A First Visit to Platte Canyon, part 1

 

  When I interact with C&S fans online, it’s encouraging to know that I’m not the only one who lives far, far away from the railroad I enjoy so much.  Living in Ohio doesn’t afford me many opportunities to just hop over to the lovely state of Colorado, but in October of 2022, a surprise opportunity presented itself.  

My oldest daughter, Mia, a senior in high school, got very interested in a Bible-based gap-year program based in Canon City, Colorado named Worldview at the Abbey.  My wife and I loved the vision of the program and our daughter’s excitement about the possibility.  Still, sending our oldest across the country by herself without having made a personal visit as parents first seemed a bit intimidating so we signed up for a preview weekend in October.  

The main point of this trip was, of course, for me to check out the program with our daughter, but the chance to visit Colorado, even for a mere two and a half days set my mind ablaze with what C&S visits I could make!  I got to work checking out the routes we could travel via the DSP&P Historical Society’s Google Earth overlay and corresponding with the ever-helpful Tom Klinger, co-author with his wife Denise of five stellar C&S books.  

Map of ROW and new walking trail

Because our flight was to arrive in Denver around 1pm on Thursday, we basically had Thursday afternoon and evening and Friday morning for C&S adventures before the Abbey preview weekend program began Friday afternoon in Canon City.  Tom Klinger helped me work out an itinerary for my available time.  This itinerary began with a visit the Colorado Railroad Museum Thursday afternoon and even a possible short hike on one of the new walking trails built partially on the old C&S line up Clear Creek Canyon.  After this, the Klingers had graciously offered us dinner at their place in Wheat Ridge, just next to Golden.  For Friday, our plans included getting to Canon City by the back route via Route 285 in Platte Canyon, as I had never been east of Kenosha in past Colorado visits.

Disappointingly, our first plans were blown off the track like a boxcar in the South Park when our plane to Denver was delayed a frustrating three hours.  By the time we at last landed and got our rental car (which required another hour of waiting in line), we were at least glad we could visit with the Klingers whose hospitality and company were simply a delight.  As I am in the process of writing a C&S book, it was a joy to hear Tom and Denise relate their completely unplanned foray into becoming authors after A.A. (Brownie) Anderson’s son shared his family photo albums with Tom and kept saying, “Tom, I want you to write a book.”

My daughter and I woke up Friday morning to a dreary day.  On our way south to catch 285, there were times we could barely see the car in front of us through the fog.  This was not an encouraging prospect for sight-seeing!  When we later crested the mountains, the misty, foggy morning finally gave way little by little and the sun came out.  Our sights were stunned to see the Rockies awash with a mix of deep green pine trees juxtaposed by stunning yellow aspen leaves.  For us flat landers, it was an act of spontaneous praise to the Creator as we barked one “Woah!” and “look at that!” after another.

Due to our need to arrive in Canon City by 2:30pm, we had to make a few cuts or short visits along the way.  I wanted to visit Pine to see the two gondolas on display, but since I could not figure out a way to get from Pine, which required a drive down Pine Valley Road off of the highway, to Bailey without backtracking to 285, we skipped it.

Bailey

With anticipation we entered South Park railroad country at last as 285 makes a sweeping right hand curve in the old town of Bailey.  We pulled off to the left in the center of the curve.  Helen McGraw-Tatum Memorial Park was easily visible straight ahead of us behind a shop bearing a William Jackson photo of a Mason Bogie and a coach near the Alpine Tunnel.  The first sight to see was an old South Park railroad bridge across the North Fork of the South Platte River leading to a footpath.  

We rolled over the gravel, parked on what was likely the South Park right-of-way, and walked over to a delightful small park dedicated to an adventurous woman who loved the history of this area.  Helen McGraw-Tatum is known to many C&S fans for her film recording of C&S No. 9 hauling the last passenger train in April 1937.  

Spanning the creek is the old Mill Gulch bridge from Platte Canon.  We walked across the ornate bridge several times with it’s ornamental “Keystone Bridge” sign high up on top.  A note in the November 1977 Rocky Mountain Rail Report gives a little background on the structure.  

Mill Gulch Bridge

THE HISTORIC MILL GULCH BRIDGE, or as it is now referred to, the Keystone Bridge, (it was built by the company of the same name) will have a new resting place near downtown Denver if all goes as planned. The Denver Water Board has offered to dismantle and move the old DSP&P bridge from the canyon, and reassemble it across the South Platte River near Denver's Mile High Stadium.

A permanent bridge is needed at the location to provide fans attending events at the stadium, a way in which to cross the river from certain parking areas. The Water Board has to replace the bridge in the canyon with a stronger one (which will use the same abutments) to allow movement of heavy construction equipment. It was the intention of the Board to disassemble the bridge anyway, and store it until a worthy recipient could be found. So it will now be preserved and used, although not in quite as picturesque a setting.

The bridge was taken apart in the summer of 1978.  In the November Rocky Mountain Rail Report the following was explained, along with a new plan for the bridge’s use.

