Re: Blue River Branch

Yes, Jerry, I am quite aware of the "arrangement" but the lease of the Gunnison side of the C&S wasn't signed with the D&RG until July 15, 1911, (I have a copy of the lease) a year after the Tunnel was closed. The trackage leased was Quartz to Baldwin.
Lease or not, abandonment was not applied for nor granted until 1921, although considerable trackage rearrangement took place where the C&S and D&RG met on the Blue River to allow the C&S access to the former D&RG customers. What I was pointing out was that although the line was abandoned in place, the customers were not totally abandoned by the carriers. Although in reading in some of the local papers, service by the C&S Narrow Gauge was the next best thing to abandonment, especially after Frank Trumbull was forced out and the CB&Q took over.
These tracks were still owned by the respective railroads when the 1916 Valuation was done, and the plat maps say quite Clearly "Colorado & Southern Railway" and "Operated By Denver & Rio Grande Railroad" in the same title boxes. By the time of the Valuation (a mere 6 years after the tunnel closure), the Trackage from Parlin to Gunnison was inoperable and the line from Garos (Actually Hay Ranch) to Schwanders was abandoned in place.
Rick