A Silver Plume resident tells how 1006 came to Silver Plume!

A surprise came from the DSP&P Yahoo group when Dale Buxton shared his personal story of hearing how caboose 1006 came to Silver Plume.  He heard the tale from Tom Young, the man responsible for the caboose's restoration in the 1980s.  He also relates the names of many residents of Silver Plume who played a role in saving the caboose.  I thought this type of information may have been lost to history!

My Family is from Silver Plume. So let me add what I know to this story. In mid-eighties Tom Young a resident of Silver Plume, got permission from the town to refurbish 1006. It needed many things but, new siding and paint were on the top of the list. While we were working on the caboose he told me a tale of how it got there. 

During the Clear Creek line's abandonment the C&S had offered all the towns of Clear Creek some manor of Narrow Gauge equipment, but the towns where the rails were already gone had to find and pay for the transport to their town. 

It seems that the Silver Plume Town Council came late to the idea of getting it's own piece of C&S Narrow Gauge history. The county was still in the grips of the Depression so it had no money to ship the caboose from Denver. It looked like it just wasn't going to happen. 

Then at the last minute, with time rapidly running out (literally just a few days) a man with a big truck and heavy equipment trailer showed up and told the town he would bring it to Silver Plume for free. I have no idea who he was other than it seems he liked to move large are (ore?) loads with his truck. I don't think he even got paid for the gasoline he used for the trip. If this load had been too high to get through the many (then new) tunnels on highway 6 he would have had to drive over highway 40 going over the high route to Idaho Springs and beyond.

Two other men in Silver Plume probably figured heavily into this negotiation, Ed and Lon Buckley. They owned the Silver Plume, Buckley Bros. Grocery Store and were members of the town council. 

Other members of the Buckley family held the Conoco gasoline concession for Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties. Three other men in Silver Plume might have been involved with caboose move. Dinger Williams, Andy Reeble and lastly a man by the name of George Rowe. 

Born and raised in Silver Plume, George severed as the mayor there for many years. He also served as town Constable, Historic Guardian and local person of colorful tales. 

One local woman probably figured into at least the later preservation of the caboose. Her name was Josie Marshall, another native born resident of the town. She, like all of the above, lived her entire life in Silver Plume. None of them probably ever imagined in their youth, that the RR would ever leave the town. It was such a focal point there; how could it be imagined? 

I knew every one of these people as a child and count myself lucky to have met and known such individuals. I will never meet their like again!

As a child, the local children showed my sister and I how to get into the locked caboose by unscrewing one of the cupola windows. But the Buckley brothers and George Rowe kept a pretty close eye on the caboose. So that happened rarely.

Dale Buxton 

C&S 1006 Timeline, part 6: 2014-2016, A New Home

A New Home

2014

September 3rd: The hard-working Colorado & Southern Railway Society received permission from the city of Silver Plume to take on a large-scale restoration of 1006 and subsequently moved her to her new, temporary home. "Justin Kardas, and Will Gant jacked up caboose 1006, removed the bearings, greased the axle, and rolled the caboose back and forth in preparation for moving it later this month."

--> "The Caboose has turned a wheel for the first time in many years. After more preparations of the journal surface it was decided to move the caboose back and forth to limber it up. It was also discovered that it has a brand new wheel set under one end. We are beginning to determine the best manner in which to move to caboose to the restoration site, we welcome any suggestions. We are also in the process or making a complete mechanical and structural survey of the caboose."

"Tomorrow is the big day. Caboose 1006 will be moved from its current location in Silver Plume, about a block and a half to the Town shop where the restoration will take place. The move should start sometime after 10am tomorrow morning, though we do not have any idea how long it will take. We invite anyone who is free to stop by and see 1006 take its first step towards a brighter future!"

October 28th

"Caboose 1006 is under cover for the first time in nearly a century"

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2015

February: While dislodging a platform roof arch, 1006's former number was uncovered.  It was No. 1511.  This is a curious addition to the bobber's history.  According to Mallory Hope Ferrell in C&Sng, "Caboose 1006 was built in 1883 as D.S.P. & P. 72.  It became C&S 308 in 1899 and was renumbered 1006 in 1911."  So, it begs the question: when was it numbered 1511?

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May: C&S Railway Society analyzes interior paint and discovers various older colors under the present paint, including "yellow, dark green, and olive green."

June: C&S Railway Society "carefully removed the interior 'furnishings' and are pulling up the floorboards.  This will allow for a complete inspection of the frame.

The brake cylinder and triple valve were removed dismantled and inspected.

Much to [their] pleasure the triple was found to be clean and in new condition.

