The Swan Songs of Central City
-Part 8
by Kurt Maechner
Abandoned for the Third Time
Unfortunately, the Black Hawk and Central City Railroad entered into bankruptcy after just a short life. While noted rail historians P.R. Griswold, Richard Kindig, and Cythia Trombly stated in a 1988 book they authored that it was “a joy to see and hear [71] operating on its short section of track,” this joy couldn’t keep it running. It was not the first tourist railroad in history to flounder and, regardless of the causes, flounder it did. After just three years and almost 55,000 riders, the line from Central City was abandoned for the third time in its history when in 1990 the Gilpin County Historical Society took the railroad out of the owner’s control.
What remained in the aftermath was to deal with the now idle locomotive and rolling stock. Dan Quiat took the lead and moved his two C&S cars, the “Colorado Yukon” and the flatcar, off the property to a storage location in Denver, leaving the original display train behind. From 1990 to 1993, the engine, gondola, and combine sat disregarded at the old boarding site, its longtime former display location. The property itself was now owned by Glynn Alegre, the man whose financial gift boosted the movement to return 71 to Central City from the Loop and to bring her back to operation in 1986. In the early 1990s, other movements in town were soon to affect what Alegre did with his property.
Times were changing for Central City. History and Opera Festivals alone, it seemed to some, could no longer keep the old mining town alive, and so gambling became its new hopeful savior.
Casinos came to the City of Central 1991 and Glynn Alegre sought to sell the land on which 71 and her train rested to a casino and asked the Gilpin County Historical Society to move the train. The Society, however, did not meet Alegre’s deadline, and the man who christened No. 71 on her inaugural day in 1987, felt compelled to pursue legal action against the society to get her moved. Lest this cast a poor light on Alegre, it should be noted that he was not just a fair-weather friend to the train. In fact, he sought to preserve aspects of the railroad after the BH&CC’s bankruptcy.
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| 1993 at the Couer d'Alene Mine museum |
Thankfully, the case was settled and the Society transferred No. 71 and coach 20, minus gondola 4319, to yet another display track outside of a mining museum on the opposite side of the valley. The museum was housed in the Couer d'Alene Mine which was restored in 1994.
In the fall of 1995, there was once again talk of resurrecting the train or at least moving it. The Gilpin County Historical Society welcomed propositions, to which both Central City and Black Hawk responded. The ensuing debacle was called a “train war” by a local Colorado news source, The Mountain Ear. Central City offered a sum of $90,000 for the train. Black Hawk upped the ante by offering $95,000 as well as a plan for the train’s maintenance. One of Black Hawk’s casinos with a train motif also jumped into the bidding with a promise of tens of thousands of dollars in donations towards the engine’s yearly care.
The bidding was contentious to say the least as Central City had already made known that it would pursue legal action against the Gilpin County Historical Society if the train went to Black Hawk. To counter this, the Black Hawk Casino Owners’ Association offered to cover the society’s legal costs if Central City followed through on its claim.
On Saturday, April 20th, after hours of consideration, the historical society emerged to declare that there would be no sale of the train, only lease propositions. More board and city council meetings ensued.
In the end, Central City kept her train. The conclusion was that Harvey’s Wagon Wheel Casino, later the Grand Z Casino and Hotel, got No. 71 and her combine, placing them high up on a raised platform where they struck a grand pose. On the positive side, this site was more central to the town, and thus the train was less prone to vandalism, and also more prominent for visitors to see. Sadly, C&S gondola 4319, with her makeshift roof removed, did not make the cut and was moved to Russell Park near Eureka Street. While 71 and her combine received periodic maintenance, the gondola, the last of its kind, slowly deteriorated. Thankfully,
C&S 4319 was later leased in 2018 by the
South Park Rail Society. The group moved it to their growing historical renovation in Como, Colorado, the former C&Sng division point on its South Park Line, where the car received
a thorough restoration.
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| 4319 at Russell Park-Tim Bain photo 2015 |
As of this writing, C&S 71 seems to have reached
its final resting place with combine 20 on its pedestal outside a casino in Central City, but one cannot bet on it. Proposals to get the engine running have popped up through the years with some regularity. An unsuccessful 1996 proposal by Jarrett Carlson, who worked with his grandfather Floyd Cothran on the line in the late 1980s, sought to run the engine out of Black Hawk. A group in the mid 2010s, calling itself The Blackhawk and Central City Narrow Gauge Restoration Project, claimed to want to rebuild and run a tourist line for the third time out of the old Central City boarding site, including the occasional use of No. 71. In 2019, Court Hammond himself re-emerged as Chief Operations Officer of the
proposed Central City Railroad and Mining Museum. He and others held
an informational meeting in Central City to
lay out their plans, garner support, and answer questions, all of which depended on, as
their website stated, “repatriation” of C&S No. 71. Anticipating their eventual success, the group even
laid 1500 feet of track in the fall of 2021, enough to potentially display and evaluate the engine and combine, at the old boarding site off Spring Street.
Will Colorado & Southern 71 ever steam again? Some are adamant that it will never happen, citing that it would cost less to build an operating replica than to restore 71 herself. Still others have active plans, as of this writing, to bring the locomotive back to life once more. One thing is for sure, though. In every case, it seems a saved C&S relic rarely stays in one place for long, and something suggests 71 may be, in time, on the move once more.
No. 71 in the early 1990s forlorn, but hopeful for a better future
