Close, Michael, close.
The Line from Hancock to Quartz was only opened seasonally any way.
There was no need to obtain permission to abandon any line from the ICC back then, even though it did exist. The line was abandoned in place from Hancock to Quartz and was never operated upon again.
There were even original rails and ties left in the 40's and 50's, see the earlier story about Bob Richardson and the Switch Stand. I know that this tale is true because I've seen the Switch Stand and I know a couple of the guys who retrieved it.
The operation swap really came after the abandonment of Trout Creek Pass in 1912. About half of the Trout Creek Pass line was washed out during a flood. The valuation maps, coupled with some of the Maintenance of Way notes actually tell the story.
Remember, this was after the CB&Q takeover of the C&S. Frank Trumbull was by then President of the C&O and his interest in the Mines at Baldwin had since been sold or accomidated for by the D&RGW. The CB&Q management was well renowned for their distaste for 3' gauge and the trackage of their 3' gauge subsidiary was no exception. The line began being dismembered only after two years after Trumbull left the scene. According to sources at the scene, the initial rockfall that prompted abandonment was no more severe than what was suffered yearly by the Maintenance Of Way crews assigned to keep the tunnel in shape for operation. The Q just knew how to use it as the first domino to fall in the C&S's 3' gauge line.
Remember, it was also the Q management that stopped operation on Boreas Pass in the 1920's without authorization and it took a major lawsuit by the mines and mills in the Breckenridge area to obtain an order to make the railroad reopen the line. Even when the courts issued the order, the railroad ignored the court order. It wasn't until the Colorado Legislature began serious talk about revoking the C&S's charter that the line began running again. Even then, it was gone by 1939.
The trackage "Swap" occurred during the reorganization of the D&RG into the D&RGW. According to the ICC records, none of the Blue River Branch, ostensibly given to the C&S, was included in the D&RG reorganization. The C&S served the mines that were on the D&RG in the Blue River area but the "Main Line" of the D&RG was abandoned. But this trackage rights swap was actually formalized by a document which is included in the ICC examiners field notes. It must be noted that in 1918 the C&S trackage was still owned by the C&S but operated by the D&RG from Quartz to Baldwin.
The C&S line operated by the D&RGW from Parlins to Quartz was abandoned in the 1920's, if I remember correctly. By 1918 the line from Parlins to Gunnison was nothing but a right of way with a few sticks of rail still on it. The Field notes note long stretches with only one rail left on the roadbed. Could this have been due to D&RGW section men needing repair rail for the line to Quartz? It's very likely, as MOW men seem to be some gold-star winning scroungers. The C&S still had a lot of the old DSP&P rail in place when the line was turned over to the D&RGW. A photo in Helmers Alpine Tunnel book shows the roadbed abandoned in place on the west side of the tunnel.
Just a quick caveat about your turntable statement. The records that I have show the turntable outside the tunnel being moved to a different location. If it wasn't there in the first place, how could it be moved? I'll post more on it later when I get to the files.
The C&S line from Gunnison to Baldwin lasted to the end of D&RGW Operations in the Gunnison Valley in around 1955.
Rick Steele
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2009 05:42PM by Rick Steele.