The Denver Water Department is in the process of widening the narrow gauge roadbed farther into the canyon, to permit access by heavy construction equipment, so the bridge had to be replaced. The large girders at the top were used to support the structure as it was carefully taken apart. They were then lowered onto the abutments to become the main supports for the new bridge. The old bridge is now in storage, and is to be given to the Forest Service, who has indicated it will be used near the Keystone Ski Area.

The bridge was never used in Denver or the Keystone Ski Area, but was instead put back together and placed in Bailey in 1985.

Glen Isle and Grousemont

Next, we visited the old Glen Isle way station to the left of the Keystone bridge.  Originally located at the Glen Isle resort just a bit west of this spot, the open air station had been restored in 1994 by combining it with another way station from Grousemont.  Inside, one can look up and see signatures of passengers who put their names here while waiting for trains.  Unfortunately, it is a bit hard to decipher which are original as many recent visitors seem to have kept up the tradition of adding their names.  Still, some are dated from the 1920’s and ‘30s.  

To the left of the Glen Isle station, a C&S standard gauge caboose, donated by the railroad in 1973, rests on what was the South Park’s right-of-way.

 
From there we hopped back onto 285, now a two-lane highway and right on top of the former C&S roadbed.  We passed Glen Isle where the old hotel with its rounded front, dating from railroad days, still stands on your left.  Of many resort hotels along the South Platte River, it is the only one still standing and serving vacationers in the canyon.

Maddox

Our next marker was to look for Fitzsimmons Middle School and Platte Canyon High School on our right as a marker to remind us to look for the old Maddox Ice Pond on our left, where scores of C&S cars were loaded with ice on a siding that could accommodate 48 cars.  Once we passed the school, we easily
identified the large square, man-made lake still glistening in the fall sunshine.  We pulled off onto a left hand driveway and took some photos of the lake, and then ran across the street to a gated driveway.  This path was a rutted dirt road which connected with the old right-of-way where it veered to the right away from 285, leading to a ranch called Mile High Anglers, a provider of guided fly fishing tours.

Cassells

We headed back on the road, this time with the roadbed on our right.  It was hard to see traces of it, especially as the driver!  We made two quick stops near what was called Cassells in early railroad days.  The site once hosted a resort built and operated by the Cassells family and it also sported a siding large enough for five cars.  In 1930 the property was sold and given to Catholic Charities and rechristened “Santa Maria,” a camp for underprivileged children.  Today it is a YMCA camp, where one can still see the enormous, 55-foot tall 1930s-era statue of Jesus with outstretched hands named “Christ the King”  on the side of a mountain rising above the North Fork of the South Platte.  We made a quick stop to snap a photo of this at a turn off in the road.

We made another short stop in the Cassells area to find where the railroad’s roadbed crossed 285 from right to left.  The ROW runs through a property on the right, passing a shed and then a house.  The roadbed seems to be used today as the driveway.  We photographed and filmed that, but when we crossed the highway, we were unable to find any roadbed traces easily visible from the road.  

Grant

While I wanted to stop in Grant where a bridge that was part of the end of the wye is still in use for a road, I decided to skip it, knowing it was on private property, and I was not sure how close I could get.

*******

In part 2, I'll continue our trek onto Webster and over Kenosha Pass to the great South Park.

C&S 9's 2010 arrival in Breckenridge

Here is C&S No. 9 when she was placed on display in the town of Breckenridge, a mining town she traveled through so many times during her operating days between Denver and Leadville. The engine has been cosmetically restored since its short and ill-fated partial season operating on the Georgetown Loop in 2006. 

Following the C&S in Platte Canyon: Bailey to Maddox

In this video, filmed fall of 2022, you will trace the Denver, South Park & Pacific/Colorado & Southern Railway's right-of-way from the town of Bailey to Maddox. Today's US 285 is now on top of the old railroad grade. Along the way you will see places where the trains once stopped such as the resort of Glen Isle where the 1901 hotel still stands and the original Glen Isle wait station (now restored in Bailey). You will also see the stop at Grousemont and its wait station (now combined with the restored Glen Isle wait station in Bailey). Lastly, is a stop at Maddox where many C&S boxcars were once filled with ice and sent to Denver. At the end is a look at where the RR grade leaves 285 on a ranch driveway.

What was the first tourist RR in Colorado?

What was the first tourist railroad in Colorado to utilize a former common carrier line? 

It would seem to be Cripple Creek and Victor’s 2-foot gauge route constructed on the old Midland Terminal/Florence and Cripple Creek right-of-way in 1967. 

A chance view of someone’s home movie footage posted to Youtube, however, revealed a tourist line that preceded the Cripple Creek and Victor by at least 14 years. The origin of this line, and its disappearance, is a mystery to me and I hope that this post elicits more information from those who might know.

A gentleman posted footage of a 1953 family vacation to Colorado which included a visit to Idaho Springs. In the video, a 15-inch gauge live-steam train hauling kids first crosses a bridge (constructed by this railroad? That would seem to be an expensive item) over Clear Creek and then turns westward past the Argo Mine loading chutes. 

These chutes were used in the past to load Colorado & Southern narrow gauge gondolas. 

