Re: Expedition for fall colors and out of the way branchlines....Part II
| October 02, 2009 10:01PM |
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The next day we were off to Gunnison to make a circle tour of the Baldwin Branch, Ohio Pass and Crested Butte.
The Baldwin Branch north of Gunnison is largely through meadows which leave little evidence of it's existance. A few miles south of Castleton, we found this nice stock pen alongside the grade. I'm guessing the location is "Dollard"....
At Castleton, the branch split in two directions - Baldwin and Kubler. The Kubler Mine branch was taken up during WW2 and other than some coal piles, little remains here...
Back tracking to Castleton, we headed up to Baldwin, where a few ruins remain. This is looking north at the tipple location.....
Tipple foundation with some abandoned miner's cabins on the hill. All this is private property and according to the map on the fancy gate here, it is about to be subdivided....
The Baldwin Branch was built by the Denver, South Park & Pacific with the intent of continuing up the valley, over Ohio Pass and on toward Grand Junction. This plan was abandoned and the small bit of trackage north of Baldwin was torn up. There remains sections of unfinished grade on the south side of the pass. Most impressive is this unfinished rock retaining wall. If it had been completed, it would have rivaled the Palisades on Alpine Pass....
Once over Ohio and Floresta Passes, we dropped down into Crested Butte on the grade of the Floresta Branch. Crested Butte is giving Telluride a run for it's money in the over-development game. The Crested Butte Depot used to sit all alone on the east side of town. I drove past it twice before I found it tucked in between two houses. It houses the Crested Butte Library today......
The Crested Butte Branch originally continued north another 4-5 miles to Anthracite. The grade is very indistinct until close to Anthracite, the the grade appears alongside Slate Creek...
This trestle across Slate creek is partially restored/replicated for a hiking trail. The pilings appear to be original as do the stringers under the deck, the abutments, deck and outer stringers are new....
The Smith Hill mine at Anthracite was the end of track. Again little remains here other than the scar on the mountainside, some scrap steel,
and lots of shiny hard coal....
The Baldwin Branch north of Gunnison is largely through meadows which leave little evidence of it's existance. A few miles south of Castleton, we found this nice stock pen alongside the grade. I'm guessing the location is "Dollard"....
At Castleton, the branch split in two directions - Baldwin and Kubler. The Kubler Mine branch was taken up during WW2 and other than some coal piles, little remains here...
Back tracking to Castleton, we headed up to Baldwin, where a few ruins remain. This is looking north at the tipple location.....
Tipple foundation with some abandoned miner's cabins on the hill. All this is private property and according to the map on the fancy gate here, it is about to be subdivided....
The Baldwin Branch was built by the Denver, South Park & Pacific with the intent of continuing up the valley, over Ohio Pass and on toward Grand Junction. This plan was abandoned and the small bit of trackage north of Baldwin was torn up. There remains sections of unfinished grade on the south side of the pass. Most impressive is this unfinished rock retaining wall. If it had been completed, it would have rivaled the Palisades on Alpine Pass....
Once over Ohio and Floresta Passes, we dropped down into Crested Butte on the grade of the Floresta Branch. Crested Butte is giving Telluride a run for it's money in the over-development game. The Crested Butte Depot used to sit all alone on the east side of town. I drove past it twice before I found it tucked in between two houses. It houses the Crested Butte Library today......
The Crested Butte Branch originally continued north another 4-5 miles to Anthracite. The grade is very indistinct until close to Anthracite, the the grade appears alongside Slate Creek...
This trestle across Slate creek is partially restored/replicated for a hiking trail. The pilings appear to be original as do the stringers under the deck, the abutments, deck and outer stringers are new....
The Smith Hill mine at Anthracite was the end of track. Again little remains here other than the scar on the mountainside, some scrap steel,
and lots of shiny hard coal....
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.