Jason,
I wish to rebut that statement. First off, I found the original donation documents at the University of Denver while a student there in 1972. They were in a summary of Property owned by the University of Denver, this being through the Central City Opera House Association, at the Penrose Library and precisely spelled out that the ownership was to be 1/3 City, 1/3 Central City Opera House Association (a branch of DU) and 1/3 C&S Railway. The "Display Train" and the attendant Section House and Ticket Office were sold off by DU subsequent to this time. If there was any donation in lieu of back taxes, it was not in the University documents. Besides, Central City is the County Seat of Gilpin County, Colorado. Any payments to Teller County would have gone to Cripple Creek, where the C&S had not one stick of rail.
When I was working in Central City in 1969-1974, the attempt was made to get permission to operate the 71 and attendant equipment early on around 1970. The C&S was still a corporate entity and they told the people operating in Central City that they would scrap the 71 before they let it run again. Their attorneys had advised them of Boiler Taxes that could conceivably go back almost 30 years, and they were not about to pay them.
When the 71 was operated in 1984 by the second modern incarnation of the Railway, the C&S had ceased to exist, Louis Menk was in charge (Remember CB&Q 5632?) and the corporation was the BN. The BN had a different philosophy than the C&S.
The locomotive that was given to a county in lieu of back taxes was C&S 60 and that county was Clear Creek County.
The C&S held on to their control of 71 until they ceased to exist as a corporate entity. From 1978 on, I was busy working for an entirely different railroad. The C&S as a corporation was merged into the Burlington Northern in 1981
Rick
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2019 04:06PM by Rick Steele.