At least 12 years after the C&S rails had been salvaged in 1941, this unknown live-steam group had laid 15-inch gauge track on the abandoned right-of-way. The video follows the train as it passes the Argo Mill. From there, it is hard to determine where the track ends.

Could this be the first time track for an active railroad had been relaid on an abandoned railroad grade in Colorado?

I don’t have any information on who started this line, when the tracks were laid, or when they were removed. 

The only follow-up is that the narrator of the home movie shows what became of the engine. It later went to the Comanche Crossing & Eastern live-steam railroad where it is today. Sometime after the 1953 video, the engine’s cab was rebuilt and now includes a CC&E logo patterned after the C&S’ Columbine logo.

While this is not the first full-scale tourist railroad in Colorado (Cripple Creek and Victor probably gets that honor), it is likely the first active tourist track relaid on a narrow gauge roadbed.

Here is the video itself. At 2:13 the family takes a bus trip to Idaho Springs and rides the live-steam train past the Argo Mill chutes.

After that segment, the narrator relates how descendants of his would later learn to drive the same locomotive, now lettered with a C&S style logo for the Comanche Crossing & Eastern.  Does anyone know where this locomotive is today?

The C&S shows up again when there is a quick shot of C&S 60 at 3:24 in gleaming paint, though lettered for the Burlington Route.  It is still at the original location with the log gift shop behind.

Happy "Colorado Railroad Heritage Week"!

I was not aware that there was a "Colorado Railroad Heritage Week," but there is! It begins tomorrow. Below is a post from the CRRM's Facebook page:

In honor of Colorado Railroad Heritage Week, which runs June 24 - 30, our June Attraction of the Month will honor all Colorado railroad attractions. 

Why? Because that’s a big part of what Colorado Railroad Heritage Week is about!

It was never easy to build a railroad in Colorado. As the highest state (average elevation 6,800 feet) in the United States, it’s filled with mountains, deep river gorges, severe winter snowfalls, droughts, floods, and steep elevation gains, all making the art of building railroads here a difficult – and sometimes treacherous – occupation.  

As a result, Colorado railroading became legendary.  

The so-called “Narrow Gauge Movement” – which advocated for building less expensive railroads to a gauge much narrower (at 3 feet between the rails) than so-called “standard gauge” railroads in the U.S. (built to 4 foot, 8 ½ inches between the rails) – came onto the scene just as Colorado was constructing the vast majority of its railroad network, in the 1870s and 1880s. This innovation allowed trains to navigate tighter curves and to be built in what had previously been impossible places.

Colorado’s Alpine Tunnel opened in 1882 as the highest railroad tunnel in the world, while Colorado narrow gauge railroads spread tentacles out across the state, reaching mining destinations that produced trillions (in today’s dollars) of precious metals. After about 1890, most new railroad mileage was built to standard gauge, allowing for the interchange of freight and even people without the necessity of changing trains or transloading cargo.

The romantic, at times dangerous, and always fascinating history of railroads in Colorado captured a huge rail fan base starting in the 20th century. Today, thanks to thousands of crewmembers and craftspeople, dedicated volunteers, and rail historians, Colorado is one of the top historic railroad destinations in the world.  

Colorado currently boasts:

● 18 steam locomotives in operation, with five more undergoing restoration to operating condition, making it one of the top two states for steam locomotion in the U.S. today

● The highest and longest steam railroad in North America (the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad)

● The highest cog railroad in the world (Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway)

● The highest and fourth-longest railroad tunnel in North America (Moffat Tunnel, used by Amtrak’s “California Zephyr” and Rocky Mountaineer’s Denver-Moab, Utah trains)

● Five out of the six original, famed Galloping Geese, a rail enthusiasts’ favorite contraption that took early automobiles and fitted them with train wheels and room for passengers, mail and freight (Colorado Railroad Museum, Galloping Goose Historical Society, Telluride Volunteer Fire Department)

● One of the largest model railroads by size in the U.S. (Colorado Model Railroad Museum in Greeley)

● Trains that have appeared in a number of movies, including “Around the World in 80 Days” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (Durango & Silverton), “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (Cumbres & Toltec Scenic), and “A Ticket to Tomahawk” (Colorado Railroad Museum)

To celebrate this amazing rail heritage, the Colorado Railroad Museum has worked with Colorado Governor Jared Polis and the numerous rail heritage sites in the state to create Colorado Railroad Heritage Week, June 24-30, 2025. Check out the web page https://coloradorailroadmuseum.org/colorado-railroad.../ for special activities, tour offerings and more!

“We hope Colorado Railroad Heritage Week will be a time for Coloradans to reflect on all that railroads have meant to our state,” says Paul Hammond, executive director of the Colorado Railroad Museum. But Railroad Heritage Week is just the tip of the iceberg.  Hammond points out there are many ways to appreciate and learn about railroad heritage in Colorado all year long.

