West Side Shay No. 14 on the Georgetown Loop 1991

In honor of West Side Lumber Co. Shay No. 14's recent restoration and rechristening as "Rosa" in honor of Rosa Ashby, who along with her husband Lindsey played such a huge role in bringing the Georgetown Loop back to life in the early 1970s, I unearthed this old family video of a 1991 ride behind No. 14 on the Loop.  

The titles, editing, and music are from a long time ago so my apologies for its aged appearance!  Unfortunately, the original sources remain on some old VHS-C tape somewhere.  

Along the way, you will get some glimpses of D&RGW freight cars and at 5:17 you can see C&S 2-6-0 No. 9 still in red paint sitting on Morning Star siding.  Pulling into Silver Plume you get a glimpse of Oahu Railway and Land Co. diesel 15 and at the end you'll see Shay No. 12 steamed up outside the engine house.

The Locos We Lost, Part 5

Back in 2017 I did a series of posts on C&S and/or DSP&P locomotives that were nearly saved or saved and then scrapped.  

These included a Mason bogie (Part 1)...

...C&S mogul No. 6 (Part 2)...

...C&S 69 and 70 (Part 3)...

...and C&S 76 (Part 4).

In part 3 I noted that in April 1941, the same month that Central City won its fight with the Burlington (who resisted requests from the town for a while) to display C&S consolidation No. 71, gondola 4319, and combine No. 20, an article in the Jefferson County Republican stated, "Plans were underway this week in Golden, to try to secure an old narrow gauge engine, coach and caboose from the Colorado & Southern, as a historical exhibit."  The article's author comments that "In the years to come, tourists would regard such an exhibit of considerable interest, and local citizens would likewise value it highly."

I surmised that the most likely candidate for this Golden display would have been either C&S 69 or 70 since engines 74, 75, & 76 were still at work on the Leadville-Climax stretch.  

However, I recently re-read Tom and Denise Klinger's Clear Creek Memories and Then Some and noticed an article on page 152 that I missed the first time around confirming exactly which engine Golden set its eyes on.

The article, titled "Last Rails of C&S" tells of the work train that scrapped the Clear Creek line.  It notes, "Ed Osborne was engineer and Brownie Anderson, fireman of locomotive No. 69 that pulled the work train, the last of the old engines to travel on these rails.  M. R. Wood was brakeman.  An effort is being made to park No. 69 in an appropriate place in Golden as a historical monument to the part played by the Colorado & Southern Railway Company in the development of Golden and the rich mining districts of Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties."

On the previous page of the Klingers' book they quote from the May 15th, 1941 Colorado Transcript, "Messrs. Coors and Duvall have conferred with Robert Rice, vice president of the C&S railroad and are hopeful that the city will be able to secure an early day engine and one or two cars.  It is planned to install this on a short section of track."  

The Klingers conclude with "Alas, the efforts by Golden to obtain a historic engine and car did not come to fruition."