C&S grade in Chalk Canyon 2018-video

Last summer when leaving our campsite near St. Elmo, we drove back toward Buena Vista.  My wife offered to drive so I could try to spot the grade to the right of the road in Chalk Canyon.  I got a glimpse near Chalk Lake and there was a parking area and some trails nearby.  We pulled in and I was able to get some video and photos of the grade.  I would have loved to have climbed up there, but due to time constraints we just couldn't do it.

The video below includes the footage and photos I got from the area.  Later I realized that this, if I am correct, is the spot on the grade referred to as Cascades, where a number of famous photos were taken.  Towards the end of the video I was able to locate the approximate sites in Google Earth of the two famous shots from 1883.  I wish I could have taken them from the grade myself instead of using Google Earth!

There is a walkable trail called The Narrow Gauge Trail that allows one to hike some or all of this section.  I have seen some photos that a rock slide has blocked part of it.

C&Sng 1952 in the Narrow Gauge News

This is part 3 of the C&S details found in Bob Richardson's Narrow Gauge News.  Part 1: 1949-1950 is here.  Part 2: 1951 is here. Below are C&S references in his newsletter from the year 1952.  I have underlined some points of particular interest.
*Photos here are just my additions, not from the newsletter.  

Central City 1964-Author's Collection

April

Old C&S 71 is no longer missing its bell…sheriff recovered it from teenagers who sold it for scrap

May

May Day saw workmen tearing down what was left of Jefferson tank on the abandoned C&S in South Park

The famous Chalk Cliffs of “South Park Route” fame rate a full page in color in “Colorado Wonderland’s” Summer issue

July

As an example, more people come to Colorado or one part of it to see Alpine Tunnel than come to see one much-advertised “monument.”

East Portal 1950s-John Hallinan Collection

Many summer visitors like to explore the routes of the abandoned Colorado narrow gauge routes.  Some have become roads, others require considerable hiking.  Top attraction is Alpine Tunnel, abandoned in 1910 by the Colorado & Southern.  A county highway turning off at Nathrop uses the grade most of the way to within about three miles of the debris-blocked east portal.  The west portal and abandoned buildings are reached either by going over the top of the mountain or by hiking from Quartz Creek camp ground some miles beyond Pitkin.  U. S. No. 285 is either on or alongside of much of the old South Park line from Bailey over Kenosha Pass, past abandoned Como roundhouse, depot, etc. and on thru South Park toward Buena Vista and Alpine Tunnel.

Five locomotives, two cabooses, a combine, coach and freight car are persevered and on display at Alamosa (No. 169 4-6-0 and our No. 346 No. 346 2-8-0), Durango (No. 315 2-8-0), Colorado Springs (No. 168 4-6-0), Idaho Springs (C&S 60 2-8-0), Central City (C&S No. 71 2-8-0, gondola and combine of C&S), Silver Plume (C&S 4-wheel caboose).  And plans are being carried out to preserve more of the rolling stock.

August 

Alpine Tunnel boarding house-photo inverted

Our staff photographer reports after a trip to Alpine Tunnel that snow still hides the west entrance and that the second floor has collapsed inside the old boarding house

September

On Aug. 25 the D&RGW filed application with the ICC to abandoned the narrow gauge lines west of Poncha Jct. to Gunnison and the branches from that place to Sapinero, Castleton and Crested Butte, 138 miles in all….Gunnison County plans to oppose the abandonment, which will remove 25% of the county’s total assessed tax valuation.

Coal traffic of the Baldwin Branch which Gunnison made no effort to keep when the Valley Line was up for abandonment, would help a lot up that way now.