You can find the more than three dozen operating heritage railroads and rail historic sites in Colorado that have previously been featured as a Colorado Railroad Attraction of the Month on the Museum’s social media channels here: 

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/CORRofMonth/

Hammond says: “Rail heritage sites can be found just about everywhere in Colorado – from the eastern plains of Julesburg, Hugo and Limon, to the San Luis Valley in the south, to Western Slope communities from Durango to Grand Junction to Winter Park, and along the Front Range from Fort Collins to Pueblo. We encourage everyone to get out and visit at least one of these unique places during Colorado Railroad Heritage Week!”

5 Sections of Relaid C&S Track: Alpine Tunnel Area

Here is a look at 5 places you can find C&S rails relaid on the original roadbed between the West Portal of Alpine Tunnel and Sherrod Loop. Since service ceased in 1910 and the rails pulled in 1923-1924, a few spots of relaid rails have sprung up. There are five:

5. The turntable lead. After the engine house fire a turntable was constructed on top of the tailings removed from the tunnel's construction. It is just outside of the west portal cut. The turntable ring and a segment of track leading to it has been relaid.

4. Engine house lead No. 1. A short curved section of track that once led off the mainline to the east entrance of the engine house is again intact.

3. The mainline and passing siding. A nice long tangent of the mainline again passes in front of the station/telegraph office. An old harp-style switch stand also mans the switch leading to the old passing siding that parallels the mainline.

2. Engine house lead No. 2. Another curved piece of track was relaid past the restored tool shed and just into the western entrance of the engine house ruins near the remains of the indoor water tank.

1. Sherrod Loop/Curve. A tangent of track was relaid at the beginning (eastbound) of what was the big balloon loop that allowed the railroad to reverse itself in gaining altitude on its climb to the west portal.

Enjoy a look at all five below.

A look inside the Pitkin depot before the move

Here is a look inside the South Park Pitkin depot before the move. One can see just how little like a depot it looked inside after all the modifications through the years. It will be fun to see what the new owners do to restore its original design. 

The Pitkin Depot was moved after 143 years!

The Pitkin depot, after resting in the same spot for 143 years, was moved May 15, 2025 a short distance away within Pitkin. After many years as a residence and rental, the new owner sought to restore the interior to its depot appearance and open it as a coffee house. Zoning restrictions would not allow this at its present location. The new owner opted to move the station instead.

Below is a mixture of my visit to the site one year ago (May 2024) and footage graciously provided by Pitkin Train Depot Facebook page of the move.

4 Sections of Relaid C&S Track: Boreas Pass area

Here is a look at 4 places you can find C&S rails relaid on the original roadbed between Peabodys (outside of Como) and Breckenridge. Since the line was abandoned in 1937 and the rails pulled in 1938, a few spots of relaid rails have sprung up. There are four:

4. A short segment of track at what is known as “Rocky Point.” The C&S roadbed from Como to Breckenridge has been converted for auto use. One of the few spots where the road leaves the grade is here, allowing this C&S track recreation to be built (by the Forest Service, I think?). 

3. The lead track to Boreas Pass summit engine house. The engine house burned long before the railroad called it quits, but its ruins are still visible. A segment of track leading to the ruins once held reconstructed C&S boxcar 8311. 8311 has been in Como for several years for restoration work and, as far as I know, it will be returned to this spot in the future.

2. A portion of the passing siding at Boreas Pass summit. I don’t know the intention of this very short piece of track, but it sits on (or near) what was the location of the passing track adjacent to the old C&S mainline on the side nearest to the section house.

1. The display track at Highline Railroad Park in Breckenridge. While there are several display tracks, the main one sits on the original grade and displays a rebuilt C&S boxcar, C&S 2-6-0 No. 9, and a White Pass & Yukon rotary snowplow relettered for the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison (another C&S predecessor).

Repairing the Great Palisade Wall-Complete!

 Repairing the Great Palisade Wall:

A Lesson in Collaboration

By Kurt Maechner

In the 1880s, the Denver, South Park & Pacific created an engineering masterpiece along its route to the famed Alpine Tunnel by suspending a railroad grade along the sheer cliffs of a rock formation known as the Palisades. Italian stone masons used local stone to create a 33-foot-tall, 452-foot-long retaining wall without using mortar. Stones were cut and stacked in a jigsaw-like puzzle and then backfilled to create a level path for the railroad.

After service through Alpine Tunnel ceased in 1910, the rails were not removed until 1924. In the 1960s, the road was cleared for auto traffic. Generations of railfans, jeep enthusiasts, and many others began traveling the route and visiting the great palisade wall and the remains of the station complex at the west portal. All this ceased eight years ago.

In 2016, an avalanche started above the Palisades carrying huge amounts of snow, rock, and other debris crashing down the mountainside. When this raging mass crashed onto the old railroad grade it didn’t stop or even get redirected along the road and over the side of the stone wall. Instead, the force ripped away the grade, along with a massive 50-foot portion of the over 130-year-old palisade wall, barreling the work of the Italian stone masons down the rest of the mountain. The event eerily mirrored one in the same location in 1884 when an avalanche swallowed up the town of Woodstock on the lower level of the railroad. That one destroyed a town; this one destroyed the road.