New support arches for the roof are being drawn out and as soon as the grant money comes in [the society] will be looking to have those made."

November: The society made new roof ribs for 1006

2016

June: As work was being done on the cupola of 1006, the original outside paint color was discovered.  It will now be used to guide the restoration color.

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C&S 1006 Timeline, part 5: 1980s-1990s, A Rescue Job

A Rescue Job

1980s-1990s 

The book Georgetown and the Loop commented,
"Thanks to the efforts of Tom Young, the Colorado and Southern four-wheeled caboose at Silver Plume has been undergoing restoration from its deplorable condition of the 1950s.  The north side of the little crummy has taken on the aspects of near-mint condition; work on the south side is progressing nicely. -- P.R. Griswold Photo."

Above photo from Up Clear Creek on the Narrow Gauge, 1990.

Below are photos I took during two early 1990s trips to Colorado.  Notice that by this time the "C&S" has been removed and "1006" has been repositioned.  I am not sure if this was done by someone else or simply a later change done by Tom Young after the above photo was taken.  The boards lying around the caboose suggest some type of activity.

I assume that it was during this restoration period that one side received the round herald and the other side was painted with the previous C&S lettering style.

C&S 1006 Timeline, part 4: 1960s-1970s, Stop-Gap Measures

Stop-Gap Measures

1960s-early 1970s

The Denver O Scale club does some restoration work.  Chris Lane stated "I can say for certain that the late 1960s-early 70s work was done" by this group "using paint donated by the 'Q'" (CB&Q) They had very limited materials and budget, (they patched a few holes in the roof with flattened beer cans), but the repairs and paint lasted long enough to get 1006 to the much more thorough restoration in the 1980s. by Tom Young of the Charing Cross Bookstore."

I was curious if this group was the responsible for adding the track to which Chris responded, "I can state with certainty that the Denver O Scale Club did not do any track work. They simply didn't have those sorts of resources. The work they did could best be characterized as 'Stop-gap emergency preservation, on a zero budget.'"

C&S 1006 Timeline, part 3: 1960s, Touch-Up and Track

Touch-Up and Track

1960s

An Otto Petty photo in the Denver Public Library collection shows some obvious restoration work including refitted steps, a paint job, and somehow or other she got a little track!  The photo's date is labeled as 1960s.

It is inaccurate that C&S initials were painted above number 1006.

C&S 1006 Timeline, part 2: 1950s, Sinking in the Gravel

Sinking in the Gravel

1950s

The book Georgetown and the Loop goes on to say that
"over the ten year period [since being put on display in 1941] the wheels just sank into the gravel.

"A view from the caboose roof showing its tilted but still intact stack.  The old Buckley warehouse is in the background.

"The Colorado and Southern four-wheeled caboose rests near Silver Plume depot in a very sad condition about ten years after the railroad was removed. 

A curiosity to note: where did the four crossties go?

Another curiosity: why is the emblem on the left side so large?  The C&S herald was not this size.  Earlier photos of 1006 show it regular sized.  And why is this herald blank?  Also, during this paint job it appears that the "1006" numbers were painted over.

Does this imply that there were some renovation attempts which made these changes?  To lend credence to the idea of some renovation, note how the caboose has been righted from it's pitched-forward state of the 1940s photo (if that photo is dated correctly).  In addition, the steps have been reattached.

The above page is from Georgetown and the Loop

The above photo is from Clear Creek Memories and Then Some by Tom and Denise Klinger.  The color of the caboose in these black and white photos appears very light compared to earlier and later photos of 1006.  However, the color seems very similar to another C&S caboose (1003 I think) in the photo below from the same book:

My hunch is that the display color was a darker red.  Later, someone repainted it to the correct, operation-era color (and possibly created the abnormally sized herald), and then it was repainted again sometime to the 'caboose red' color that we see from the 1960s onward.

Harry Brunk's Up Clear Creek on the Narrow Gauge comments on page 142,
"Just what was the dark color that the C&S painted its cabooses?  It was Boxcar Red.  Thanks to some well-meaning volunteers we were all led down the 'Caboose Red path' in the mid-to-late 1950's.  'We all' included even the knowledgeable Colorado Railroad Museum, so none of us need to hide our faces in shame.  The Caboose Red paint on #1009 at the museum and on #1006 at Silver Plume is not correct for these cabooses while they were on active duty on the C&S. Sometime in the 1950's, a crew, probably under the auspices of the Burlington, (the parent company of the C&S) went through Colorado re-painting all of the worn paint jobs on the C&S equipment on display.  Using the then current paint and lettering standards of the Burlington and C&S, this crew gave new and inaccurate paint schemes to [all the display pieces including] caboose #1006.  Both of these cars were lettered accurately but the Caboose Red was standard on the C&S only after the narrow gauge stopped running."

