Re: the San Miguel Southern (and the DTL&T*)

Casey Akin Wrote:
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> I believe, maybe a decade ago, the coal bin was
> restored.  Possibly even before trout lake trestle.
> Who knows, in another 50 years we can have a
> train from Ophir to Lizard Head, with a lunch stop
> at Vance!!!
>
> I'm just sayin, 2051 will be 100 years since a
> train ran those rails . . .  We can do it!!!  

hank Wrote:
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> Uhm . . .  Vance is North (East on later time -
> tables) of Ophir, Lizard Head is South (or West,
> later on), so I'm having trouble visualizing this.

Casey Akin Wrote:
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> Forgive me, I was looking at the map way too long,
> and got my cities backwards....
>
> Round trip, Start at Lizard Head and head north
> (East), traveling around Trout Lake, through Ophir,
> and ending at Vance. Stop for lunch, and return.
>
> We only have to relocate one highway for less
> than 1/4 mile, and rebuild a "couple" of "small"
> bridges . . . .
>
> I think it could be done in the next 35 years!!
>
> Also, maybe the CRRM could loan the 20 out,
> and if enough money was donated to the DRHS
> and the D&S, we could also have 42.  Should
> I start a Go-Fund-Me account for about a billion?


You put in the first billion, Casey – and I'll match it two-fer-one!!

Actually, your Idear ain't as fur-fetched as you might think — even if you are a-startin' south & workin' north 'stead o' the other way 'round.

IIRC, they was a Wild-Eyed Foamer from California what moved to To-Hell-You-Ride 'bout 45 years ago who suggested re-buildin' the RGS from downtown out to the Junction at 145 an' usin' Goose #4 (along with a two- or three-car train, tba) to haul flatland touristers 'n' skiers from an out-of-town parking lot there to keep traffic down to a reasonable roar inside the City Limits, with an eventual extension down to Vance Junction and then on up across Ames Trestle, Butterfly Trestle, the Ophir Loop trestles, through Matterhorn and on up to the wye at Lizard Head.  This thought – or at least the first few miles of it – got enough attention from the citizens of San Miguel County (99 & 44/100% of whom lived in To-Hell-You-Ride) that Bob Keller & Fritz Bauer an' maybe a third feller (Gary Getman?) come up to town one evenin' an gave a talk there about the long-term possibilities of the San Miguel Southern. (IIRC, they din't mention that Wild Eyed Foamer's idear of eventually runnin' a railroad off the tail end of the wye at Rockwood, up along the side o' the hill past Electra Lake an' the Purgatory ski area, an' on up Cascade Creek to just below the big waterfall on a big curved trestle, and then on up one o' them flat outcrops up toward Sliderock Ridge an' thru a curved tunnel and then back on down to the tail o' the wye at Lizard Head.*)   And just a year or two later after Scenic Railways' visit a feller named John Tutt from Colyroddy Springs talked his fambly into donatin' the Cheyenne Mountain zoo train and a mile or so of track to Telly-ride when the zoo train was shut down.  So it weren't entirely far-fetched.

- Sincerely, Willie  (Wm. Claude Johnson-Barr III, Esq.)  
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* The connection from the D&RGW at Rockwood to the San Miguel Southern at Lizard Head (via a new ski area at the top of Sliderock Ridge) was to be known as the 'Durango, Trout Lake & Telluride' . . .