A short reflection on Combine 20 in the 1990s

During my teen years I kept every doggone train magazine I received in the mail.  I have been attempting to thin out my collection lately and I came across the following write-up in the Sept/Oct 1990 Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette on combination car #20 that now sits behind C&S 71 in Central City.

"Comination car #20 is the most famous of the four C&S combination cars that lasted until the end of operations.  Originally number 25, the number was changed when the car was put on display at Central City, Colorado.  It remained there for many years, and now you can ride in this historic car on a restored segment of the C&S line that runs towards Black Hawk from Central City, Colorado.  This 32-foot-long combination car is also one of the oldest cars left in Colorado, having been built in 1878.  It operated as an Adams Express Company car for many years before it was retired and placed on display."

Sadly, this return to life ended within the year when the short-lived Black Hawk and Central City narrow gauge tourist railroad closed up.  The combine was never again to roll behind a locomotive.

I saw it in 1990 & 1991, resting on the idle tourist railroad track.  The track was eventually torn up and the train moved to one site and then another.  It now is on display on a raised pedestal behind #71 next to Harvey's Wagon Wheel Casino.

If you're looking for more on this combine, I wrote up a more thorough history of #20 in the most recent Bogies & the Loop.  I'm also working on a new piece for the B&L chronicling the two tourist routes in Central City and a possible third.  The first installment of what will be a two-part article should be in the next edition.

The above photos are from two trips I took, one in 1990 and the other in 1991.

Below is a postcard I bought on one of the trips when the tourist route was in operation: