Three Pilgrimages to Alpine Tunnel

PILGRIMAGES TO ALPINE
I am not a believer in pilgrimages. Not spiritual ones at least. When my faith went from being a tradition to a living, breathing entity in my life early in high school, I rejected a lot of traditions in favor of their reality. At that time, I was perplexed that some people talked of pilgrimages to holy sites, as if it would inspire them. Yet, in another part of my life I learned to understand just how transformational a pilgrimage could be. My devotion to a tiny abandoned tunnel in the mountains of Colorado set aflame a passion that is still going nearly two decades later.

From Heavy Metal to High Iron

Like many teens in the late 1980’s I had two passions: girls and heavy metal. Most other eighth graders would have numbered sports among their secondary passions, but I was unusual in that regard for mine was trains. Maybe it was having a history-minded father, maybe it was the many family walks along the nearby Conrail mainline. Either way, I got hooked. But the ‘hook of hooks’ came at a church rummage sale.
One person’s junk is another’s treasure, they say and such was my case. Our church, St. Mark Lutheran, had a yearly rummage sale and I always scoured it for model trains. This time, however, I found a huge stack of train magazines on a table in the back of the gym and quickly snatched them up. I was particularly curious about some magazine titles I wasn’t aware existed. One of these was the National Railway Historical Society magazine. As destiny would have it, I stumbled upon an article about a group of rail fans that visited the site of a tunnel that had been abandoned since 1910. The image of the inside of the tunnel is still etched in my mind. I was intrigued that somewhere there was an old tunnel with its rails still in the bore as if it was desperately trying to defy the bell that long ago tolled for its demised. And so it began.
At the library, the Cleveland library, mind you, I located both The Historic Alpine Tunnel and The Denver, South Park & Pacific. What odd books to find in Ohio of all places! I devoured their contents and found myself lured into the fabled history of this railroad called the Colorado & Southern and its struggle against the elements. I was so hooked that I worked out a scheme to earn money for doing chores at home that would earn me enough money to purchase a $250 copy of DSP&P from a rare book dealer. My mom declined (good thing, as I found it on ebay for $70.00 a few years ago!).
Though my carefully calculated scheme to acquire the DSP&P book failed, my parents recognized my growing devotion to this little railroad, and in the early months of 1989 they told me something that thrilled me to the core: we were going to spend two weeks in Colorado this summer and make a stop at The Alpine Tunnel. Pilgrimage #1!