Searching for the C&S Railway in the Brush: Milepost 178-179

 In May 2024, my family spent close to a week just outside of Ohio City. We rented a lovely Airbnb cabin and thoroughly enjoyed being so far 'out of the way.' It also afforded great time to explore the remains of the C&S/DSP&P line between Parlin and Pitkin. We took several trips out to see what we could find of the roadbed. Thankfully, you can find it largely by looking for the location of today's telephone lines (yesteryear's telegraph lines). 

Much of the right-of-way is on private property, particularly ranches. One of the few spots where this is not the case was near milepost 178. The roadbed there cuts through a forest at this spot. One of my daughters and I set out to see what we could find. It was quite a mess of trees and sticks, but we gave it a shot anyway. Along the way we found what might be railroad tie remains, though, I can't say for sure. 

Either way, it was a fun jaunt of narrow gauge archaeology. 

The yellow line shows where the ROW once was between Ohio City and Pitkin.

This is the segment traversed in the video.

Here is the same segment as above. You can see how the ROW parallels the road at times, sometimes joins the roads at others, and swings away at still others.

Here is a close-up just east of milepost 179. I think the overlay is wrong here. I believe the ROW is now used as part of a driveway towards the top of the screenshot.

This shows the segment where we got out and walked. We parked to the right of the road and then journeyed into the forest at right. In that segment it looked to us that the roadbed went through a long, though not high, cut. We walked from the beginning of the clump of trees at right to the point where the ROW exits that clump of trees as it rejoins the present road.

A Visit to and a Video of Ohio City

 The South Park Line crossed the continental divide on its way to Gunnison, piercing the range with the famed Alpine Tunnel. After it came down the mountainside, it passed through a number of towns including the ill-fated Woodstock, the small town of Quartz, and the relatively-sizeable Pitkin. Beyond Pitkin, the next town was Ohio City at 8563 feet above sea level. 

Here is a video I made of my family's recent visit to show the various railroad sites there.

While the town is nowhere near the size of Pitkin, it still has a number of residents. 

One of its remaining early structures is the city hall building which was originally a mercantile business.

Present-day Country Road 76 crosses through the center of town. The railroad parallels the road here, but about a block away. 

Walking down a dirt town road you can find where the railroad facilities once stood, though there is nothing besides map knowledge and the telephone poles which follow where the grade was to give it away.

In the photo below, the grade ran in a perpendicular line to the road along the gate at the end of the road. To the left would have been the water tank. To the right would have been the section house and a platform. Out of sight to the right was where the depot stood.

A photo looking west. The right-of-way follows the telephone lines. The section house and depot would have been to the right.

A photo looking east (toward Pitkin and Alpine Tunnel). The roadbed goes through the distant pickup truck. The water tower would have been on the left.

Here is the site (looking east) in railroad days.

My favorite experience of my family's visit to Ohio City was when my 12-year-old daughter and I climbed a hill to attempt to recreate an old hilltop photo of the town showing a mixed train with two engines just about to enter Ohio City. It was a huff and puff climb, but we did it and got a fairly close photo.

Photos:

The following from Tom and Denise Klinger's South Park's Gunnison Division Memories & Then Some:

Overhead photo of town and hilltop photo of town: Gunnison County Pioneer and Historical Society