In 2024, eight years later, the road over along the Palisades is finally open once again. The journey to this point, though, has been slow. During the author’s 2018 visit, discussion with some Pitkin locals revealed a good deal of pessimism as to whether repair might ever occur. 

Over the years, many wanted to see the palisade road open again, but none of these groups or individuals had the ability to do it themselves. Justin Kerns of the US Forest Service Gunnison District was one such interested party. He knew the USFS was supportive but lacked the means. While working on fixing the roof on the outhouse at Alpine Tunnel, he was introduced to Chuck Severance, president of a 4WD group, the Ute Pass Iron Goats (UPIG). Severance wanted to bring together all the various groups interested in the repair (railroad, historical, 4WD, hikers, and more). 

Severance, then, pursued those in his sphere of influence, while Kerns reached out to the historical community. He raised awareness and requested letters of support in many places including on sites like the Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum and the C&Sng Forum. Letters poured in from individuals and groups such as the DSP&P Historical Society, Buena Vista Heritage, and folks in St. Elmo. These were essential in attracting History Colorado’s interest in and funding of the project. 

In the end, the diversity of groups interested in this project greatly motivated the NFS which subsequently hooked the consequential Great American Outdoors Act grants.

The biggest obstacle in any historic preservation is funding. In 2019 Severance and his UPIG, a 4x4 club based out of Woodland Park, helped the National Forest Foundation (NFF) apply for grants from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) fund and History Colorado. UPIG and Colorado Off Road Enterprise (CORE) served as sponsors. In addition, three organizations filed applications for funds from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA): Gunnison National Forest, Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition, and National Off Highway Vehicle Coalition.

All of the work in time led to five grants: 

CPW OHV Grants for $100,000 for rock scaling

GAOA Grant for $50,000 for engineering

GAOA grant for $500,000 for reconstruction

History Colorado Grant for $250,000 for reconstruction

Polaris grant through NFF of $25,000 for reconstruction

Rock scaling began in the summer of 2022. The two-week project included three zones of work to target problem areas and create a safer site for upcoming work. The largest was above the Palisade wall. Four men did the work of hand scaling. This included hiking up above the scaling locations, hanging from ropes, and repelling down. From there, they would use a small rock bar to force loose stones to tumble down to the road below. Later the contract crew on the road moved the material over the other side of the railroad grade. 

Marcus Trusty, founder of CORE (Colorado Off Road Enterprise), a motorized advocacy group, who served as site supervisor for this project said, “We looked like little kids standing at the edge watching big rocks fall off the side of the mountain which never seems to get boring.” At the completion of the scaling, about fifteen feet of debris and 100 of tons of rock was piled up on the road. 

Trusty and CORE have adopted several trails including Hancock and Williams Passes. They have built a strong relationship with the two national forests (San Isabel and Gunnison National) that span both sides of Alpine/Altman Pass, doing much needed maintenance work on the trails. Their commitment to the area helped build more steam behind the initiative to fix the road along the Palisades.

In 2023, work was done to create new replacement stones for the Palisade wall. 70 cap stones plus 50-75 rocks for the wall itself were made. Thaddeus Hust, a historic stone mason from Salida who runs Agave Landscapes & Masonry, headed up the work. Some good rock that had fallen from the Palisades was used, but most stones were made from what some believe to be the original quarry site for the walls, tunnel entrance, and engine house: the huge rock field at the intersection of Williams Pass and the railroad grade (east of the Palisades). Many granite stones found here still bear old drill marks.

Granite is very hard which makes the splitting process easier and cleaner. While some modern technology
was used, the process is similar to how it was done in the 1800s. Using a Bosch hammer drill, workers punched holes into the rock and then pounded wedges to get the stone to crack.

The final and major process of rebuilding the road happened in large part due to the acquisition of $500,000 from the Great American Outdoors Act. Districts identify potential projects for GAOA funding and then send that list to the regional office. One key to success is to have projects already in motion or “shovel-ready”. The regional office, with the Alpine Tunnel road reconstruction listed, then went out for public comment, asking, “Which projects matter to you?” They gathered many comments from various sources expressing advocacy for the restoration of the road to Alpine Tunnel. The project consequently made the final list and received GAOA funding.

At last, in 2024 with funding in hand, work on the road began on June 18th, 2024. Workers excavated a ramp to 18-20 feet below the top of the wall. This allowed removal of loose and damaged stone. They excavated 12 feet of dirt back from the wall and laid a type of mesh fabric or grid for six feet. Rocks in the wall were stacked up 2 ½ to 3 feet, and then back fill was added. At this point, another layer of grid was added and the process was repeated roughly 8 times all the way up.

Workers acquired the fill dirt from a spot west of the Palisades which is believed to have been an original source for the DSP&P’s construction crews. In addition to this dirt, some stone from the rock scaling process was mixed in as well.

During the excavation process a few artifacts came to light. A few spikes turned up. A piece of rail surfaced. It was taken down to the Pitkin guard station with plans to put it on display in a museum. Other treasures included a “train brake” and small nails from dynamite crates.