October

THAT WRECK OF 346 AT KENOSHA PASS

The Mount Blanca & Western’s engine was among three loaned by the D&RGW to the
Colorado & Southern in 1936 and returned the following spring when that line abandoned its road to Leadville.  On July 25, 1936, #346 had helped a Denver-bound frt. To the summit of Kenosha Pass and then started down light.  Almost exactly a mile form [sic] the summit of the pass, the engine climbed the rails, cut the ties for perhaps 150 feet, then overturned on a sharp curve, suffering considerable damage.  Engineer Eugene McGowan could not jump as he got entangled in some cab piping, and he received a fatal scalding from a broken pipe.  The fireman had been thrown out of the gangway before the engine overturned.  The accident occurred about 300 feet west of Mile Post 75.  It was blamed upon too much speed and the fact that two of the engine’s four drives had no flanges.

The engine was returned to Denver, sent to the Burlington shops on a flat car, repaired and returned to service.  The present steel cab dates from this time.  Tires with flanges were installed on the two “blind” drivers by the D&RGW after the engine was returned to them.

Anyone having photos of the wreck or of this engine in use on the C&S, or additional data, are urged to contact us.

November

C&S stock car at CRRM-Chris Lane Collection

In 1938 and 1939 Victor Miller added 125 ex-C&S cars [to the RGS], and most disposed of by him when he lost that post.

In 1949 a 2-8-0, ex-Colorado & Southern No. 74 was acquired from a dealer.

One Goose is working on removal of rail around Dolores; while another is working about midway to Rico on a section of track isolated by washouts. Two cut down ex-C&S stock cars were hauled by truck to Millwood to replace the worn out flats used by that train.

Vandals have been at engine 74 at Boulder . . . engines worth so much in work, money and trouble are surely worth a few dollars a month of electricity to protect them with a bath of light?

Outstanding C&S 9 footage from 2006

I found some of the best footage of C&S 9 that I've seen so far in her one active season on the Georgetown Loop in 2006. 

Both videos are from Keith Platt.  He describes himself as follows: Keith Platt's Steam Almanac is a collection of videos I have taken at different steam railways in Britain, Germany, Poland, USA, Canada, China and New Zealand over the last twenty years. I hope to gradually upload my collection over the coming months.
I haven't added any music or commentary, each video is simply set out chronologically on the day they were taken, I suppose I am trying to recreate my childhood memories of sitting next to a railway line trainspotting.  Why not bring  a flask of coffee and a box of sandwiches and spend some time  just watching the trains go by.

C&Sng 1951 in the Narrow Gauge News

This is part 2 of the C&S details found in Bob Richardson's Narrow Gauge News.  Part 1: 1949-1950 is here.  Below are C&S references in his newsletter from the year 1951.  I have underlined some points of particular interest.

January

RGS ENGINE#74 MAY BE PRESERVED
A move is afoot in Boulder, Colo. To obtain RGS engine 74 for preservation int hat city.  #74 had originally been built for the narrow gauge that until 1918 ran from Boulder to some mining communities.  Later it went to the C&S and several years ago to the Rio Grande Southern.

April

BOULDER APPROVES PROJECT TO SAVE RGS #74
Boulder, Colo. City council April 3rd approved the project of J.B. Schooland [sic] to place on permanent display RGS engine #74 which originated from a line operating out of Boulder until 1919.  The RGS seldom uses the engine, having obtained some heavier power.  The council suggested a coach or freight car be obtained, but it is believed none of the DB&W cars exist except for two D&RGW bunk cars, originally Pullmans of the 1880s, later used as coaches on the DB&W.

SOME FINE GLASS NEGATIVES of trains in the 1890s on Marshall and Alpine (DSP&P) passes were saved from greenhouse use near Salida a few months ago.

May

PHIL RONFOR reports luckily locating an 1878 pass of the DSP&P signed by John Evans, and also one of same  year for Colorado Central.  Eastern Division of the Rocky Mount RR Club will meet June 6th at the Ronfor home near Boonton, N.J.

[list of RGS engines]
74 2-8-0 Built 1898, exColo. & N.W. (later Denver, Boulder & Wn.) ex-Colo. & Southern.

