 20 years ago, I can remember gliding past the "dead line" on neighboring tracks operated by Denver's pilot Light Rail line, scrolling past the many Southern Pacific and Union Pacific locomotives, searching intently for a Rio Grande in among the dirty grey and dingy yellow engines awaiting their fate to be rebuilt or sold. It's hard to imagine that the next time I do ride past, the dead line, shops and structures could be all demolished and plowed under for a scenic strip mall or trendy retail "infill." This was a place that birthed the Rio Grande's narrow gauge conversions, refit and rehabilitated the mighty 2-8-8-2's and their kin during the heyday of steam and rebuilt and repaired the generations of diesel locomotives that defied gravity over the spine of the continent. For generations, men punched in, endured hours of hard, sweaty work in grimy iron horses, some loving every minute of it. Their sons and grandsons remembering their work with pride. This place probably will now be re-developed and paved over with not even a hint that such history transpired there, except perhaps the irony of the same name, Burnham Shops.

If you disbelieve me, consider that today's Elitch's was in 1993 a very different place, the Colorado & Southern yards. Abandoned and quiet, they still had history waiting inside structures that had stood for decades. In two years, the only hint that remained of it's railroad past was a heavy, through-truss turntable, and in only a few more years, it was gone, replaced by a mediocre bat swing ride. It became a forgotten corner in a park that itself has suffered under a series of lackluster owners and stagnant growth after moving from it's own home in 1994 over a century old in the West Highlands of Denver. Is that really what should happen to Burnham?◊

POTD: Ghost Echoes of Steam Whistles Where Sunsets and Aspen Leaves Fall

You never know where you're going to run into a railroad. On the west side of Boreas Pass, not far from the roadbed of the Denver, South Park & Pacific narrow gauge railroad, Chris May took this beautiful sunset photograph of fall aspens and what I suspect to be Mount Lincoln, if not Quandary Peak, both 14ers above the fine resort town of Breckenridge.

Very little could seem to have changed from this sunset over Boreas Pass
to the time when the first steam whistles echoed over the Blue River Valley.
Photo: Christopher J. May

It could seem that the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad, later the Denver Leadville & Gunnison and then Colorado & Southern, is one of the "other" Colorado narrow gauge railroads, meaning not Denver & Rio Grande Western or Rio Grande Southern, two of the longest lived, most spectacular and most expansive narrow gauge railroads in America. But to think that they're the only roads would seem ...well, narrow minded.

The South Park, as it's called familiar, was considered a rival railroad to the Rio Grande for many years. Departing Denver for Waterton Canyon, it wended its way into its eponymous park by Kenosha Pass, where it built a roundhouse that still stands in Como. From there, a branch sprung across the Continental Divide over Boreas Pass to tap the mining towns of Breckenridge, Dillon, and a small mining hamlet called Keystone in Summit County.◊

Further Information

DSP&P Historical Society
DSP&P on Wikipedia
DSP&P for modelers

 

BNSF Heritage Hoppers

Heritage fleets just keep on getting bigger. This year, BNSF has finally gotten with the program and produced a half-hearted "heritage hopper" harem.


Photo by John Csoka

It's almost as if they looked at UP and NS and said, "Oh, alright. Here. But don't expect us to paint them snazzy colors or anything."

What? You mean like these?



Both photos by Keith Schmidt.

The models were created by MTH, but probably could be adapted by the prototypic Union Pacific. A look at some concepts from the model railroading world might just show us what's possible for BNSF to try, if they're ever so inclined. In particular, Lionel (yes, that Lionel, 3 rails and all) designed some passable heritage designs that would catch anyone's eye.

Burlington 1848

Burlington Northern 1970

Frisco 1876

Great Northern 1889

Northern Pacific 1870

Santa Fe 1996

Above 6 photos Lionel.com LLC. (Catalog)

As with Union Pacific, the road numbers of the locomotives signify a year. In this case, it's based on the year the railroad started (save Santa Fe), rather than the year they joined the system. While there are no prototypical or "real" engines for these models (at least, not yet), I have to admit that when the design is scaled up, they look pretty sharp. To wit:



Which is your favorite? What about a Colorado & Southern locomotive? Do you think UP should start painting heritage hoppers based on the success of the Heritage Fleet?◊

''Tell My Wife I Died Thinking Of Her''

Over a century ago, the tale of Denver, South Park & Pacific engineer William Westall was a popular story and eventually people retold often enough that it entered into folklore. The common version is simple but memorable enough:

• A train filled with people was headed down the track
• Rounding a curve, the engineer saw an alarming sight. The track was obstructed with rocks and boulders
• Too late to stop in time, the engineer ordered his fireman to jump while he stayed and rode the brakes, in an attempt to spare his passengers
• While the train was slowed enough to prevent certain doom, the engine still struck the obstruction, mortally wounding the engineer
• Dying in his fireman's arms, the engineer's final words were, "Tell my wife I died thinking of her."

