Denver, South Park & Pacific ~ pioneer over the Divide

[Phil Copleston]

THE GHOST OF ENGINE NUMBER 71

Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad #71 was delivered in February 1884 as part of a batch of six locomotives built by The Cooke Locomotive & Machine Works in Paterson, New Jersey. She was of the 2-6-0 'Mogul' wheel arrangement and initially numbered No. 71, being renumbered #113 in 1885. She became Denver, Leadville & Gunnison #113 in 1889, eventually Colorado & Southern #8 in 1899, and finally scrapped in 1939 after 55 years of service.

Latterly she was painted black, but when newly delivered was probably typically finished for her era - with a varnished mahogany cab, dark green or chocolate brown painted tender, domes and cylinders, a light blue-ish 'Russia' iron clad boiler, and finished off with a black painted smokebox, Congdon stack, wheels and frames. A rather elegantly turned out Victorian lady!

The DSP&P (and successor DL&G and C&S) was a fascinating and historic 3 ft (914 mm) gauge narrow gauge railway that operated in Colorado in the western United States, its main line stretching 208 miles (335 km) westward from Denver as far as Gunnison and a little beyond. It opened up the first rail routes to a large section of the central Colorado mining district of the Rocky Mountains in the decades of the mineral boom in the late 19th century. 

In its quest to reach Gunnison, the DSP&P had to build the 1,825-foot (556 m) long Alpine Tunnel under the Continental Divide, which was the highest and most expensive tunnel built up until that time, exceeding an elevation of two miles (3 km) above sea level, with its highest point at 11,523 feet (3,512 m). 

Now this is my kind of railway and industrial archaeology! I have climbed up to the site of Alpine Tunnel on three occasions now, an eerie and remote windy place on the crest of the Continental Divide, atop the Rocky Mountains, that today is still haunted by the ghosts of men who worked this long-abandoned pioneer railroad and of the faintly remembered whistle of engine number 71...

 

[jamie92208]

I quite agree about the South Park Line.   I cycled much of it in 2005 over Kenosha and Boreas passes.   My photo on the left is taken at the summit of Boreas.  It was a fantastic line that unfortunately always arrived just after the Rio Grande.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

When i was in Colorado in 2005 As mentioned above I followed the South park over Kenosha (10,000') and Boreas (11,500') passes. 
After Kenosha pass the track drops down over 100' into jefferson the first town in the South park

Here the old station ahs been turned into a Real estate Office.

At Como the line over Boreas to Breckenridge and Leadville went North and the line to Alpine and Gunnison went straight on.  There was a large deopt here.

When the line was pulled up in 1938 it became a virtual ghost town.  The roundhouse is gradually being restored privately by I believe two enthusiasts.

From Como the road out of town follows the track and is easily driveable (or in my case cyclable)  It climbs steadily at i in 25 but at one point the current road goes over a rocky outcrop.  It is however possible to follow the original trackbed round Rocky point.

The view down the cliff is fairly spectacular.

a couple of miles further on the summit comes in sight.

At the summit the remains of the old covered shed that included a turntable can be seen.

The old bunkhouse has been restored by the Forest Service.

There are also a couple of old boxcars on some track.  I'm standing in front of one in my profile photo.

The track then starts to drop down towards Breckenridge passing Bakers tank on the way

and then goes through one of the old cuttings.

It's quite a spectacular route.

 

Jamie

 

[Phil Copleston]

Thanks Jamie for some great pics and your reminiscences. I sure miss the High Country too. Was last there in 2004 and also travelled via Jefferson, Como and Boreas Pass. Here's my photo of the state of Como depot back then:

 

 

And this is what it looked like, partially restored, in February 2011:

 

 

The boarded windows are only temporary, of course. Lots more work to do. The owners, who also run the historic railroad-era hotel next door, are making steady progress with long-term restoration of this depot, and are going to great pains (and expense) to get it's restoration right. They are currently awaiting bids from contractors to finish the work. When complete it should be a fine example of how to restore an historic structure almost from the brink of collapse!   

 

And this is how the depot looked with trains sometime after 1910 (from the other end):

 

[jamie92208]

Than ks for those photos Phil.

 

I went to that area first in 1995 with the family and after going from Durango over to Ouray we went over Cimmaron  pass to Gunnisson.  En route we stoipped at the restored stock loading yard at the bottom of cimmaron that the National park have done.  I bought a book about the South Park there and that's what got me interested in the South Park.   I saw quite a bit of it on my bike ride in 2005 getting near the tracks at Baileys then follwoing them up Kenosha and across the South park and Boreas.  I stayed in the hotel at Como which was privately  owned at the time then went over Boreas.   I nearly went up to Leadville the follwoing day as I was heading for Minturn but chickened out as my legs felt tired and went over Vail instead.  3 10'000 footers in 3 days.  A real male menopause thing to do before I got too old.

 

Even though I model Midland railway 1923 i still have a hankering for the high country and have vague plans to build a Colorado Midland pullman in 7mm and run it on my new Lancaster green Ayre layout to confuse the rivet counters.  I even saw Midland Avenue in Glenwood Springs.

 

Jamie

[pH]

3 10,000 footers in 3 days.

Respect, sir! I'm reasonably fit, but I did a bit of hiking at 10,000 feet recently and found it really tough.

[jamie92208]

Respect, sir! I'm reasonably fit, but I did a bit of hiking at 10,000 feet recently and found it really tough.

Thanks for that.  It's a long story but was well worth it.  I had to spend nealry 2 weeks at lower altitudes (5 to 8000') acclimatising, so started at Denver then went up to Cheyenne, over Sherman to laramie then back down to Golden via Fort Collins and Boulder before heading in to the mountains proper.  Those roads just happenned to be by a lot of railway lines.  After Vail i followed the DRGW down to Glenwood Springs then took the train back to Denver before having 3 days in Chicago riding around on Metra.  It was a good way to celebrate getting to 55.   All in all it went well and put a lot of things into persepctive as well as giving me a new view of some fabulous countryside.   Going over Sherman on dirt roads made me understand for the first time why that particuar route was chosen. That day also saw me meet a ranchers wife with a  rifle who didn't like trespassers.

 

Jamie