C&S 1006 Timeline, part 1: 1940s, A Poor Display

Since this post, there have been some insights that I think are more accurate than the information below.  See this post.

The arrival of the display trains in Idaho Springs and Central City have been fairly well-documented with photos and documents.  Caboose 1006 in Silver Plume, however, has a good amount of mystery involved.  The following and subsequent posts are my attempts at piecing together 1006's post-abandonment history based on quotes from books, observations from photos, and quotes from sources that either worked on the caboose or knew of those who did.  I'll end the series with a timeline of the most recent work, beginning in 2014, by the C&S Railway Society, to whom we owe a great deal of gratitude.

Pulling Track

1939

1006 was used on the dismantling train when scrapping the Silver Plume to Idaho Springs line.  It is shown on March 18th near Devil's Gate Viaduct on page 207 of The Pictorial Supplement of the DSP&P as well as several photos of the scrap train on pages 185-186 in C&S Clear Creek District Memories and Then Some.

A Poor Display

1941 

This photo by Otto Perry found in the Denver Public Library collection is dated September 14, 1941.

The above photo from the same collection is labeled as "sometime between 1930 and 1940."  My assumption is that it is a little later than the 1941 photo as some of the boards seem to have settled.

Notice how different this display piece is compared to the pristine condition of the locomotives and cars in Idaho Springs and Central City when they were put in place that same year.  There are no tracks, the steps are missing, and the paint is already deteriorated.

This unimpressive presentation surely is what has motivated some to think the bobber was simply left behind after abandonment.

However, the Colorado & Southern Railway Society, who are presently at work restoring caboose 1006, stated the following in correspondence with me:

"We've done a lot of research on this very question [of how 1006 came to Silver Plume]. Initially we assumed that the Caboose was left in Silver Plume when the tracks were pulled up.

"It turns out; we have found photos of the Scrap train, and 1006 was the caboose used to dismantle the clear creek branch."

From what I can tell from photos in C&S Clear Creek District Memories and Then Some it seems that 1006 was used on the 1939 scrap train between Silver Plume and Idaho Springs, while caboose 1003 was used for the 1941 Idaho Springs to Golden scrap train.  

The C&S Railway Society continued, "When the Narrow gauge was abandoned the C&S management actively chose a number of locomotives and cars specifically for preservation.

"While 1008, and 1009 were retained for use on the Leadville branch till it was upgraded to standard gauge in 1946, 1006 was deliberately chosen for preservation and trucked to Silver Plume."

Engine 71 with a gondola and combine and engine 60 with a coach were taken to the towns that had accepted the offer of some narrow gauge equipment to display.  These were put in place in 1941.  C&S 71 and it's train had to be trucked to Central City since the line to that point had been abandoned in 1931.  No. 60 and her coach were simply hauled dead to Idaho Springs as the tracks were still in place at this point.

It is my assumption that Silver Plume requested a caboose and were given 1006.  Since the tracks to Silver Plume were pulled up in 1939, I assumed she must have been trucked from the end-of-track in Idaho Springs in 1941, presumably around the time that engine 60 and coach 70 arrived there.  The caboose was not in the train with No. 60 and the coach as photos show so it must have been taken on a different move.

However 1006 arrived, it was placed a short distance from the former Silver Plume depot.

According to the book Georgetown and the Loop,
"When the four-wheeled Colorado and Southern caboose was left at Silver Plume, there were no rails under its wheels.

1945

In the iconic 1949 book Denver, South Park & Pacific, author M.C. Poor comments on page 327,
"At the time of abandonment of the Clear Creek line, one of these little crummies, number 1006, was set up as a permanent exhibit at Silver Plume.  While passing through Silver Plume on a trip up Clear Creek in search of data in 1945, Ed Haley pointed out number 1006 to the author.  There it sits on four crossties, forlorn and neglected, as if waiting for the inevitable end, which somehow seems close at hand."

The book Colorado & Southern Railway: Clear Creek Narrow Gauge from the Images of Rail series includes a photo on page 118 of the caboose, labeling it as "around the time the C&S was abandoned."  This cannot be too close to 1941 considering the progress of deterioration evidenced in the photo.  1006 is near a Coca-Cola sign, pitched forward, and windows missing.  The rear, left steps are missing (though possibly on the ground), while the rear, right steps are crooked and half detached.  The front right steps appear to be on ground.  Curiously, the photo above, which was most certainly earlier than this photo, shows no steps whatsoever.