C&S 71's short return to life

When our family took our first trip to Colorado in 1990 we just missed C&S running.  It was parked at the time in the 'station' as shown at the end of this video.  Little did I know that its boiler was cold for good.  Seems like C&S revived engines don't last very long.  71 made it for two years and number 9 made it for one season.  Bummer.

This video can be found on Youtube.  It was filmed by someone in 1988.

Georgetown Loop 1991

Georgetown Loop 1991 Media from Kurt Maechner on Vimeo.
I must give so much credit to my parents for my love of the C&S.  They saw my love of this little railroad as I pored over Poor's DSP&P and Helmer's Historic Alpine Tunnel that I got from local Cleveland, Ohio libraries and decided to take several vacation trips to Colorado.  This is one of several old home movies of C&S adventures.  Here we rode the Georgetown Loop in 1991 with Shay #14.  Shay #12 is shown steaming out of the engine house at the end in Silver Plume.

Ohio Creek Extension page 8

Ohio Creek Extension page 7

Ohio Creek Extension page 6

Ohio Creek Extension page 5

Ohio Creek Extension page 4

Ohio Creek Extension page 3

Ohio Creek Extension completed page 2

Ohio Creek Extension completed page 1

Ohio Creek Extension complete!

I haven't subscribed to Model Railroader magazine in years, but just recently I discovered my stash from the 1990s.  I came across one edition that featured a couple that modeled the Ohio Creek Extension "as if" it had actually been constructed.  I'll post successive pages.  Here is the cover:

C&S 9 book

One Short Season: The Ill-fated return to service of a narrow gauge locomotive.

This book is such a delight to read! If you love the C&S or DSP&P this is a must. The author was actually one of the engineers that ran the no. 9 during its short 2006 return to steam. So many of us were so disheartened by the all too soon loss of a C&S loco that this book gives some balm to know what exactly went wrong. It also is fascinating to learn how several other locomotives played into the story like C&S 74. I was encouraged to know that the engine wasn't mishandled and that it did receive a gracious move to its present locale.

Anyway, the book is a great read, but is also chock full of tons of great photos past and present. I especially enjoyed photos of its years at the various World Fairs and while on display at the Black Hills Central.

This book is worth it!