Happy Thanksgiving! 10 Reasons to be thankful for the C&S

I'm so grateful for many things this Thanksgiving, foremost among them being my Savior, my wife, my daughters, and my country.  As always in life there are great things, but there are also small things, and these add sweetness.  The C&S is one of them. 

Below is a list of 10 random reasons, in no particular order, that I'm thankful for the Colorado & Southern Railway.

I'm thankful...

1. That so much of this tiny railroad has survived over 70 years after the last narrow gauge run.

2. For Italian stonemasons being so talented that work like the Palisades (and Ohio Pass Palisades) seem as strong in 2017 as they were in 1881.

3. For preservation groups like the South Park Rail Society, The Denver, South Park & Pacific Historical Society, the Como Depot and Hotel, the Colorado & Southern Railway Society, the Georgetown Loop, and the Leadville, Colorado & Southern.

4. For a past time that brings me a lot of joy and doesn't require any substances to do so!

5. For a past time that is both fun and enriches my knowledge.

6. For a past time that brings together people of so many ages and from so many places.

7. For a past time that is (typically) lacking in contention.  I love to talk deep issues and politics, but it's still nice to have a subject of serious interest that doesn't usually become a source of tension.

8. For the remote nature of so much of the C&S grade because it keeps a great deal of it from being gobbled up by developers.

9. For people like Ray Rossman, Dow Helmers, Richard Kindig, Mac Poor, and many others who did so much to chronicle and protect so much of the history and remains of the C&S, and, in particular, my personal favorite area: Alpine Tunnel.

10. For rock slides and ice that kept the scrapper from getting into Alpine Tunnel in 1923/1924!  Nature sure gave the old South Park a hard time, but in this case it kept a little of the railroad intact for those of us down the line!

C&S 1006 in 1986 - Photo 2

Photo 2: Taken by Jim Pallow.  August 1986.
Caption: "Me on right. Break from building track-getting ready for ballast."

Now & Then fade at Platte Canyon 1929-2011

I happened on this very well done 'now and then' fade based on a photo taken from the present Platte Canyon High School pool doors.  I don't really know what the fenced in thing is that we're looking at.  Maybe that is the pool??  Anyway, it's a great fade into a C&S doubleheader and then back out to the present. 

C&S 1006 in 1986 - Photo 1

I "met" Jim Pallow via The Narrow Gauge Discussion Form.  He had discussed on one thread how he was a part of restoration work in 1986 on C&S caboose 1006 in Silver Plume.  He graciously lent me his collection of photos from that time for use on my Bogies and the Loop article on 1006's post-abandonment life and also gave me permission to use them elsewhere.  I'll be posting all 27 of them sporadically and listing the captions from the back of each photo.

Photo 1: Taken by Jim Pallow.  August 1986.
Caption: "Second from left is Tom Young; this is prior to moving the caboose."

The Flawed Fever for Narrow Gauge

This is not a C&S-specific post, but the topic of what caused the demise of narrow gauge railways in Trains Magazine's September 2015 magazine with great interest because of a unique article entitled "Railroading's Biggest Blunders."  Dan Machalaba chronicled an unlucky 13 "faux pas that shaped the industry."  Of particular interest to me and those of us who are fascinated by the C&S, number 8 on Machalaba's list was
the US in general is quite interesting.  I read

"The Flawed Fever For Narrow Gauge."  

Here is the text of that segment:

"Narrow gauge fever swept the U.S. between 1870 and 1885.  The miles of narrow gauge lines in the country peaked in 1885 at more than 11,000, about 9 percent of American rail mileage.  For a brief time it was possible to travel by narrow gauge railroads from Ohio to Texas.

"The craze soon fizzled.

"Narrow gauge lines failed to compete with standard gauge railroads.  By 1900 most narrow gauge lines had been converted to standard gauge or abandoned.

"What happened?

"The narrow gauge movement was based on the faulty premise that small railroads (usually 3 feet between the rails) were cheaper to build and more economical to operate than standard gauge of 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches.  Proponents argued that narrow gauge lines could reduce construction costs compared with standard gauge railroads by using sharper curves, steeper grades, lighter rail, and lower-weight locomotives.

"Agricultural interests wanting cheap transportation and towns bypassed by standard gauge railroads embraced narrow gauge.  Some advocates even tried to put together a network of 3-foot-gauge railroads dubbed 'The Little Giant Line.'

"'The were like religious converts,' says Grant, the Clemson history professor.  'This was the coming

of narrow gauge.'

"The anticipated savings in capital didn't materialize.  Labor costs were similar to standard gauge.  The costs of reloading freight between narrow and standard gauge lines proved to be greater than expected.  The craze was soon over.  Narrow gauge railroads turned out to be a big waste of time and money."

Above photo from Peterson Portal