Two more C&S boxcars found!

The C&S saved a few pieces of narrow gauge rolling stock like engines 71, 60, and 9, as well as coach 70, caboose 1006, gondola 4319, combine 20, and the three passenger cars now in Silver Plume.

Jason Midyette Photo of C&S 8027 in 2005

Sales to other railroads inadvertently led to the saving of others like engines 74 and 32 (DSP&P 191), the refrigerator and stock car at the Colorado Railroad Museum, and the two reconstructed boxcars at Breckenridge and Boreas Pass. 

Curiously, the other source of rolling stock salvation has been a bit surprising-use as sheds.

Old railroad cars have sometimes been purchased by local individuals to be used as sheds.  Two C&S baggage cars, #2 and #3 both retired in January 1939, found a prolonged life this way.  Both ended up on the ground near Longmont, Colorado.  #2, specifically, was dismantled in July 1939 and the body sold to F.W. Kimmel of Lyon, Colorado.

Baggage car #3, however, though sighted for decades as a shed, was destroyed by a developer in 2005, despite assurances that it would be saved.  According to Jason Midyette, "another C&S car on the property, possibly thought to be Baggage/Mail car 11, was destroyed at the same time."

Her identical sister, #2, however, found a new home.  In 1980 the 1874 baggage car was moved to the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska.  The baggage car is reportedly not in good shape, having rotted quite a bit from her years as a shed, but is preserved nonetheless.

C&S 1008

A few other cars survived for a period of time as sheds or tool cars.  Combination car #30 was converted to a tool car and then used as a shed in Leadville.  Mallory Hope Ferrell's C&Sng lists it still there as late as 1959.  Mail-coach #42 was dismantled in May of 1939, and then the body was sold, and placed on the ground at the end of the Silica branch.  I could find no details of the whereabouts of either car at the present time.

Caboose 1008 is an example of another car that survived as a shed.  It was discovered in California, decades after it was assumed scrapped.  It is now undergoing restoration.

Another recent car saved from toolshed life was C&S boxcar 8027. According to the GoFundMe

Jason Midyette Photo of C&S 8027 in 2005

page that helped bring this car home to Como, 8027 was "'Dismantled' in Denver in January of 1939. Stripped of its metal parts, the carbody was sold to a farmer east of Boulder where it was used as a calving shed and general storage until early 2005. Acquired by a private owner in 2005, the car was slowly restored over the next several years."  That owner, Jason Midyette, did a stunning job restoring it in Kansas, and it now resides in Como.

Well finally, the good news!  Two more piece of C&S rolling stock have been found!!!

The South Park Rail Society recently announced, "We have successfully acquired the only two C&S type 2 boxcars currently known to exist.  These two cars are located on a farm in Western Colorado. The South Park Rail Society needs your assistance to raise the required funds to load and ship these boxcars to Como Colorado for restoration  and display. Additionally some of the funds will be used to  purchase and ship two original sets of historically correct "Bettendorf" Cast steel narrow gauge trucks to go under these boxcars. The final phase of the project will see all of these boxcars restored to operational condition."

This is quite honestly an amazing discovery!  Please follow this link to learn more and to contribute a gift to help this excellent work come to fruition.

Photos below are from the Fund Raising site.

West Portal of Alpine Tunnel 1991 video

In the late '80s, I discovered the Alpine Tunnel in a magazine I bought at a rummage sale.  Fascinated, I then devoured Historic Alpine Tunnel and Poor's DSP&P book from the local Ohio library.  My parents, recognizing my growing passion for the subject, took our family out to visit this amazing place for the first time in 1991.  This is the home movie filmed on a Panasonic VHS-C video camera, complemented by cheesy Windows Movie Maker title slides that I added years later.  I'm not sure where the original file with the audio is, so I added new music over some old soundtrack.
Enjoy!  (Some points of curiosity in the video are listed below)

Some points of curiosity:

• The snow sheds at the portal were still scattered over the approach to the portal (today all of the wood has been removed)
• The rails were still under the snow shed debris (all of these rails were later removed and reused on the rebuilt track near the station complex).
• A small replica of the arch had been erected in the beginning of the cut to the portal.  If I recall correctly, a school teacher and class had created this (this has since been removed).
• Water all around it was the water still trickling out from the tunnel.
• The stone facing of the portal was so covered in sliding dirt and rock that someone had created a makeshift rectangle of wood to keep some tiny access to it.
• The turntable was in nearly complete ruin (Today much has been restored and track has been relaid on the approach)
• The other turntable in the remains of the engine house had not yet been excavated.
• No track had been rebuilt yet on the roadbed.
• A random length of rail was laying on the former roadbed leading to the engine house.
• The coal bin had not been restored.  One can see a side of it had collapsed.
• From the back of the station/telegraph office you can see the collapsed privy that today has been fully restored.
• The cellar in the ground near the front of the collapsed boarding house has not yet been restored.
• The railroad has come and gone and restorations have occurred, but the one constant is: those little marmots are still all over the place! :)

The Jefferson Depot-under new ownership 2019

The Jefferson Depot: "Serving travelers since 1880" reads the headline on the website .
www.thejeffersondepot.com

The depot was abandoned in 1937/8 along with the South Park Line, but has had a few lives in the intervening years including the most recent as the Hungry Moose Caboose restaurant.  It's newest owner bought the former C&S depot in the heart of the South Park in 2019.

Their website reads: "In 2019, Frank and Jackie Marinaro purchased the Depot with the dream of creating a place where hikers and anglers, photographers and commuters, passers-thru and lifelong residents can gather, eat, drink and relax in the midst of towering mountain vistas, sparkling rivers, and star-filled Colorado night skies."

They honor the heritage of the depot throughout their website including a map of the entire C&S narrow gauge system, several historical photos of the depot during operations, and images of C&S trains hanging on the walls of the building.

In their "About" section it states, "Formerly the railroad depot for the Denver South Park and Pacific

Railway, The Jefferson Depot has stood at the gateway to the South Park Valley for nearly 150 years welcoming travelers to the breadth and beauty of western Colorado. Located at the base of Kenosha Pass on US 285, the distinct blue train depot building offers respite for travelers passing to and from Denver and towns located in Colorado's central mountains."

While giving the entire operation the name The Jefferson Depot, they still retain the name Hungry Moose Caboose for the take-out grill structure that is made to resemble a simplistic caboose.  Inside the station is the Moose Saloon and also a new area for dining in.  Tables are found in the passenger room, freight room, and agent's office.   

If you would like to see the inside of the depot you can see a virtual tour here from a site that previously posted the property for sale and has yet to be taken down.

While all of us would love to see a train again pull up to the Jefferson depot again (maybe Klondike Kate will get there someday from Como!), it's great to see this historical station still having life and retaining more than a few nods to its past.  Many blessings to Frank and Jackie Marinaro on their new venture!