C&S 1006 Timeline, part 1: 1940s, A Poor Display

Since this post, there have been some insights that I think are more accurate than the information below.  See this post.

The arrival of the display trains in Idaho Springs and Central City have been fairly well-documented with photos and documents.  Caboose 1006 in Silver Plume, however, has a good amount of mystery involved.  The following and subsequent posts are my attempts at piecing together 1006's post-abandonment history based on quotes from books, observations from photos, and quotes from sources that either worked on the caboose or knew of those who did.  I'll end the series with a timeline of the most recent work, beginning in 2014, by the C&S Railway Society, to whom we owe a great deal of gratitude.

Pulling Track

1939

1006 was used on the dismantling train when scrapping the Silver Plume to Idaho Springs line.  It is shown on March 18th near Devil's Gate Viaduct on page 207 of The Pictorial Supplement of the DSP&P as well as several photos of the scrap train on pages 185-186 in C&S Clear Creek District Memories and Then Some.

A Poor Display

1941 

This photo by Otto Perry found in the Denver Public Library collection is dated September 14, 1941.

The above photo from the same collection is labeled as "sometime between 1930 and 1940."  My assumption is that it is a little later than the 1941 photo as some of the boards seem to have settled.

Notice how different this display piece is compared to the pristine condition of the locomotives and cars in Idaho Springs and Central City when they were put in place that same year.  There are no tracks, the steps are missing, and the paint is already deteriorated.

This unimpressive presentation surely is what has motivated some to think the bobber was simply left behind after abandonment.

However, the Colorado & Southern Railway Society, who are presently at work restoring caboose 1006, stated the following in correspondence with me:

"We've done a lot of research on this very question [of how 1006 came to Silver Plume]. Initially we assumed that the Caboose was left in Silver Plume when the tracks were pulled up.

"It turns out; we have found photos of the Scrap train, and 1006 was the caboose used to dismantle the clear creek branch."

From what I can tell from photos in C&S Clear Creek District Memories and Then Some it seems that 1006 was used on the 1939 scrap train between Silver Plume and Idaho Springs, while caboose 1003 was used for the 1941 Idaho Springs to Golden scrap train.  

The C&S Railway Society continued, "When the Narrow gauge was abandoned the C&S management actively chose a number of locomotives and cars specifically for preservation.

"While 1008, and 1009 were retained for use on the Leadville branch till it was upgraded to standard gauge in 1946, 1006 was deliberately chosen for preservation and trucked to Silver Plume."

Engine 71 with a gondola and combine and engine 60 with a coach were taken to the towns that had accepted the offer of some narrow gauge equipment to display.  These were put in place in 1941.  C&S 71 and it's train had to be trucked to Central City since the line to that point had been abandoned in 1931.  No. 60 and her coach were simply hauled dead to Idaho Springs as the tracks were still in place at this point.

It is my assumption that Silver Plume requested a caboose and were given 1006.  Since the tracks to Silver Plume were pulled up in 1939, I assumed she must have been trucked from the end-of-track in Idaho Springs in 1941, presumably around the time that engine 60 and coach 70 arrived there.  The caboose was not in the train with No. 60 and the coach as photos show so it must have been taken on a different move.

However 1006 arrived, it was placed a short distance from the former Silver Plume depot.

According to the book Georgetown and the Loop,
"When the four-wheeled Colorado and Southern caboose was left at Silver Plume, there were no rails under its wheels.

1945

In the iconic 1949 book Denver, South Park & Pacific, author M.C. Poor comments on page 327,
"At the time of abandonment of the Clear Creek line, one of these little crummies, number 1006, was set up as a permanent exhibit at Silver Plume.  While passing through Silver Plume on a trip up Clear Creek in search of data in 1945, Ed Haley pointed out number 1006 to the author.  There it sits on four crossties, forlorn and neglected, as if waiting for the inevitable end, which somehow seems close at hand."

The book Colorado & Southern Railway: Clear Creek Narrow Gauge from the Images of Rail series includes a photo on page 118 of the caboose, labeling it as "around the time the C&S was abandoned."  This cannot be too close to 1941 considering the progress of deterioration evidenced in the photo.  1006 is near a Coca-Cola sign, pitched forward, and windows missing.  The rear, left steps are missing (though possibly on the ground), while the rear, right steps are crooked and half detached.  The front right steps appear to be on ground.  Curiously, the photo above, which was most certainly earlier than this photo, shows no steps whatsoever.