A little beyond Como on the line to Buena Vista
| September 19, 2020 08:57AM |
Made it to Como last night for today's workday, i woke up at 0 dark 30 this morning (thank you time zones!) and figured I would use the time to look at some of the original main line grade west of Como. (Originally the main line to Buena Vista & Gunnison, ended its life as the Alma branch.)
A few miles west of Como, the grade crosses US 285, and a fair bit of it is visible looking north from the highway.
Looking north from US 285 at the grade winding its way back to Como. 9-9-2020
Just north of the highway is the site of a long gone trestle. This shot was taken standing on the south end of the trestle looking north. 9-19-20
Looking south from 285, the grade stretches into the distance as it begins its trip around Red Hill Pass, to Garos and finally to Trout Creek Pass. The grade runs into a county road a few hundred yards from where this photo was taken and the road is the essentially on the grade for the next mile or so.
Like the railroad grade, the side of US 285 is littered with the relics of cars that made a perhaps less than successful journey over the line. A century from now will some enthusiast tracking the ghost highways of Colorado find this broken headlight as interesting as we now find a broken brake shoe or a mangled link from a link and pin coupler?
More in part II
Jason Midyette
A few miles west of Como, the grade crosses US 285, and a fair bit of it is visible looking north from the highway.
Looking north from US 285 at the grade winding its way back to Como. 9-9-2020
Just north of the highway is the site of a long gone trestle. This shot was taken standing on the south end of the trestle looking north. 9-19-20
Looking south from 285, the grade stretches into the distance as it begins its trip around Red Hill Pass, to Garos and finally to Trout Creek Pass. The grade runs into a county road a few hundred yards from where this photo was taken and the road is the essentially on the grade for the next mile or so.
Like the railroad grade, the side of US 285 is littered with the relics of cars that made a perhaps less than successful journey over the line. A century from now will some enthusiast tracking the ghost highways of Colorado find this broken headlight as interesting as we now find a broken brake shoe or a mangled link from a link and pin coupler?
More in part II
Jason Midyette
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
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