Wade Hall Wrote:
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> The Shavano-named train did not exist, per se,
> until 1937. Nor did the "San Juan." By the way,
> the proper name was the San Juan, not the commonly
> misnamed "San Juan Express."
>
The train numbers remained the same as previously however.
The San Juan was trains 115/116, later changed to 215/216 but not at the same time as the name change, these numbers and the name "Colorado & New Mexico Express" being shared with the std. ga. Denver-Alamosa overnite train.
The Shavano was trains 315/316, previously used for the Salida-Montrose (cut back to Gunnison in Aug. of '36,) and sometimes Ouray, train usually called the "Marshall Pass Route Express" which connected with trains 15/16 Denver-Grand Jct (overnite Den.-Leadville, gradually cut back 1936-40 to Den-Salida, dropped 1941) the "Colorado Express"
And to answer the question about the C-19's being used on 315/316 (not the Shavano, however) from early in the 20th century (the numbers/names above were from about 1905 on) up until 1923 or '24 a class 125, often #459, was used Salida-Sargent where a class 47 was put on for the run to Gunison. West from Gunnison another class 47 would run Gunnison-Ouray (apparently w/o regard to which way the train numbers ran[1]!) Usually this train needed helper(s) on Cerro, pictures show class 60, 70 and 125 all used here.
In 1923 the new class 140 engines arrived, immediately(?) replacing the class 125 engine on the Marshall Pass section and very quickly (within a few months?) displacing the class 47 engines East of Gunnison.
West of Gunnison change seems to have come in late 1930 or early '31, possibly coinciding with the end of the Montrose-Ouray passenger train in September of 1930[2] with the class T-12 engines being taken off and various 2-8-0's beign used, AFAIK without helpers, Gunnison-Montrose. Pictures show classes C-18, C-19 and C-21 engines in this service but the C-19 engines seem to have caught it most often, with frequent use seeming to have been made of 341, 344, 346(before it was leased to C&S) and 347. So this is probably where/when the picture mentioned above comes from.
hank.
[1] West of Montrose 315/316 numbering was sometimes used on the train to Grand Jct, sometimes to Ouray with 319/320 seeming to be the numbers of choice for the other train.
[2] Mixed service on Ouray branch until June of '36
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2016 09:58AM by hank.
