Train to the East Portal of Alpine Tunnel in Train-Time video

I've come across a number of online videos of the ride to the west portal of the Alpine Tunnel, but never the eastern approach, probably due to the fact that you can't drive the stretch between Hancock and the tunnel.  I really wanted to fill this gap, first for myself, because I love this side of the pass with its undisturbed grade, and also for others who haven't had the chance to see the stunning scenery and the courageous engineering of the railroad.

I got ahold of a GoPro and a chest attachment in order to make this happen.  Walking with my family (and sometimes carrying one member of it-you will see her red raincoat-covered arm occasionally) I filmed the entire length from Hancock to the east portal.

This video was filmed in July 2018.  I chose to speed up the footage to mirror the same time (30 minutes) that it took a train to travel the same distance according the C&S's schedule of October 1910.

The Denver, South Park & Pacific/Colorado & Southern line from Hancock to the east portal of the Alpine Tunnel, the highest tunnel in the world in 1881 when completed, was abandoned in 1910 in part because this stretch of railroad on the eastern side of the tunnel was so costly to maintain due to the difficulty of clearing snow from this side of the mountain.


I know it's a long video, but every bit of this route is a marvel.  I'm working on a shorter "highlight" version as well that will also incorporate still photos, including those of the interpretive signs that are posted along the way.

A Tale of Two Tunnels: Where the rails to the Alpine Tunnel ended up

When the rails from Quartz to roughly a mile below Alpine Tunnel's west portal were finally pulled 13 years after trains stopped running, they were all piled up at the former Quartz townsite.  What became of these discarded rails?  Apparently, they went off to help another tunnel.

Author's collection

In September of 1923, the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad began construction of its own tunnel that, like the Alpine Tunnel, would pierce the Continental Divide.  Roughly one month after work commenced, a note was printed in the Pitkin Miner of October 5th that read, "Two cars of rails were loaded at Quartz last week and shipped to Denver.  They are to be used in the construction of the Moffat Tunnel."

So, these rails started out their life serving a Colorado mountain tunnel and went on to do the same in their second life.

Sources:
A Documentary History of the South Park Line: Vol. 5: The Gunnison District, Part II by Daniel W. Edwards, 2016.  Page 165.
"Facts About the Moffatt Tunnel" Steamboat Pilot, 24 March 1926. From Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.

Another angle on BN selling the Leadville-Climax route

Photo by Mike Condren

So why did the Burlington Northern basically give away the former C&S Leadville to Climax route to a Leadville couple, Ken and Stephanie Olsen, and not just scrap it?  This previous post looked at one reason, given by Ed Quillen in 2003 in the Colorado Central Magazine.  There it was explained that Amax, owner of the Climax Molybdenum mine, desperately wanted to keep the rail line in case it might need it again.  Using their corporate muscle, they basically threatened the BN not to junk it.

In Leadville Today, though, a 2013 article by Kathy Bedell explains some further reasons for selling an entire rail line with equipment for $10.  In the late 1980’s the EPA was looking for a way to “make its mark” in an attempt to gain a cabinet position in the government.  It chose Leadville, a place with lots of residue from mining, as the place to target.

Source

In the words of Bedell, “The words contamination and remediation had BN looking for a way out-desperately.  They needed to unload the dormant railroad line or face the possibility of [a] very expensive ‘clean up.’”

Bedell also points out that BN’s chief officer was not from a railroad background and was trying to shed unprofitable lines.  This comment may betray Bedell’s lack of experience with railroads as many railroad officials have sought to shed unprofitable lines.

As the saying goes, it appears that ‘the stars aligned’ for Ken and Stephanie Olsen, in a surprisingly inexpensive way, to fulfill their desire to contribute to the Leadville community.

Source:
"The Leadville Train: 25 Years of Family Tradition!" by Kathy Bedell.  Leadville Today, 25 August 2013.

The Last Mason Bogie

Many of us who love the Denver, South Park & Pacific have enjoyed the photos of the 23 DSP&P Mason Bogies.  Sadly, all have been lost to the scrapper.  I was surprised to find on a recent school field trip with our kids that there is actually one remaining Mason Bogie left in the world...and it's in operation!

Sherrod Loop 2018 video

When the DSP&P/C&S right-of-way from Pitkin to the west portal of Alpine Tunnel was converted for auto traffic, they bypassed the Sherrod Loop (or Curve) leaving the grade undisturbed all these years.   Some time ago, the United States Forest Service laid some track on the beginning, straight segment of the curve.  I think this must have been started either some time in the 1990s or early 2000s.  When I was at Sherrod in 2003 some of the rails were not yet spiked down.



