C&S Rotary 99201: C&Sng at the Colorado RR Museum video

The first piece of C&Sng equipment that I ever came across in my first visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum as a teenager was Rotary 99201.  The reason I saw it first was because it wasn't even inside the museum.  Instead, the giant snowplow was sitting on a Burlington Northern spur across the street from the CRRM entrance.  It remained there for many years until being brought inside the grounds along with a Union Pacific switcher.

This rotary is fascinating for many reasons. 

1. It was built for the famous Alpine Tunnel route, but it was found to be too large and heavy.  To my knowledge, no photos of a trip on that line with 99201 exist.

2. It was so large, in fact, that it could also be used to clear standard gauge routes.  The C&S simply switched out the running gear.  The 99201 was used out of locations such as Cheyenne, Wyoming.  

3. It plowed the last surviving stretch of the South Park Line, the standard gauged Leadville to Climax, Colorado branch.

4. While it was a steam powered machine it outlasted steam powered locomotives.  The Leadville to Climax branch was the last regularly-scheduled class 1 steam operation, using steam locomotives until 1962.  The coal-fired Rotary 99201, however, was still used for three more years being pushed by C&S diesels.

The following photos are from early 1990 visits to the museum.

A Burlington Northern freight rumbles past on the former C&Sng Clear Creek Line across the street from the museum.

99201 on the old spur across from the museum entrance.

99201 across the street

The Union Pacific 0-6-0 behind 99201.

1960-1961 C&S News - Leadville operations, caboose 1006

A wealth of railfan history exists in the archives of the Rocky Mountain Rail Report, the newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club started in 1939.  Here is some miscellaneous South Park Line/C&S-related news from the 1960-1961 editions.

1960

January

C&S 99201 at CO RR Museum, early 1990s

"Pictorial Supplement to Denver South Park & Pacific" is selling well, and the Book Treasurer Bryant McFadden reports that over 3000 copies had been sold early in February. 

May

The regular monthly meeting of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club will be held on Wednesday, June 8, 1960, at the Farmers Union Auditorium, East 16th and Sherman, Denver, at 8:00 P.M. We will see some of
Otto Perry's interesting movies— some we have never seen before, including pictures of the Colorado & Southern standard gauge rotary on the Leadville-Climax line, photographed in action this year (Ed. This rotary, intended for use on the Alpine Tunnel route but found to be too heavy, was used on both narrow and standard gauge C&S lines, including Boreas Pass.  99201 was donated to the Colorado Railroad Museum by the C&S in 1972). 

August

It is with pleasure that we can now announce the attainment of a goal toward which we began working some years ago—we have now paid the last of our obligations for our recent book, "Pictorial Supplement to Denver South Park & Pacific," by club members Kindig, Haley, and Poor. The three authors have agreed to donate all the profits from the sale of the remaining copies of this book to the treasury of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club—an amount that will eventually add several thousand dollars to the club's funds. New members or others who are interested in obtaining a copy of this book may still secure copies from the club, at 2561 South Cook Street, Denver, 10, Colorado. Free brochures describing the book are also available at this address. 

November

Our new book, "Pictorial Supplement to Denver South Park and Pacific" reached the break-even point by summer, and the remaining 300-odd copies will further improve the club's financial status as they are sold. 

1961

January

If you are still thinking about obtaining a copy of "Pictorial Supplement to Denver, South Park and Pacific", you'd better get in motion. There are less than 300 copies available from the club. 

February

Those of us who live around Denver have many times noticed the long lines of steam engines in the C&S yards, waiting to be scrapped. These engines have been photographed many times, and it was well known they weren't long for this world. Which they weren't. Only 3 engines (all CB&Q) remain in the scrap line — #4947, #4952, and #4994. All the rest have been sent to a scrap dealer in Houston, Texas. There were 18 in all, sent in 3 shipments with 6 locomotives in each shipment. The first shipment was sent between Christmas, 1960, and New Year's — the next shipment 3 weeks later — and the last shipment went the week of February 5, 1961. The C&S locomotives included in these shipments were: 

#605 #804 #608 #805 #629 #806 #631  #807 

#632  #808 (CB&Q 5509)

C&S SG 641 on display, early 1990s

#634 #809 #644

#647

#648 

#904 #909 #914 

This leaves only 2 C&S locomotives in usable condition in the vicinity; #638 and #641. #641 works the
Leadville to Climax run, and #638 makes infrequent runs around Denver. 

