Como boxcar swap, June 26, 2017

About 110 years ago, someone at the Colorado & Southern got the bright idea to try and operate some of the railroad's then nice an new 13000 series standard gauge boxcars on the narrow gauge South Park Line. The experiment ended when the cars, loaded with lumber, derailed and fell into the South Platte River. The C&S's narrow gauge wrecking crew then got the pleasure of cleaning up the mess (photos of the clean up are the only presently known record of the attempt).

Now, over a century later, the South Park Rail Society is pleased to announce that , with some help from the DSP&PHS and Stever Disher Trucking, it has succeeded where the C&S failed; on Monday June 26, 2017, C&S 13121 successfully traveled from Denver (well Boulder) to Como, without falling into the South Platte and turning into splinters.

C&S 13121 was placed on the ground south of the depot, at the location where the C&S had three boxcar bodies that served as bunkhouses. #13121 will continue its 80 year career as a storage shed and serve to represent the cars that once sat in Como.

The same truck and crane were then used by the DSP&PHS to mover Denver, South Park & Pacific boxcar 608 to Canon City for restoration.

Today was a busy day in Como, track being built, boxcars coming and going, work starting on the turntable pit repairs and a water system being installed at the roundhouse. The yards almost looked like a parking lot!

Jason Midyette


C&S 13121 arrives in Como


C&S 13121 in its new home


DSP&P 608 flies through the air as it begins its journey to Canon City. The car will return to Como when the restoration is complete.