The first stretch of the videos was shot with a GoPro mounted on our ATV as we travel from the site of Woodstock to the start of Sherrod Loop.  I wish I could have gotten aerial shots of the location with the drone I brought, but time limitations with our rental made this unfeasible.  Instead I took screen videos of Google Earth traversing the loop's terrain.  At the end, I walk the relaid track.  Pardon the bounce as I was using a traditional camera.  Should've used the GoPro!  Hindsight :)

Balloon Loops

It is easy to forget that the concept of the balloon loop (or switchback, though not in the traditional railroad sense) was an engineering innovation in scaling mountains.  It involved the concept of a route doubling back on itself, thereby gaining more distance in which to continue to gain more elevation.  Sherrod Loop allowed the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad (later, Colorado & Southern Railway) to gain elevation on its way to the Alpine Tunnel in Colorado.  After going upgrade along the mountain for many miles, passing Alpine Pass, the railroad makes a sharp turn, completely reversing it's direction, allowing it to continue the climb higher and higher to the summit and tunnel.

A Water Tank at Sherrod?

I was not aware that there was a water tank at Sherrod, but on the narrow gauge discussion forum it was pointed out that Colorado Rail Annual #31 says:
Sherrod MP 163.8
A wooden tank, 16' x 12', was constructed in 1898. Water was gravity-fed from a spring higher up the mountain.
One person posted this photo of what he surmised to be the base of this tank:

Why wasn't Klondike Kate labeled for the C&S?

I love the DSP&P and have an affinity towards it.  Yet, the Colorado & Southern holds a particular spot in my esteem.  Maybe it's because I most enjoy the twilight era of the road when dirty C&S engines with ridgeway stacks rumbled along on trackage desperately in need of maintenance.

So, when Klondike Kate, the restored locomotive now in use in Como, was lettered this summer, I assumed she would carry classic C&S markings.  I was surprised, then, to see photos of her tender marked "DSP&P" and carrying the number "4."  I was not disappointed, mind you.  An operating locomotive in Como is a sight I never thought to behold in 2018!  Still, I was a little puzzled that the C&S name was passed up.

Photo 2018 Kurt Maechner

Then I happened on a discussion that held the answer for the lettering choice.  Apparently, "Colorado & Southern", as a corporate name is "still owned and registered" thereby taking it out of the running for an official name for the new railway.  The Leadville tourist route, by comparison, got around this by adding the "Leadville" to their Leadville, Colorado & Southern railroad.

The name "Denver, South Park & Pacific," however, is not owned or registered and so was available.  Jerry Huck explains, "When the South Park Rail Society was initially formed, we realized that we would need an operating name for the railroad. As Stewart said, Colorado and Southern was not available in any form however Denver South Park and Pacific was available as the Denver South Park and Pacific Railway company. Which is the registered official name of the new railroad in Como so there is some legitimacy for #4 to carry that lettering."

And, quite honestly, it makes a lot of sense for a locomotive inside South Park itself to carry a name that enshrined the "SP" in the center of its title.

As relates to her number, several others on the forum pointed out that the DSP&P had a few locomotives recorded as #4.  One was the mason bogie named the "Breckenridge."  Another named loco, the "Fairplay," was also numbered 4.

All in all, while I'd love to see "Colorado & Southern" gracing the side of a locomotive tender in Como, I'm still delighted to see the DSP&P rising from the ashes and steaming to work from her stone stable once again.

Riding the C&S grade through Pitkin, Colorado 2018

This is a mixture of photos and video of Pitkin, Colorado from 2018 alongside early 1900's photos.  Pitkin, founded in 1879 was the first mining camp to the west of the Continental Divide.  The Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad tunneled through the Divide in the early 1880s, eventually traveling straight through the center of Pitkin, where extensive railroad facilities existed to feed and service hungry engines after surviving the mountain trek on their way to Gunnison or preparing for their assault on the range on their way to Denver.  Eventually, the DSP&P would become the Colorado & Southern Railway.

The C&S would abandon the tunnel in 1910 leaving Pitkin stranded from rail service.  Trackage from Gunnison in the west to Pitkin would be given to the Denver & Rio Grande who operated the stub line into the 1930s before finally pulling the rails.

Credits:
Photos 1 & 2: H.L. Curtiss Photo - James Ehrenberger Collection
Photo 3: Pitkin Historical and Community Association
Map: C&S 1918 ICC Valuation Map - Colorado Railroad Museum
All the above from: Tom and Denise Klinger's South Park's Gunnison Division Memories & Then Some, 2012

Railroad audio is from: Sounds of Steam Locomotives No. 3: Colorado Narrow Gauge Stack Music. "Three Little Engines and 33 Cars."