******** 

Not all Burlington engines wind up in the scrap line, however. Some of the old engines which escaped and are now on display are: 

CB&Q #967 Built in 1899 — Minden, Nebraska (Pioneer Village) 

C&S 71 1964

CB&Q #710 Built in 1909 — Lincoln, Nebraska (Pioneer Park) 

CB&Q #3001 Built in 1930 — Ottumwa, Iowa (Ballingall Park) 

C&S #9 Built in 1882 — Hill City, South Dakota

C&S #60 Built in 1886 — Idaho Springs, Colorado

C&S #71 Built in 1897 — Central City, Colorado

FW&D #304 Built in 1906 — Wichita Falls, Texas (City Park) 

FW&D #501 Built in 1910 — Childress, Texas (Depot) 

April

As a result of our recently receiving a number of requests for information concerning the Climax-Leadville run of the C&S, the following is offered to those desiring to view or photograph this standard-gauge operation! C&S 2-6-0 #641 is handling the run at the present time and will probably continue to do so for the remainder of 1961.

The runs from Leadville to Climax are usually made during the first parts of the week. The #641 is ready to go at 8:00 a.m., with the crew called for 8:00 a.m. Climax is reached by 11:30 a.m. Considerable switching is done here, after which the train returns to Leadville. (Ed. The Climax to Leadville stretch was the last remaining stretch of South Park/C&S narrow gauge, operating until August 1943 when it was standard gauged.  The standard gauge branch was the last regularly scheduled steam operation by a Class 1 railroad in the US.  The C&S dieselized the operation in 1962).

August

We are now about to close the sales book of the "Pictorial Supplement to Denver, South Park & Pacific". There are only about 60 copies remaining to be sold, out of the 4,000 printed, and orders are coming in every day. 

C&S 1006 1960s

Colorado & Southern's narrow gauge caboose #1006, on display at Silver Plume, has been recently renovated. The C&S provided the materials, and a few devoted members of the NMRA provided the labor. The caboose was put up on rails, new doors and windows added, and the entire inside and outside was painted. (Ed. the caboose was put on display in 1941 near the Silver Plume depot where it sat on four pieces of wood.  It appears to have been moved around a few times.  When Mac Poor and Ed Haley visited the caboose in 1945, Poor described its condition this way: "There it sits on four crossties, forlorn and neglected, as if waiting for the inevitable end, which somehow seems close at hand."  Thankfully, that was not the case and we are indebted to the various groups who re-rescued her throughout the years including today's Colorado & Southern Railway Society).

C&S 1006 1962

The Railroad Riches of Golden, part 5

See Part 1 here.

See Part 2 here.

See Part 3 here.

See Part 4 here.

 Almost an engine: a rotary snowplow

In the meantime, with still no South Park locomotive at the museum, an event came about that sent it a close second, a rotary snowplow.  A steam-powered rotary snowplow is essentially a locomotive that powers blades to attack snow on the track and launches it out of a chute instead of powering drive wheels.  Machines like this were necessary on the many snow plagued lines of the South Park.  

One of the South Park’s two rotaries, No. 99201 was ordered in 1899 in part to clear the legendary amounts of snow over Altman Pass, site of the Alpine Tunnel, on the way to Gunnison, but the railroad found it weighed too much for this section and could not fit through the tunnel.  Instead, it was stationed at Como and used on other parts of the C&S.  The plow was so big, in fact, that its trucks could be switched between narrow and standard gauges and thus the rotary was used at various times on both.  When abandonment finally came to the narrow gauge, the rotary was standard-gauged again and used in Cheyenne, Wyoming and then spent the remainder of its days infrequently plowing the standard gauged Leadville to Climax route, it’s last run being in front of a diesel in 1965, a late date for anything steam-powered in the US.

In October of ‘72, John Terrill, president of the C&S, finally decided to retire rotary 99201 and donate it to the Colorado Railroad Museum.  The donation, however, came with challenges.  The behemoth machine had to be moved, of course, but while the C&S was happy to assist on its lines, it was necessary, due to the isolated C&S Leadville to Climax branch, to coordinate with the less than accommodating Rio Grande to move it from Leadville to the C&S connection in Pueblo.  The D&RGW refused to move the plow with a dismissive comment that it was “unseaworthy.”  Unfortunately for Bob Richardson, this unhelpful spirit exemplified many of his dealings with Rio Grande management.

On the flip side, Bob found the C&S management a very different story, an example of which was the down-to-earth, kind president John Terrill who went to bat to get the rotary to the CRRM.  After hearing of the Rio Grande’s claim that the plow was not safe to move, Terrill gathered several members of the C&S mechanical department and insisted the Rio Grande conduct an inspection of the rotary with his team at the same time.  It seems that, unsurprisingly, once the C&S put on the pressure, the "unseaworthy" plow suddenly found its sea-legs, and the D&RGW agreed to move it, though they made sure to charge $1400 to do so.

After No. 99201’s move over the Rio Grande and then the C&S, she came to rest at the museum, for

many years outside the museum’s gates, behind a former Union Pacific 0-6-0 engine acquired about the same time.  The museum now had an incredibly powerful symbol of the legendary fights that the C&S fought year after year against snow in the Rocky Mountains.

While this victory with C&S rotary 99201 was in hand, the chance to get DSP&P 191 was starting to look a bit out-of-reach.

Part 6