Westall Monument, photo by Milly Roeder

While typically devoid of details, the folk tale is nonetheless true. It might have been lost forever to history, if it weren't for a cryptic monument and a tourist's curiosity. The full story of the monument, the tourist and the engineer who saved 450 passengers from death is recorded by Milly Roeder in an article, The Story of Billy Westall and the Westall Monument, originally published in 1998 by the Jefferson County Historical Commission.

The next year after Westall's death, the DSP&P was absorbed in the 1899 merger creating the Colorado & Southern. That same year, the monument was placed along the right of way near the spot of the derailed engine. For the next century, it stood, surviving not only the C&S, but the Burlington, BN and all the people who ever knew Westall. The monument itself, according to the 14 year-old article, was in peril of falling into the river.

Enter a group of students, the National Junior Honor Society from West Jefferson Middle School in Conifer. Over the past year and a half, they've been planning and working to restore the monument. Notably, the way they're going about it seems to be working. They've involved a number of folks, like Denver Water's Neil Sperandeo, and historic groups, including Colorado Preservation Inc. and the Denver South Park & Pacific Historic Society. As of this month, work has progressed to the point that they have a new site picked out and could use some grant money to restore the monument to its new location. Those interested in getting involved or donating to the project should e-mail Mr. Frank Reetz of West Jefferson Middle School.

All this cooperation and learning is happening because of history, preservation, and adults who are willing to get involved. Certainly, a lot of good is coming out of the tragic death of an engineer.◊

Force Of Nature: CDOT Films Georgetown, Silver Plume and The Far-famed Loop

When I was a teen, climbing 14ers was a scary but fun summer pastime. By scary, I mean that I can't recall an ascent where my life wasn't threatened in some way. On my first attempted ascent of Grays Peak, I can remember how my dad had told me that Grays was one of the easiest climbs within a few hours of Denver. A Climbing Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners by Lampert & Borneman said so. I remembered that while jammed inside the cleft of a large rock, 50 feet off the trail, wrapped in a heat reflective blanket, wondering if I'd see my dad again.

What does that have to do with the film below titled Force of Nature? Everything. On my way to our climb, the last towns I passed through were Georgetown and Silver Plume. G-town was where they'd likely bring our bodies, I reasoned. I breathed out curses on guidebook writers and, in the very next breath, prayed that lightning avoided men on the exposed sides of mountains and boys stuffed into rocks beneath them with equal disdain. It was only a couple of years after they had rebuilt the Loop in the valleys below my misadventure. Colorado's Department of Highways, a predecessor of CDOT, was consistently being dealt black eyes for it's handling of rock falls onto its roads. Rock slide mitigation is an inexact science with very real consequences for failure.

In 2012, rock slide mitigation is getting (significantly) better. Walter Borneman survived my curses to pen a 20th anniversary edition of the guide and appear in the film below. My dad came down off the mountain having tasted electricity and felt lightning in his fingers, surviving only to drag me up many more (with alarmingly variable results), and then safely retire last year, giving his last Jeep to my brother. You might even catch his own guide book out there. It probably doesn't mention his stuffing his son in a crevice under a rock ...but it should. After all, it taught his son to pray.



Few today seriously understand how unwilling highway designers were to give up their precious right of way to a railroad that no longer existed! This film is just a small token of appreciation for James Grafton Rogers, a preservationist, a lawyer, and a veteran on this Veterans Day 2012.

And Walt, sorry. Your advice was good. No hard feelings!◊

POTD - Isolated in Leadville

The last remnant of the Denver, South Park and Pacific being operated today is the Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad. From 1899, it was part of the C&S consolidation of narrow gauge lines--the ones not associated with Rio Grande. In the 40s, the line was standard gauged, operating for a short time with 4 rails to prevent any service disruption. From the 40s to the 60s, C&S #641 moved cars from the Climax mine at the top of Fremont Pass down to the connection with Rio Grande outside Leadville. After 641 retired, she was put on display in Leadville while a Burlington Northern road switcher took over her duties.

