C&S Narrow Gauge Revival-New book!

I’m happy to announce a new book that I authored that think many who have visited this blog will enjoy, Colorado & Southern Narrow Gauge Revival.

As a long-time fan of rail restorations and of the C&S narrow gauge, I set out to research the backstories of each piece of saved equipment or resurrection of the railroad along the railway’s former Clear Creek Line between Denver and Silver Plume. My emphasis is on the stories of the resolute individuals who took surprising risks to save and even bring to life narrow gauge railroad history.

Even if you’re not a C&S fan, you’ll find lots of info of interest as the stories also connect to the Rio Grande Southern, the D&RGW, Westside Lumber, the Colorado & Northwestern, Denver Boulder and Western, the White Pass & Yukon, and Camino Cable and Northern, not to mention narrow gauge railroads in Central America.

For those who have been around Colorado narrow gauge rail preservation, you’ll also learn a good deal about giants in that realm including Bob Richardson, Ed Haley, Mac M.C. Poor, Richard Kindig, Charles Ryland, Lindsey and Rosa Ashby, and many more. Entwined in all of this are the stories of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, and the backstory of the origins of the Colorado Railroad Museum.

The book is now available for purchase via South Platte Press.

If you’re interested in a signed copy and/or if you’d like to learn a bit more about the book visit my book website here. 

Here is a short synopsis of the book:

The last segment of the Colorado & Southern's narrow-gauge Clear Creek line from Denver to Silver Plume was abandoned in 1941. But in the years since, C&Sng artifacts ranging from rolling stock to the Georgetown Loop have been preserved and restored. This book includes little-known and amazing stories regarding every extant C&Sng locomotive, rail car and track segment along the former Clear Creek District. It's also the story of those resolute individuals who made tremendous personal sacrifices to save these historic rail treasures for future generations.

On the way to Alpine tunnel - Milepost 178-177

Back in May of 2024, my family and I stayed in Ohio City for about a week. We had a chance to trace the South Park roadbed between Parlin and Pitkin, something I hadn't had the chance to do before. I haven't found many historical photos of the railroad outside of the towns of Parlin, Ohio City, and Pitkin, but recently I came across the photo below. I had filmed the trip between the towns with a GoPro, so I wondered if I could find the spot and, sure enough, it was easily identifiable. I put the find in a short video.

Here is the video:

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.

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

Vote for the Alpine Tunnel Palisade Wall Repair Project

I'm passing along this important post (at the ngdiscussion forum) from Justin Kerns:

Each year, History Colorado's Stephen H. Hart Awards honor outstanding projects that preserve Colorado's meaningful past. Over the last few years History Colorado has contributed significant grant funds to the repair of the Palisade Wall. The Palisades Wall and Alpine Tunnel was nominated by History Colorado staff as one of the 2026 People's Choice Award nominees. Voting is open to the public now until October 27th. It would be great to get some votes so that History Colorado sees the value of funding future historic railroad projects.

Vote now at this link VOTE HERE. You can vote as many times as you want! 

Below are photos from Chuck Severance showing the work done last year to repair the wall.

Located within the Alpine Tunnel Historic District outside Pitkin, Colorado, the Palisades Wall supports the first railbed to traverse the continental divide, and is a major feature within the District. Completed in the early 1880s, the wall is constructed of dry stacked stone at an elevation of around 11,000 ft. In 2017, an avalanche hit the wall, causing the upper middle section to collapse and forcing the popular off-road trail to close. The US Forest Service partnered with the nonprofit, The National Forest Foundation (NFF), to seek grant funding to reconstruct and rehabilitate the wall, helping to restore a historically significant feature and popular trail in the Gunnison National Forest. The project wrapped up in the fall of 2024 and the road opened in the summer of 2025, bringing back a well known heritage tourism site that surrounding towns like Pitkin, Gunnison, and Lake City depend on. 

The Locos We Lost - Part 1

 I know I should be thankful that we have 5 very well-preserved locomotives of the C&S.  And I am!   Goodness, there are some railroads with no saved engines. 

But one can't help thinking of what might have been.  In my readings and research over the years I've noticed that there were a few other engines that came close to being saved, but for various reasons were lost.  The next few posts will explore these.

The first lost loco did not make it to the C&S era.  In fact, it was a Mason Bogie.  Yes, a Mason Bogie from the South Park was actually preserved!  Unfortunately, how it got saved is a complete mystery.  In fact, which locomotive it was is a mystery as well.

So, here's the story.

According to an article of his in the 1948 Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, Mac Poor, author of the renowned DSP&P book, was doing some research on locomotives and discovered that there was "an old bogie type engine" on display at Iowa State College since roughly 1905.  He found some info on the engine in a school publication listing the various railroads that had at one time owned this engine.  No mention of the South Park was found there. 

However, upon inspection it was found that "The drive wheel diameters, wheel base, firebox dimensions, gauge and valve gear coincides exactly with the specifications of Mason engines built for the South Park." 

The real giveaway came when a "D.S.P" was found on the casting of the right hand cylinder.  In addition to this, "Cast in a front wheel truck are the words 'Denver Wheel G.W. Co. Denver, Colo. Jan. 14, 1896 U.P.D.&G.'"

So, what happened to it?  Alas, World War II happened.  According to The Pictorial Supplement to the DSP&P, which has a photo of the loco on display in a somewhat deteriorated condition, the engine was lost to the wartime scrap drive in 1942. 