A large concern for the reconstruction was drainage. The design included making the wall the high point so that water drains away from the wall and toward a newly constructed ditch on the hillside portion of the road. However, the new capstones have gaps, just as the originals did, in case water overflows the drain.

Once work wrapped up, an uninterrupted row of capstones lined the historic palisade wall once again for the first time in likely over a century. And, to boot, repair was done on several of the other smaller rock walls along the roadbed as well.

In the end, the work required roughly a million dollars to complete. Unlike the 1984 reconstruction of the Georgetown Loop’s Devil’s Gate Viaduct, which got the money from one Boettcher Foundation donation, the palisade wall reconstruction followed the path of most other restoration projects: the collaboration of a diverse group of individuals and organizations working together to get the job done. 

The surprise to those of us whose hearts are with railroad history is that a great deal of this collaboration was from those with other interests. There are always competing topics, goals, and methods between organizations, but the story of the reconstruction of the damaged palisade wall and the DSP&P roadbed is evidence that we owe a great deal of gratitude to these non-railroad-centered groups for their tireless efforts.

One honor worth mentioning is that Chuck Severance and the Ute Pass Iron Goats received the 2024 Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition of the Year award for their work on restoring the road to Alpine Tunnel.

Amidst the joy of hearing that the closure order on the road to the west portal had been lifted, a literal road block popped up. Close to the Alpine Tunnel station complex, a large boulder, fell onto the roadbed. CORE and UPIG have the equipment, expertise, and motivation to remove it, but red tape with the forest service stands in the way of the work. As before, Severance is working to get the permission to forge ahead once again.

Sources:

“Alpine Tunnel Palisade: Multi-Year Project Completed” Colorado High Trails, Fourth Quarter 2024. Colorado Four Wheel Drive Association.

“Alpine Tunnel Palisade Wall Rebuild I Project Overview I Funding I Tomichi I Williams I Hancock” Keeptrailsopen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS8GUm6LVUM, posted 17 Aug. 2024.

Correspondence with Justin Kerns and Chuck Severance

5 Sections of Relaid C&S Track in Platte Canyon and South Park

Here is a look at 5 places you can find C&S rails relaid on the original roadbed in Platte Canyon and South Park. Since the line was abandoned in 1937 and the rails pulled in 1938, a few spots of relaid rails have sprung up. There are five:

5. A stretch of track underneath two gondolas in Pine Grove. Pine Grove History Park was created on Feburary 11, 2020 to memorialize the former railroad servicing location. The town once sported a tall coaling platform that serviced the line's steam engines. The track is on the original roadbed. The gondolas are former Denver, Rio Grande and Western cars, but are painted to honor the Colorado & Southern and the Denver, South Park & Pacific (the C&S' predecessor).

4. A stretch of track underneath a caboose in Helen McGraw-Tatum Memorial Park in Bailey. The caboose is a standard gauge C&S car resting on standard gauge rails, though they are laid on the original narrow gauge roadbed. Near the caboose is the old C&S Mill Gulch bridge and Glenise Way Station, both moved from their original sites in the canyon. Click here to see a video I made of this unique park.

3. A rebuilt portion of the wye on top of Kenosha Pass. The railroad crested Kenosha Pass to enter into the South Park. Helper engines were required for trains to reach the summit. In order to turn the helper engines around, a wye was constructed. One leg and part of another leg of the wye have been rebuilt, the first stretch being constructed in 1998.

2. A small segment of track underneath a caboose in Jefferson. The first depot in the South Park (westbound) is the town of Jefferson. The depot still stands and can be rented by vacationers. The owners, who also operate the excellent Hungry Moose Caboose restaurant next door, also acquired and refurbished a Burlington Northern caboose as a rental. The track under the caboose, though standard gauge, is on the original narrow gauge roadbed.

1. A lot of track at the old division point of Como. A book could be written about the restoration of this former railroad town. The old stone roundhouse, the depot, and the railroad hotel survived the line's abandonment, but since roughly 2016 the entire complex has been undergoing a rebirth. The turntable and tracks into the roundhouse have been restored, along with several other tracks, including stubs representing the mainline east to Denver, west over Boreas Pass to Leadville, and west to the Alpine Tunnel and Gunnison. My video here is a mixture of footage from 2018 and 2022. Much more has been done since. Check out the South Park Rail Society's page for more info. 

3 Sections of Relaid C&S track in Clear Creek Canyon

 Here is a look at 3 places you can find C&S rails relaid on the original roadbed along the Clear Creek Line. Since the line was abandoned in 1941 a few spots of relaid rails have sprung up. Some were laid and then removed, but in 2025, there are three:

1. A short segment constructed for a proposed tourist route out of Central City. The rails were laid starting in 2021. A good amount of rolling stock is on site and a locomotive was purchased (though I don't know of its whereabouts) There is a lot of mystery as to what became of this attempt.

2. In Idaho Springs a curved section of track rests on the roadbed (or awfully close as someone has pointed out) to display C&S 2-8-0 No. 60 and coach No. 70. Coach 70 is presently up at Silver Plume for cosmetic restoration work. This piece of track was laid in 1987 when the train was moved from its original 1941 display spot very slightly east.

