I don't think that a midnight visit will do anything at all.
The Railroad was sold to Durbano, a scrapper by trade. The life of both the Saratoga and Walden lines were doomed when the sale papers were signed. It is like selling your car to the local junk yard and telling them "Yes, I know that you'll take good care of it".
The Walden tried limited Passenger service but the scenery from Laramie to Centennial was blah. The equipment was ex-Santa Fe from the 1937 Super Chief. It was historic but ancient when it was purchased or leased.
The F units were leased and for many years were lettered "Mountain Diesel". These were owned by Mark Hemphill and others who thought a good idea to corner the F-unit market when the class 1's were shedding them like a garter snake does its skin.
When the line was abandoned, I thought it odd that the line in Wyoming was intact right up to the Colorado border, and the rest was scrapped. In reading Mike Rowe's posts lamenting the Colorado DOT, I now know why.
Well guys, it's just one more line that somebody thought that they could do a better job at than the Class I's and they couldn't. Too much Railroad for too little revenue.
The Saratoga Branch (former S&E) is now nothing but a memory as well. I guess that the Wyoming-Colorado Railroad created by Durbano was nothing more than a temporary measure until the price of Steel went up. The branch to Saratoga was relaid in 131 lb. rail just like the Walden line was.
The scrapping of the Saratoga line was somewhat different, though, as old records were purported to show the line being owned by the residents of the Saratoga Valley and only "given" to the UP to operate on their behalf. The line was up for abandonment in the early 20th century, around the 1920's, I believe, and was sold by its owners to Morse Brothers Machinery and Supply of Denver. It was Morse's job to abandon and scrap the line. The citizens of the Saratoga Valley protested and bought the line from Morse Bros. and then trusted their ward to the UP to operate as mentioned before. Unfortunately all these records conveniently disappeared from the Carbon County court house when this discrepancy was seriously brought up by some of the residents of the valley.
So, these lines are just one more "What if" to ponder for potential entrepeneurs. See Jim Burrill's thread about Armchair Quarterbacks...
Rick
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2011 08:28AM by Rick Steele.
