I love the C&S but...

 ...I have to admit, this is some very impressive narrow gauge engineering!

The sight shortly after 10:17 is out-of-this-world.

Searching for the C&S Railway in the Brush: Milepost 178-179

 In May 2024, my family spent close to a week just outside of Ohio City. We rented a lovely Airbnb cabin and thoroughly enjoyed being so far 'out of the way.' It also afforded great time to explore the remains of the C&S/DSP&P line between Parlin and Pitkin. We took several trips out to see what we could find of the roadbed. Thankfully, you can find it largely by looking for the location of today's telephone lines (yesteryear's telegraph lines). 

Much of the right-of-way is on private property, particularly ranches. One of the few spots where this is not the case was near milepost 178. The roadbed there cuts through a forest at this spot. One of my daughters and I set out to see what we could find. It was quite a mess of trees and sticks, but we gave it a shot anyway. Along the way we found what might be railroad tie remains, though, I can't say for sure. 

Either way, it was a fun jaunt of narrow gauge archaeology. 

The yellow line shows where the ROW once was between Ohio City and Pitkin.

This is the segment traversed in the video.

Here is the same segment as above. You can see how the ROW parallels the road at times, sometimes joins the roads at others, and swings away at still others.

Here is a close-up just east of milepost 179. I think the overlay is wrong here. I believe the ROW is now used as part of a driveway towards the top of the screenshot.

This shows the segment where we got out and walked. We parked to the right of the road and then journeyed into the forest at right. In that segment it looked to us that the roadbed went through a long, though not high, cut. We walked from the beginning of the clump of trees at right to the point where the ROW exits that clump of trees as it rejoins the present road.

Bill Raia C&S photo collection

 I found a site with a handful of nice C&S photos from Bill Raia's collection. There is a series of shots of C&S 71 pulling a train largely made up of gondolas through Clear Creek canyon in 1939. There is another of a wrecked engine, likely from Boreas Pass. There are also some excellent shots of former C&S No. 74 during its tenure on the Rio Grande Southern. Photos are available for purchase at Raia's SmugMug page.

Happy Fall on Boreas Pass!

I came across this video below with a tour of C&S No. 9 and Boreas Pass Road and found it interesting. The narrator is off on some details and railroad terminology, but I think you'll enjoy his delight at experiencing the wonders of the line over the pass. The fall colors are also stunning.

Happy Fall!