3. Between Georgetown and Silver Plume, the famous Georgetown Loop was entirely rebuilt between 1973 and 1984. This successful tourist line has been hauling passengers since 1975.

DSP&P 191 in the roundhouse in Golden

 Someone posted a photo of DSP&P 191 in the roundhouse at Golden at the Colorado Railroad Museum. Not sure what she's in for.

Here she is back in 2023 when I last visited.

The tales of C&S boxcars 8308 and 8310

 There's an odd, hard-to-see narrow gauge car at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. Surprisingly, it is a combination of two former Colorado and Southern Ry. boxcars, one of which also served on the Rio Grande Southern. While one car was rescued from demolition while being a shed, the other was rescued, sold, became a tourist car, served as a food stand, and finally came back to her rescuer. C&S boxcars 8308/8261 and 8310 now rest together at Golden's museum. This video tells their meandering histories.

C&S Baggage Car No. 2 in 1978

 The only known surviving C&Sng baggage car is in Nebraska. It resides at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie in Grand Island. I had a unique chance to visit the museum and baggage car No. 2 last May. You can see photos from that trip here.

Recently Ken Martin reached out when he found the photo below.

Ken Martin photo / August 1978

Ken took the photo in August of 1978 when the museum was rebuilding the car, most recently used as a farm shed, into an operating car for the museum's loop railroad. He also remembered that one of the workers commented on how difficult it was to rebuild the roof ends.

To see the car today and get a bit of its history, watch the video below made using photos and video from my visit to Stuhr.

St. Patrick, Trains, and Beer

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

I was going to name this post “A Tale of Two Beers,” but one tale involves a lot more than two beers, a lot more, and the other tale, while being heavily associated with beer, has in fact nothing to do with beer at all.

These two tales both have rumbling, disasters, and returns.

Rumbling Rail Cars

Imagine a train falling off of the Georgetown Loop high bridge. It almost happened.

August 21st, 1907 started off as a day of reveling. 400 German veterans piled into a Colorado & Southern excursion train at Denver Union Station. The destination: 13,594 foot Mount McClellan. The narrow gauge excursion train left Denver and made a stop in Golden to get some beer. I told you there was beer involved. Yes, indeed. The eight-coach-train curiously included a baggage car. One doesn’t need a baggage car for a one-day excursion, right? Nope, this car wasn’t there to carry baggage at all. A local committee gifted these German vets with more than a few six-packs. Oh, no, the generosity manifested itself in 20 barrels (that’s usually 31 gallons a per container) of beer loaded on the baggage car. And, not just any beer, but the beverage produced in Golden itself since 1873: Coors Beer. 

With refreshments now sloshing in barrels in the baggage car, the excursion train wound itself up through Clear Creek canyon, where it took the left fork at Forks Creek, passing Idaho Springs and Georgetown before it began its slithering route along the famed Georgetown Loop where the railroad swings over itself in a canyon on the massive Devil’s Gate Viaduct to gain elevation. Here is where this escapade got a little interesting.

After the train made the first crossing of Clear Creek, it made the complete reverse curve as it continued its ascent on the north wall of the valley, steaming toward the towering 75-foot-high viaduct. At 11:40am the train crew and passengers noticed a rumbling. With the viaduct coming closer and closer, the engineer and fireman, scanned for the problem. The violently vibrating baggage car, behind the locomotive tender, now askew, had left the track, its wheel rolling over wooden ties and ballast rock. Within moments the train would scale the bridge. That errant car would likely take a good portion of the train off the bridge and plummet into the valley below. The engineer called for brakes. 

Rumbling Raiders

Over 1600 years earlier, a teenager heard a surprise rumble as well. That teen would later become the namesake for St. Patty’s Day, a holiday now inextricably tied to beer in popular consciousness. You may be disappointed to find out that while the holiday is now, for many, an Irish-connected beer fest, its origin has nothing to do with beer nor an Irishman.

Patrick, or Maeywn Succat as his parents named him, was neither an Irishman, nor did he chase snakes out of Ireland. Despite legends that today surround him, we know his actual story because he wrote it down in what is known as the Confession of St. Patrick. 

Patrick grew up a country boy in a Christian family in what is today England. He did not take the faith of his parents with much seriousness. He noted, “I did not then believe in the living God, not even when I was a child. In fact, I remained in death and unbelief until I was reproved strongly.” That reproof began with a frightening rumbling. At age 16, Irish raiders roared into his village and abducted many, including Patrick. The scared souls were then sailed to Ireland to be sold on the slave market. Patrick became a slave to an Irish pig and sheep farmer.

Disaster Averted

The passengers of the eight-car train lunged forward from their seats as the train came to a screeching halt. 

When the train finally ceased motion, it was so close to the towering bridge that the pilot stuck out onto trestle. 

Disaster had been averted. Had the derailed baggage car made it onto the bridge, it could have easily slid off of the side and pulled the engine and some of the coaches down the mountainside 75 feet below. 

