When the rails from Quartz to roughly a mile below Alpine Tunnel's west portal were finally pulled 13 years after trains stopped running, they were all piled up at the former Quartz townsite. What became of these discarded rails? Apparently, they went off to help another tunnel.
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| Author's collection |
In September of 1923, the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad began construction of its own tunnel that, like the Alpine Tunnel, would pierce the Continental Divide. Roughly one month after work commenced, a note was printed in the
Pitkin Miner of October 5th that read, "Two cars of rails were loaded at Quartz last week and shipped to Denver. They are to be used in the construction of the Moffat Tunnel."
So, these rails started out their life serving a Colorado mountain tunnel and went on to do the same in their second life.
Sources:
A Documentary History of the South Park Line: Vol. 5: The Gunnison District, Part II by Daniel W. Edwards, 2016. Page 165.
"Facts About the Moffatt Tunnel" Steamboat Pilot, 24 March 1926. From Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
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