We obviously aren't going to agree and I see no reason to annoy everybody else with endless flames so, last attempt (from me).
1) I don't think we're actually that far apart on the UP/DSP&P thing. We both seem to agree Omaha was incompetent in the late 19th century and that the UP of that era was staggering under a burden imposed by the government. Please note that I didn't say the South Park was the *only* subsidiary plundered to keep the main stem going, only that it was plundered. Also I would say it was not so much oversight" as the 1870's decision by the Congress of the mid-70's that the grants given to UP & CP in the construction era were actually loans and had to be repaid. Cp managed it, mostly because it had spawned SP which paid the bills. UP didn't and sank steadily right thru the 80's until the Silver Panic killed it. As to finishing the Alpine route (if you can call it finished) I'd put that down to momentum. I really, really can't see why they didn't go on to at least reach the coal fields on the North Fork and, if they had done that, building on to Junction once D&RGW Ry went off on it's own (1885-6) would have been a slam dunk. But, as you say What Ifs. Oh and UP had to build the Leadville line, they could hardly continue to get paid by D&RG (extorion? some reports have it at nearly $1 million/year) for not using their line to compete if they didn't have a line!
2) As to CM, you're talking about the 2nd decade of the 20th century and I'm talking about the last of the 19th. D&RG lacked tie plates and other such refinements in the 1890's also. I expect if it had NOT wound up in control of RGW and CM had been more fully enfolded (an RGW-C&S merger perhaps?) CM would have been the one upgraded. As to the grades, the CM was worse, but not by that much. The infamous 4% could have been relocated just like RGW's on the west side of Soldier Summit was in 1913. A 2% grade max in both directions up to Divide would not have been impossible to create, given enough traffic to justify borrowing the $$$. I agree though that, by the time Carlton came on the scene, the CM was *way* down on the Grande and would have needed an incredible push to survive. The difference between doing things gradually ("We'll improve the line from Colorado City to Cascade this year and get to the Woodland park-Divide segment in a couple more") and trying to play catch up all at once. Heck, the Grande may have been ahead of the CM but it was so far behind everybody else that it had to take on a huge debt load to catch (most of the way) up in the 20's - just in time for the Depression (oops!)
Seriously, I think the difference we're having here is mostly a matter of emphasis and/or which point in time we're talking about.
hank