What was the culprit of this nearly fatal accident? You guessed it: beer. 

The best conclusion the crew could come up with is that, as the train rounded the curve at the first creek crossing in the Loop, the 20 barrels of festive liquids shifted to one side, throwing the car off balance and, in time, off the track. The reasoning seems a bit odd. The train had to have been moving at a good clip to slide those barrels over. And even if that did happen, rail cars are designed to carry heavy loads. Whether the beer-barrel-accusation is accurate or not, it made for entertaining Denver Post journalism where the event hit the news.

Disaster Converted

In Ireland, Patrick’s disaster was not averted, but it was, in time, converted. The young slave, stripped from his homeland and family, fed pigs and worked for his master. In his loneliness he began to call out to the Jesus of his childhood even, according to Patrick, praying 100 times a day. He wrote, “the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith. Even though it came about late, I recognised my failings. So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God, and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance.” 

After six years of forced labor, one day he believed God told him to go to a ship waiting for him. He managed to escape and walk 200 miles to the coast where he boarded a ship sailing for his beloved homeland.

Frustratingly, the ship was blown off course and landed in an uninhabited area. As the crew and Patrick wandered, they ran out of food. At the request of the crew, Patrick prayed for sustenance, and they miraculously came upon a herd of wild pigs and survived. At last the ship set sail again and Patrick made it back to his shocked and overjoyed family in England.

Return Home

It took two hours to re-rail the baggage car on the cusp of the Loop high bridge, but the German vets got on their way at last. At the end of the C&S line in Silver Plume, the Argentine Central took over the C&S train with one of its Shay engines. The Argentine Central was a mining railroad also popular with summer tourists built using switchbacks to climb the side of a precipitous mountainside. The Argentine engine hauled the veterans to the top of the nearly fourteen-thousand-foot Mount McClellan offering stunning views of the surrounding valleys. 

After their brief visit, the party descended back down the mountain, rode the Loop back, and returned to Denver by starlight singing old German war songs through Clear Creek Canyon (and likely emptying those pesky 20 barrels). The Denver Post noted that the vets expressed “appreciation of the courtesy of the Argentine Central officials.” No praise for the C&S, though. Something tells me the beer incident might have spurred a few bad reviews.

While our vets, like Patrick, made it home safely, Patrick didn’t stay.

Return to Slavery

Patrick, now back home, studied to be a leader in the Jesus-following community of his home. This is where he picked up the name Patrick. Yet, he had recurring dreams, including one of an Irishman saying, “We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.” Despite resistance from both family and friends, he made the trip back to the land of his slavery, risking his life repeatedly against hostile pagan priests and Irish leaders. 

Like that trusty derailed C&S train that pressed on despite the setback, Patrick took the danger in stride and persisted in his calling, noting, “I am greatly in debt to God. He gave me such great grace, that through me, many people [in Ireland] should be born again in God and brought to full life… How has this happened in Ireland? Never before did they know of God except to serve idols and unclean things. But now, they have become the people of the Lord, and are called children of God.”

Patrick spent the rest of his life sharing the story of God coming to earth in the form of a man, Jesus, who offered reconnection with God and forgiveness for our failures through trust in His death and resurrection. Many Irish people responded to this message and found themselves filled up, not with beer, but with the love of Jesus the Savior.

Beer?

So, how did beer get attached to St. Patrick’s Day? Beats me. That’s for some other historian to figure out. It likely has something to do with the evolution of the Irish-American version of an ancient Irish holy day. But, one thing I do know is this: if you’re riding a train to the St. Patty’s Day parade, keep an eye on those sliding barrels when the train rounds a curve.

 

SG C&S coach and caboose in Nederland, CO

 Here is an oddity that I came across on a family vacation back in 1992. The town is Nederland, Colorado. It has three standard gauge cars. One is a C&S/CB&Q wooden coach and dining car. Next is a C&S caboose, and the other is a mail/circus car. 

The cars are still there serving as a coffee shop. Here is the website of Train Cars Coffee and Kava.

An article from the Mountain Ear states that the shop includes "a 1906 Pullman Coach dining car, an 1872 Union Pacific Railroad post office car, and a 1910 caboose, which survived the South Platte Flood of 1965".

I love the classic C&S Columbine herald on the window.

Clear Creek roadbed photos between bridge 703 and 705.

 Below are photos of the roadbed between bridges 703 and 705. The walking trail on the opposite side of the creek gives good access to photos of these spots. The roadbed itself can be reached by crossing the highway bridge on foot outside of the western end of Tunnel 5. Once you climb over the road/bridge wall, you can reach a walking trail intended for rock climbers (there is a small foot bridge at the beginning). After that it would take some 'off-roading' to walk to the roadbed where bridge 705 crosses to that side. I've not done it myself, but it seems feasible for the agile folks.

This segment is a little west of Forks Creek.

The photos cover the segment from the circled area in the map through to near the bridge abutments.

Above is some substantial rock cribbing above the roadbed.

Rock cribbing can be seen above the roadbed here.

A closer shot of the cribbing above the railroad grade.