Stephen,
Glad you mentioned the Overton book. I have a decent library of Narrow Gauge
reference books but very light on Standard Gauge. I have read at least a couple
of Overton books in years past and will go to our local library & see if they
are still available.
It's been a lot of years since I took the "back road" out of Denver down to
Florence. We have a good friend that lives there that we visit occasionally so
next trip down I will do the slow & enjoyable path. There used to be so many
small, neat communities including Elbert. Are they still surviving or gone the
way of a lot of small towns?
My elementry school in Longmont was named Columbine. The railroad ran down the
middle of the street on the East side of town right in front of the school.
Depending on which side of the building my classroom was located I actually got
to see an occasional Locomotive hauling into town. During the sugar beet
campaign the activity increased considerably. The school let us out at lunch to
go to a small park on the other side of the street. Of course there were always
a few beets that had fallen off the cars & naturally you have to put them on
the tracks to see what a muli-ton locomotive will do to them! Normally when we
got out of school & went to check there was very little left that could be
identified as a "Sugar Beet". Usually a strange odor & a heck of a lot of flies!
Well, enough of fond memories for now,
Brian Adams
iginal message --------------
From: "Stephen J. Levine" <sjl@prodigy.net>
There is an excellent book by Richard Overton on the history of the C&S that
is, in my opinion, a must read. Unfortunately my copy is packed away somewhere.
When I was growing up, I went to Ellis Elementary School, which was several
blocks from the C&S spur running just north of Evans Avenue. We would
periodically hear C&S Switchers on the line.
When I went to the Denver Jewish Community Center Ranch camp near Elbert, CO,
counsellors told us of the time when Elbert was twice the size it was at the
time, and that it had a railroad and a railroad station.
Little did I know that both the railroad near Ellis Elementary School and the
line thru Elbert were part of the same railroad, the original Denver and New
Orleans/Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf/Colorado Southern mainline, abandoned at
the turn of the last century when the C&S obtained trackage rights on the Santa
Fe between Denver and Pueblo.
sjl
angusmcadams@comcast.net wrote:
To the C.B.&Q group:
Many thanks to all who responded to my question. The information I received was
way more than I ever hoped for. It always pays to go to the people that really
know.
It appears that I may have been put into the middle of something that had been
ongoing for some time. I just hate to see any railroad related item end up
going to the scrap pile because "no one knew"!
This whole process has created one problem for me. You have now peaked my
curiosity about the history of the C.B.&Q along the front range of Colorado. I
lived in Longmont during the early 50's & 60's and spent some time watching
steam in action around the south end of town by the depot.
I am going to spend some time reading up on the C&S & Burlington to try to
refresh my memories. If I throw an occasional "Dumb" question at the group I
hope you understand.
Thank you all again,
Brian Adams
------------ Original message --------------
From: Bob Webber <rgz17@comcast.net>
A C&S car:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Real-1906-Pullman-Passenger-Coach-Colorado-Southern_W0QQitemZ200133275317QQcmdZViewItem
Though someone gave him wrong information. The original Lot is 3367
plan 2145-A No. 542 - 548 (though it might have been renumbered).
BTW, a mail-passenger car in the same era was recently sold (though
in considerably better condition) :
http://www.railmerchants.net/cs/index.html
At 08:46 AM 7/26/2007, Brian Adams wrote:
>Hello Group,
>
>I joined a few day's ago seeking answers to a couple of questions I
>have. I appologize if this get's a little long..
>
>My name is Brian Adams. I am on the Board of the Denver, South Park &
>Pacific Historical Society in Colorado. A couple of weeks ago we were
>contacted about the availability of a "1906 Pullman Passenger car"
>and a 1950's era steel caboose sitting on Main St. in Lyons,
>Colorado. I was picked to take a look since I only live about 35
>miles away. I contacted the owner & made arrangements to meet the
>following day.
>
>I was given access to the interior of the Passenger Car by the
>present occupant who has been running his business out of the cars.
>(he is a Celtic Artist). I know very little about standard gauge
>passenger cars-Pullman built or otherwise so I will pass on what I
>noted & the limited information I received from the present occupant
>& owner.
>
>-The Colorado RR Museum had informed them that the Passenger Car had
> originally been used as a Diner and later a Visitors Center in
> Winter Park, CO. A sister car is also being used as a commercial
> structure in Nederland, CO.
>-Both cars are sitting on the ground on some type of foundation. All
> of the running gear on the passenger car has been removed. The owner
> said that the trucks & running gear had been setting in a
> residential front yard until a few weeks ago. He had attempted to
> sell them with no takers & finally ended up selling them for scrap!
> I could not confirm this.
>-The Passenger car is wood sheathed with closed vestibules. (appears
> to be approx. 60 ft. in length. The occupant said that several
> layers of various colored paint had been removed. The car had been
> Maintenance Orange when it was moved to this location. The
> vestibules have some kind of steel sheating attached with some type
> of round head nails. This sheathing is painted a Pullman Green.
> The letter board has the number 1906 on both ends with Burlington
> in the center. This lettering appears to have been added after
> stripping.
>-All glass has been replaced...lower side windows clear...upper side
> windows someone's idea of stained glass. Looks like the clerestory
> windows may be clear acrylic.
>-The interior is being used as an office/storage/residence. The
> car is attached at a 90 deg. angle to a hole cut in the side of the
> caboose to allow pass thru. I could find no
> original/seating/appliances, etc. The 2 side rooms on both ends of
> the car are still in place...one lavatory is in use with updated
> fixtures. The opposite end looks like it may have had a small
> cookstove at one time, just a guess.
>-The mahogany side wall paneling is in surprisingly good condition. I
> could not tell the condition of the floor since it was covered with
> rug's, bookcases, etc.
>
>The D.S.&P.H.S. was not interested in acquiring the car/cars since
>this car had little to do with the "South Park" other than possibly
>having the same parent company at one time.
>
>The restoration group headed by Jason Midyet in Boulder, CO had shown
>an interest. Unfortunately the owner is looking at this as an
>investment. He had them appraised by an Eastern Railroad Auction
>house. They said $65,000 for the Passenger Car & $9,500 for the
>Caboose. I told the owner I would pass on this information in case
>someone is interested. I told him I would also try to find some
>additional info. on them if I could.
>
>If there is any interest he said I could pass on his Name & Phone No.
>& could be contacted directly.
>
>Thanks for any help you can pass my way. Sorry about the length of
>this....The moderator will probably get bored about halfway thru &
>toss it in the trash bin!!
>
>Brian Adams
>Director
>Denver, South Park & Pacific Historical Society
>
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
Bob Webber
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:CBQ-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:CBQ-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|