Searching for the C&S narrow gauge: The Last C&S Baggage Car Survives in NE

To the best of my knowledge, eight South Park passenger cars still exist. There are three coaches (70, 76, DSP&P 3 the “Geneva”-with only two surviving ends), two combines (20, DSP&P 7), one business car (911), one Railway Post Office (13), and one baggage car (2). Only two of these cars exist outside of Colorado. One is South Park combine No. 7, the “Como.” It resides on a ranch in Uva, Wyoming used as a family museum.

The other is C&S baggage car No. 2.

from Midcontinent.org

There were at least five C&S baggage cars. The railroad burned the remains of one that was involved in a 1902 wreck at South Park Junction. The remaining four, built between 1873 and 1874 and renumbered 1-4 in 1911, survived to the end of South Park passenger operations. The C&S stored them in Waterton by 1937. All four cars were considered “retired” or “dismantled” by 1939.

Baggage Car No. 2 in Waterton 1937, Richard Kindig

At least two of the baggage cars, Nos. 2 and 3, were then sold and used as sheds, both in the Longmont, Colorado area. The C&S sold 1874-built, 34-foot-long No. 2 to F.W. Kimmel of Lyons, Colorado. Its location by 1958 was referred to by a photographer as “on Johnson Farm” “north of Longmont.”

In 1980, the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska purchased baggage car No. 2. The Stuhr Museum seeks to memorialize early life on the plains and includes a “Railroad Town.” At the time of No. 2’s arrival, Stuhr operated a narrow gauge railroad around the property by the name of Nebraska Midland powered by White Pass & Yukon No. 69.

A photo by Ken Martin when he visited the car possibly in 1980/1981. The car body was sitting on two piles of RR ties. The museum was in the process of reconstructing the platform roofs at the time. This shows the original paint when it arrived at the museum.

1981 Ken Martin photo. The roof ends have been added. Frame has yet to be fabricated and the steps have not been added yet.

2001. No. 2 is the second car. T. Greuter photo

As a wooden car exposed to the elements for decades, No. 2 was in bad shape when it arrived in Grand Island, but the Stuhr Museum worked to restore it to operation. The Museum fabricated its own steel underframe and set the car on D&RGW freight trucks. They also rebuilt the roof ends removed by the C&S to accommodate end platforms. Unfortunately, the museum’s railroad operation proved cost-prohibitive and the equipment simply turned into a static exhibit.

By 1999, former Bogies & the Loop editor Jason Midyette lamented about baggage car No. 2’s condition, stating that it “may be beyond hope.”

A turn-for-the-better later occurred for No. 2. By at least 2006 the car has been stored inside along with a truly pristine wooden Florence & Cripple Creek coach. Restoration there and protection from the elements has brought the car back to very good condition.

No. 2 is currently under the care of Tom Oshlo, director of facilities and grounds. Since the car is not in a public viewing location, you have to contact the museum and arrange a time to see it. On my family’s recent visit, we simply called a few days ahead. The staff arranged for Tom to meet us at the restoration shed. There he led us on a tour of the car, inside and out. It was interesting to see that the side windows, covered over in the 1880s or 1890s by the UP or DL&G, are visible again.

Oshlo seems to be quite a guardian of No. 2 and the F&CC car, making sure to resist museum administration’s occasional requests to display the cars outdoors. He also took time to point out original hardware and hardware that the shop fabricated to replace missing pieces. After Tom’s time with us, he was glad to let us explore on our own and take plenty of photos and video.

Florence & Cripple Creek Car No. 65

Interior of Florence & Cripple Creek Car No. 65

The grounds nearby the shed are littered with what I assume to be Rio Grande cars and pieces in quite rotten shape. I’m glad that No. 2, in contrast, has been cared for so well.

Old turntable and D&RGW flatcar

While I would like to see C&S baggage car No. 2 back home in Colorado, credit must be given to the Stuhr Museum for pulling her off the ground of a Longmont Farm in 1980 (and good thing too, because baggage car No. 3 got bulldozed by a developer in Longmont in February 2005 along with possibly C&S baggage/mail car 11). And despite her poor condition in the 1990s, No. 2 is, at least for the present, in a well-protected environment with a committed caretaker. If you’re driving along I-80 in Nebraska, the museum is a short distance from the highway and No. 2 alone is well worth the visit.