The caption there reads "The last surviving example of a South Park Mason bogie stood for 37 years on the campus of Iowa State College....Many erroneous and confusing statements were made concerning the history of this locomotive, but there is no doubt that it was a South Park engine."

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Side note: Mac Poor's article was published in 1948, but he makes no mention of the engine being scrapped even though, if The Pictorial Supplement is correct, the locomotive was gone already for six years.

1980 C&S News (2) - C&S Diesel Wreck Near French Gulch Water Tank

A wealth of railfan history exists in the archives of the Rocky Mountain Rail Report, the newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club started in 1939.  Here is some more miscellaneous South Park Line/C&S-related news from the 1980 editions.   

1980

August

(C&S Diesel Plummets 60 feet Near French Gulch Water Tank)

LC&S collection photo. from
High Line to Leadville by Doris B. Osterwald

BILL MAY, C&S ROUNDHOUSE FOREMAN at Leadville, is offering a substantial reward for the elimination of the pesky muskrats responsible for the recent upsetting of C&S Engine 6223, on the Leadville-Climax Branch. Seems as how these villainous critters tunneled around the culvert in the fill at French Gulch on the high country rail line, causing spring run-off waters to wash out said fill and leave the C&S track hanging high and dry. Imagine the surprise of the crew on the return trip to Leadville, when they approached French Gulch and found these conditions. Fortunately, the engineer and brakeman were able to unload in time to avoid injury, but Engine 6223 was not so fortunate and plunged 60 feet down the mountain. None of the cars in the short train chose to follow the engine. [Ed. Actually, one tank car partially went into the crevasse] All of this excitement took place on June 23, and it was not until June 29 that the 6223 was hauled back up the bank and onto the rails. A new fill has been constructed and the branch is back in operation with Engine 6219 handling the work. Now, if I can just find that old musket. [Ed. In a not-so-humorous follow-up, when 6223 was taken back to Leadville, the engine was shoved by 6220 onto the wye a bit too hard. The back end of the engine went off the end-of-track. Since the roadbed was slightly elevated, the engine played a game of see-saw]

LC&S collection photo from
High Line to Leadville by Doris B. Osterwald

[Ed. The water tank seen in the photo was the tank that used to serve the narrow gauge engines on the route. Used until 1943 when the line between Leadville and Climax was standard-gauged, the tank was moved to the opposite side of the track in order to serve the C&S' standard gauge steamers. The tank remained in place even after dieselization. It still stands today. The Leadville, Colorado & Southern tourist trains still stop here to let passengers off to look around and see the tank.]

September

(Eye-Witness to Last C&Sng Passenger Run Shows Video Footage)

Helen McGraw Tatum thrilled the capacity audience at the August club meeting with her presentation, LAST RUN OF ENGINE #9. This nostalgic look at life on the South Park Division of the Colorado & Southern Railway presented not only train operations on the narrow gauge line, but also scenes of the communities served by the famous railroad. OSHA would just love the ice-cutting process and loading of the large blocks of ice into the narrow guage boxcars as seen in this 45-year-old movie. Cattle ranching, a July 4th celebration at Bailey, and views of everyday life in the area combined with some classic train shots for a most memorable evening.

[Ed. Below is a short clip from Tatum's film with shots of No. 9 and other C&S locomotives]

 

If you can track it down, the DVD of the whole video is available:

[The engine and both cars of the passenger train in the above footage still exist today. No. 9 is on display at High Line Railroad Park in Breckenridge. The coach 76 and RPO mail car 13 are on display in the museum building in Silver Plume by the Georgetown Loop Railroad. The video below tells the story of the two cars.]

December

(Signatures of Pictorial Supplement of DSP&P - 25 Cents!)

IN THE PRINTING OF BOOKS, several pages are printed at a time on one large sheet of paper, which is then folded to form a section of the book. These sets of 16 or 32 pages are called SIGNATURES, which are ultimately assembled and bound into the finished product. The Archives Committee of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club will offer for sale at the December meeting, signatures from the club's 1959 publication, "Pictorial Supplement to Denver South Park & Pacific," by R. H. Kindig, E. J. Haley, and M. C. Poor. Containing 16 pages, these sections of the hard-to-find book are filled with interesting text and pictures on Colorado's most memorable narrow gauge railroad. Also available from the club's archives at the December meeting, will be a beautiful selection of 8"xll" color prints from the same publication. Ideal for your own collection or just in time for Christmas, signatures and prints are priced at only 25 cents per copy, on a first-come, first-served basis. 

★ ★ ★ ★ 

SIGNATURES AUCTION - In cataloging the signatures from the "Pictorial Supplement to Denver South Park & Pacific," Assistant Archivist Keith Kirby has assembled three sets which comprise virtually complete copies of the book. In an effort to make these available to folks who might not own copies of the publication, these signatures will be sold as complete sets. At the December club meeting, two sets of the Pictorial Supplement signatures will be auctioned, with Erwin (Going, Going, Gone) Chaim conducting the sale. Here is a great opportunity to obtain one of the most popular Rocky Mountain Railroad Club books, while supporting the Archives Fund at the same time. 

The Publications Committee made a concerted effort and sold over 350 copies of the Memorial edition of D.S.P. & P. Soft cover booklets that were published by the club, years ago, have been reviewed and will be reprinted in 1981, for free distribution to members.