From GENERAL NOTES, ROADS, ETC.:--

Turntable pit at w. portal of Alpine Tunnel 1958-Lew Schneider

The South Park’s Alpine Tunnel is a hike from either Hancock or Pitkin, with track intact, tho east entrance flooded by cavein; the grades of the South Park line follow US 285 closely from Bailey via Como and much of rest of line can also be traced, in some places the roadbed has become the road…out of Denver to Georgetown other traces of the C&S are to be found; for that matter one can hardly cross this state without at sometime driving along what was once a railroad grade…C&S engine 71 and combine-Central City; C&S engine 60, and coach at Idaho Springs; C&S caboose at Silver Plume.

From CAR EQUIPMENT OF THE NARROW GAUGES:--
The RGS has some ex-C&S stock cars; also some box and flats apparently no longer used in revenue service.

July

THE “SOUTH PARK” BOOK has become a collector’s item and sales by book dealers at $40 to $50 have been reported!

August

Alpine Tunnel station 1958-Lew Schneider

ALPINE TUNNEL attracts many visitors in summer, one recent Sunday finding three groups hiking
to the long abandoned rail point.  The west portal is still open.

October

 From SUSPENSION OF RIO GRANDE SOUTHERN OPERATIONS EXPECTED NOVEMBER 1ST.
On the north end engine from Ridgway and Placerville and several times for long trains they had ex-C&S #74 as additional helper, but on Sept. 28 the 74 was placed dead in the engine house.

#74 HAULS CLUB SPECIAL
137 members and others rode the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club’s special over the Rio Grande Southern Sept 1 and 2.  Engine 74 handled the train of gondolas, cabooses and business car, laying overnite at Telluride, second day going to Lizard Head.  It was first use of the 74 in months.  A good trip with fine weather.

BALDWIN BRANCH HAD ITS FIRST TRAIN since Feb. when a stock run was made first week of October from Gunnnison. [former C&S line operated at this time by the D&RGW]

November

COLORADO’S NEWEST NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD: THE “MOUNT BLANCA & WESTERN”

D&RGW on C&S 1936-Otto Perry

The 346 was borrowed by the Colorado & Southern in 1936-7 on their Denver-Leadville line, sometimes acting as passenger helper over Boreas Pass.  The engine was involved in a bad accident when it rolled down the mountainside on Kenosha Pass.  On the C&S it was equipped with their peculiar cinder catching device.

THERE WAS A MIXUP of the descriptive matter for Phil Ronfor’s painting of a C&S train gracing the current TRUE cover.  It seems Phil had submitted a sketch of that engine at Woodstock Tank and later realized that portion of the line had been abandoned along with Alpine Tunnel ten years before the cinder catching device was put on C&S engines.  The magazine however desired the engine as drawn, so Phil changed the background to a scene in Clear Creek canyon based on Elk Creek tank, and somehow the magazine struck to the original copy.  So it isn’t his boner, folks!

The first relaid track of the C&S in 1953?

I came across a video on Youtube with home videos from 1953, narrated by a man who was a young 11-year old boy when they were taken.  They follow a family trip through Colorado focused on trains.

The most interesting part of the video begins at 2:13, though, when the family takes a bus trip to Idaho Springs.  Here the young boy rides a miniature live steam train across Clear Creek and onto the C&S roadbed past the Argo Mill loading chutes.  Is anyone aware of this tiny train?  How long was it around?  This could possibly be the first relaying of track on a former C&S roadbed post abandonment, besides the display trains.

After that segment, the narrator relates how descendants of his would later learn to drive the same locomotive, now lettered with a C&S style logo for the Commanche Crossing & Eastern.  Does anyone know where this locomotive is today?

The C&S shows up again when there is a quick shot of C&S 60 at 3:24 in gleaming paint, though lettered for the Burlington Route.  It is still at the original location with the log gift shop behind.

There are a few seconds of video at Central City, though no sightings of No. 71 and train.

C&Sng 1949-1950 in the Narrow Gauge News

For a long time I read the Iron Horse News sent out by the Colorado Railroad Museum.  It was chock full of interesting goings-on related to railroads in Colorado, particularly the narrow gauge lines.  A few years back I purchased Colorado Rail Annual No. 21: Robert W. Richardson's Narrow Gauge News.  The book contains all of the newsletters of the original publications (then called Narrow Gauge News) from 1949-1958 as Richardson races to chronicle, preserve, and save the fast-dying narrow gauges lines.

