C&S Narrow Gauge Mileage is growing!

In the first half of the twentieth century, the years went up, but the mileage of the C&S kept going down.  Minus the Climax to Leadville line, the last narrow gauge C&S-owned rail to be pulled would be from Chatfield to Denver completed by December 1942, leaving the route standard gauged and finally the narrow gauge rails at Union Terminal and the yards at Denver, finished by the 15th of April in 1943.

The big finale, of course, was when the narrow gauge rails were uprooted from the now standard gauged Climax to Leadville route after the final narrow gauge run on August 25th, 1943.  Technically speaking, C&S rails still held on from Gunnison to the Baldwin Mines, albeit under the "new" ownership of the D&RGW, but were eventually gone by the 1950s. 

It struck me, however, that there is more C&S narrow gauge trackage today than over fifty years ago.  The mileage of this lost railroad has actually increased since the mid twentieth century as tourist routes have sprung up and historical displays and re-creations have dotted the Colorado landscape.

I don't have exact amounts in terms of mileage, but I thought it would be curious to recount the number of places that now (or still) sport C&S narrow gauge track.

Original track still in place

Length of Alpine Tunnel

Reconstructed track on original roadbed

Silver Plume to Devil's Gate Viaduct

Wye on Kenosha Pass

Rocky Point on Boreas Pass

Snowplow park, Breckenridge

Como

Alpine Tunnel

Sherrod Curve

Display Parks

Tracks are on or in the vicinity of former C&S roadbed

Boreas Pass

Silver Plume (The caboose is now indoors under restoration, so I'm not sure the status of the track at present)

Central City

Idaho Springs

Reconstructed track that was later removed

Central City towards Black Hawk-twice rebuilt and removed

First time

Second time

Georgetown depot 

(I don't recall what is still here.  At one point Central American Railways #44 was displayed on track outside the old Georgetown depot.  I know #44 is gone, but I am not sure if track remains)

And the great news is: the mileage keeps growing!  Especially in Como this year!

Reference:

Poor, Mac. DSP&P pp. 412-3

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No. 40 is coming back to the Loop!

I'm sure many of you are more up on this than I am, but I just found out via Trains Magazine that 1921 Consolidation No. 40 that ran for a long time on the Georgetown Loop during the Lindsay Ashby era has been returned to the Loop for restoration to service for the 2018 season.

No. 40 was purchased from the International Railways of Central America in 1968 to run on the Central City Narrow Gauge Railway, though it didn't arrive until 1972 due to political unrest.  It was eventually moved over to Silver Plume as the Loop was rebuilt.  It ran there until 2004 when the Colorado Historical Society (History Colorado) and the Ashbys had a impasse.  The locomotive was moved over to Golden to the Colorado Railroad Museum where it also operated at times.

The last time I had the chance to ride over the Loop was in 2003 and No. 40 was on the point.  The photos here are from that trip.

 It will be delightful to see her back on the Loop!

The Locos We Lost, Part 4

"will be shipped to Alaska, where it is expected, she will see many more years of service."
This was a statement in the July 28th, 1943 Chicago Bureau.

This, of course, is referring to C&S Nos. 69 or 70...right?

Nope.

"Old 76 will be shipped to Alaska, where it is expected, she will see many more years of service."


Because we know this, in fact, never happened, it prompted someone on the Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum to ask, "Did C&S 76 miss the boat?"

There were many responses to that question including that as the war situation changed, the engine wasn't needed or that it was unsuitable to the needs on the White Pass and Yukon (though why the smaller C&S locos were better suited seems odd).

As we know C&S 75 and 76 were instead bought and sent to work on a railroad in Peru where they eventually were scrapped probably in the 1960s.

Had 76 made it to Alaska instead might she have survived to the present day?  Considering that 69 and 70 made it to Alaska, but also went to the scrapper, it is unlikely.

So off to Peru she went where she probably survived longer than she would have in Alaska.  But the grim scrapper came to her there just as well.

Like a bad 'choose-your-own-ending' kids' novel, no matter what you choose, 76 was to be a goner.  In the end, then, this was simply a rabbit trail for the fun of it.

The Locos We Lost, Part 3

Another lost loco came to my attention while reading Tom and Denise Klinger's C&S Clear Creek District Memories and Then Some. 

In April of 1941, Central City had won its tussle with the CB&Q to get a display train.  No. 71, a gondola, and a baggage coach had been moved and placed on a short stretch of track near the site of the old depot. 

It seems that Golden got jealous.  The same month that Central City mounted its train, an article in the Jefferson County Republican stated, "Plans were underway this week in Golden, to try to secure an old narrow gauge engine, coach and caboose from the Colorado & Southern, as a historical exhibit."  The author comments that "In the years to come, tourists would regard such an exhibit of considerable interest, and local citizens would likewise value it highly."

Unsurprisingly, considering the trouble the C&S went through to get 71 to Central City, Klinger later points out that "The Golden request for a display train was turned down by the Colorado & Southern Railway."  Based on info found here, I suspect that it was not the C&S but the CB&Q who turned down the request.

Had Golden succeeded, what locomotive would it have been?  With 9, 60, and 71 already assigned, this left only 5 others that had not yet been scrapped.  These were Nos. 69, 70, 74, 75, and 76.  

Several of these locomotives were also still in active service at Leadville, particularly 74, 75, and 76.

69 and 70 wouldn't get sold until 1943 and the rest would be off to other railroads by 1945.  My guess is that 69 and 70 would have been the best candidates for a Golden display as they had run on the Clear Creek line.  As far as I know Nos. 74-76 had only worked the South Park. 

Alas, none of this was meant to be.

The Locos We Lost, Part 2

According to Colorado Rail Annual Number Ten by Cornelius W. Hauck, the C&S made a 1938 inventory of the remaining narrow gauge engines.  Next to No. 6 is the note "Held to be sent to World's Fair, New York. (Due flues 2-40)."

Hauck notes that during a July 7th, 1938 general meeting "the 6 had been set aside for [the World's Fair], but the suggestion was made that the 9 was in better shape and might well be used instead."  As we know, that was in fact done.

It seems No. 6 had one more shot at life when in the same year the C&S offered locomotives for display to towns along its line.  Unfortunately, a note to the Superintendent of Motive Power states, "We now find that none of the towns are agreeable to accepting this engine.  You may therefore scrap engine 6, which will complete the AFE."  She was scrapped in 1939.

Just one year after her scrapping, Central City began its pursuit of a display locomotive, followed by the appeasement of a tax debt to Idaho Springs with another display train.  Alas, No. 6 was lost a year before she could be one of the locos to be considered for either of these towns.

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But that's not the end of the story.  A small part of No. 6 lives on.  According to Jason Midyette's book One Short Season, during work in 2005 to bring No. 9 back to life for a short time on the Georgetown Loop, it was discovered that "ENG 6" was marked on the inside of the lead drivers.  It appears, to my assumption, that in the process of sprucing up No. 9 for the World's Fair, the lead drivers needed replacing and No. 6's were in better condition and thus were swapped. 

Photo of No. 6 from The Pictorial Supplement of the DSP&P