12-22-2008, 02:48 PM
Colorado had many, many well known railroads...
You can probably name many of these:
DSP&P, CC, FT&D, DL&G, UPD&G, Midland Terminal, CS&CC, F&CC, D&RG/D&RGW,D&SL, Colorado Midland, Uintah, DB&W, Argentine Central, Gilpin Gold Tram, CB&Q, DP, MP, and so many more...
Possibly the least well known (that was completed) was the Colorado Eastern. This 3' gauge road existed from the mid-1880s until a little before WW1...and survived on paper until WW2. It essentially went from nowhere to nowhere...with no freight or passengers (or even stations). The road was built to haul coal from a mine on the plains east of Denver. It turned out that the coal was such low quality that it couldn't burn without adding straw to it...so needless to say, that business died in a hurry. For various reasons, mostly relating to the value of the right-of-way into Denver, it operated daily trains for 25yrs+ with no business. Aside from an unknown leased engine early on, the only power was ex-D&RG #6...the Ute. The Ute was built in 1871 as one of the first D&RG locomotives...a 2-4-0 that weighed all of 12.5 tons. In the end, the last passenger car probably was rebuilt from a tiny D&RG bobber...as it looked like that.
I know of one book about the road...from Pruett Publishing...1982.
I've seen far more photos of #6 on the CE than of all the other the early Rio Grande power combined...since it lasted 20yrs beyond them.
A great series of photos were made in 1901 of the Ute alongside a new, standard gauge D&RG 2-8-0. The best is a 3/4 view...where the Ute looks like a 15" gauge amusement park engine beside the 2-8-0.
You can probably name many of these:
DSP&P, CC, FT&D, DL&G, UPD&G, Midland Terminal, CS&CC, F&CC, D&RG/D&RGW,D&SL, Colorado Midland, Uintah, DB&W, Argentine Central, Gilpin Gold Tram, CB&Q, DP, MP, and so many more...
Possibly the least well known (that was completed) was the Colorado Eastern. This 3' gauge road existed from the mid-1880s until a little before WW1...and survived on paper until WW2. It essentially went from nowhere to nowhere...with no freight or passengers (or even stations). The road was built to haul coal from a mine on the plains east of Denver. It turned out that the coal was such low quality that it couldn't burn without adding straw to it...so needless to say, that business died in a hurry. For various reasons, mostly relating to the value of the right-of-way into Denver, it operated daily trains for 25yrs+ with no business. Aside from an unknown leased engine early on, the only power was ex-D&RG #6...the Ute. The Ute was built in 1871 as one of the first D&RG locomotives...a 2-4-0 that weighed all of 12.5 tons. In the end, the last passenger car probably was rebuilt from a tiny D&RG bobber...as it looked like that.
I know of one book about the road...from Pruett Publishing...1982.
I've seen far more photos of #6 on the CE than of all the other the early Rio Grande power combined...since it lasted 20yrs beyond them.
A great series of photos were made in 1901 of the Ute alongside a new, standard gauge D&RG 2-8-0. The best is a 3/4 view...where the Ute looks like a 15" gauge amusement park engine beside the 2-8-0.
Michael
My primary goal is a large Oahu Railway layout in On3
My secondary interests are modeling the Denver, South Park, & Pacific in On3 and NKP in HO
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My primary goal is a large Oahu Railway layout in On3
My secondary interests are modeling the Denver, South Park, & Pacific in On3 and NKP in HO
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://thesouthparkline.blogspot.com/">http://thesouthparkline.blogspot.com/</a><!-- m -->