I knew it would be dominated by D&RGW and Rio Grande Southern info, and it is, as these lines were in their death throes then (If you love those lines, you will love this book).  But for the C&S fan, I didn't see much (understandably, since the C&S narrow gauge was already gone), so I never really did much other than scan a few pages here and there.

Finally, I started combing the book for DSP&P/C&S details more thoroughly and began underlining them.  While they are few, there are some terrific gems among them, especially as we see some of the early signs of C&S and South Park preservation efforts.

I decided to collect those tidbits and put up a few posts with them, starting with the Narrow Gauge News from years 1949-1950.  I'll cover more years in upcoming posts.
*Photos are not from the book.

Ex-C&S 74 on Ophir 1951

1949

June

Ex-C&S 74 2-8-0 with lengthened firebox and other changes went into use [on the Rio Grande Southern] in May

1950

January

DENVER, SOUTH PARK &PACIFIC
This handsome book of above title appeared in mid-December, all that it was advertised and much more.  Published by the Rocky Mountain R.R. Club with M.C. “Mac” Poor as author it has set a new high in railroad histories. Many prize photos, neat maps and interesting background material is included.  The famous line will live forever in the book.

March

Actually this hearing also determines the fate of the Baldwin Branch out of Gunnison [operated by the D&RGW], as well as hurting in small ways all the rest of the narrow gauge.  If the Valley line is abandoned, the coal traffic from Castleton would go to trucks for all handling, and as this 15 ½ mile branch, formerly the farthest extension of the Denver South Park & Pacific has no other traffic, it would automatically be killed.  It uses the smallest class n.g. engines, for which there is no other use.  Tho [sic] a recent meeting at Gunnison of [sic] Chambers of Commerce had as one of the items of discussion the keeping of railroad to places such as Gunnison, that region took no part in the Saguache hearing.

***THE HIGHWAY from Golden, Colo. to Idaho Springs is not expected to be completed for another couple years.

***RAILFANS WHO LIKE to drive along some n.g. routes are in for better roads in n.g. territory.  Among those slated for oiling this year are Placerville-Telluraide, Route 17 along the Valley route and Route 285 south of Antonito along the old Chili route.  The Colorado Mountain Club however did things a littler differently on Feb. 12 when headed by Bob LeMassena they snow shoed over part of the old Argentine Central right-of-way near Silver Plume.

June

Engines 42 and [Ex-C&S] 74 not used this year [on the Rio Grande Southern].

August

***Correction: RGS engine 74 (ex-C&S did make some runs this year, including one of the two runs to Rico.  It is to be repaired before the stock rush starts in Sept.

September

AUTHOR AND ARTIST VISIT ALPINE TUNNEL
M.C. “Mac” Poor, author of “Denver, South Park & Pacific” and Phil Ronfor, whose magnificent
paintings adorn jacket and interior of the same book, recently made a pilgrimage to that mecca of South Park Fans … Alpine Tunnel.  They report the opening into the west end of the tunnel is growing smaller and it seems likely it will soon be sealed entirely.  Ronfor, who had never before visited the area was very enthusiastic and we understand he plans a painting of an old-time train in Sherrod Curve, as well as a view from a new angle of the famous Palisades.  The building at the station are reported to be much as usual, the boarding house leaning at the same perilous and incredible angle as noted in previous years, but still holding its own 40 years after the abandonment.  They were accompanied by Ed Haley (who took interior shots used in the book), Chas. Ryland, Dick Kindig and Ronfor’s daughter.
Earlier this summer, several Colorado enthusiasts for preserving old railroadiana [sic] spent weeks in dragging and carrying away the harp-type switch stand which had somehow escaped the junkman.
A page of rotogravure pictures titled “Historic Sidetrack” showing scenes of the place today, were featured in the Aug. 13 Denver Post.