Colorado & Southern standard gauge steamer rests outside the Leadville,
Colorado & Southern depot in Leadville, Colorado one hot day in August 1999
Photo: Jeff Jordan

New Railroad Construction In Denver

It's always a good sign when your friendly neighborhood railroad, usually BNSF or Union Pacific west of Chicago, starts adding capacity in your region. It could be a second main line between two points only a few miles apart, or it could be a third or (wow!) fourth main for 20 miles or more. After a century of contraction and abandoned routes, railroads are cautiously upgrading and adding rail routes.

What It's Like To Volunteer

I just got done reading Boho in the 'Burbs: Train Yard Volunteering. See what it's like to volunteer at the Colorado Railroad Museum for a few hours. If anything, it's worth the look inside CB&Q business car 96. It's very cool to see a family get together and give a few hours together. It got me thinking too.

Off-Road And On Track At the Alpine Tunnel

An off-road vehicle is often your best choice for exploring the sites of Colorado's extensive railroad history. It therefore follows that some members of the off-road vehicle groups would find some crossover interest. The folks at UTV Weekly put together a nice piece on Hancock Pass and the Alpine Tunnel, complete with photos.

The Alpine Tunnel was an endeavor by the Denver, South Park & Pacific (wikipedia), a narrow gauge railroad founded in 1872 with a small but hardy following among narrow-gauge railfans. In 1889, the DSP&P became the Denver, Leadville, & Gunnison (UP-controlled) and then in 1898, part of the Colorado & Southern system. The Alpine Tunnel was in use from 1881 to 1910, connecting Leadville and the Arkansas River Valley with Gunnison and the western slope.

Having visited the site a few years ago, I can tell you that the progress at the Alpine Tunnel historic district is noticeable, but slow. Hard, grueling work is complicated by the short summer--if you can call it that--along with the high altitude and lack of funding, things that conspired to prevent the original route from completion and continued operation. If you look at the photos, you'll see that even the memorials are not immune to the harsh conditions. Yet it is all worth a visit, if only to see the beauty of the state and embrace the history of men who bravely fought and died facing the worst conditions Colorado's Rocky Mountains could throw at them.


Further & Related

• What's a UTV?
  
• UTV Weekly also covered the Alpine Loop.
• Denver, Leadville & Gunnison #191, the oldest native locomotive in Colorado, recently returned to display at the Colorado Railroad Museum after a full cosmetic restoration.
  

C&S 71 On YouTube From 1988

In 1988, Colorado & Southern #71, a 2-8-o narrow gauge steam locomotive, operated for a time in Central City. The following video shows some action, along with a tour guide talking about mining technology in the early days and some brief action. Thanks to mspeterson for converting this video and uploading it!



Opinion
While no one can complain about the tax dollars contributed to Colorado's economy, much of the history of the Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek areas has been obliterated and drowned out by the gambling hucksters who mine the pockets of the middle and lower classes. So much has been lost in these historic towns, not the least of which is a functional C&S #71.

Colorado Day Quiz

A railroad question made it into the Colorado Day quiz offered by the Denver Post.

Spoiler warning: Stop reading unless you want some serious clues as to the answer.

Interesting enough, the Denver & Rio Grande pulled up the narrow gauge rails over this pass as they withdrew from the Blue River basin early on in its history. Few railfans realize that the Rio Grande reached all the way to Summit county, and did so by first going to Pueblo and then up the Arkansas all the way to its source. There would have been no Ski Train to Breckenridge however. Aside from the length of the trip, Breckenridge was still just a mining town and Copper Mountain was still just a hillside above non-descript Wheeler Junction. Nevermind the fact that skiing was relatively unknown in 1923 at the time Rio Grande abandoned the 36 miles of rails on the Blue River Extension.

One final hint: The pass is still reached by rail, although the trains don't quite reach it.

Lost & Found in Cheyenne: UPD&G Passenger Car

A vintage railcar from railroading's early days in the west discovered in 1991 is finally getting the attention she deserves. The railcar ran on the Union Pacific Denver & Gulf and then on Colorado & Southern between Cheyenne and Denver before its conversion to a train crew cabin. It survived as a house for decades afterward. Now, its hopes are considerably brighter. Read more from the Wyoming Tribune.