RW Lehman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was born and raised in Gunnison from 1935 to
> 1954 on a cattle and sheep ranch located just 3
> miles north of town on the Baldwin branch. The
> double steel through truss bridge over the
> Gunnison River and the single through truss bridge
> over the Ohio Creek were located on our ranch
> property. They still exist as a private access
> road today. Our ranch dates back to the 1880's
> when the area was first settled but has now been
> all cleared away with several new structures being
> built. I spent many days walking over those
> bridges and also fishing from then as well and
> watching the Baldwin train pass through the area
> many times hauling coal and livestock
> When I grew up all rail activities on the Third
> Division were still in place and in operation. My
> late grandfather, CL Braswell, was an engineer
> working out of Gunnison on the Crested Butte and
> Baldwin Branches and the mainline down through
> Sapinero and the Black Canyon to Cimarron and over
> Cero Summit to Montrose. I rode the last Rocky
> Mountain Railroad Club Special to Cimarron in May
> 1949 as well as the Shavano passenger train over
> Marshall Pass to Salida and on to Denver in the
> late 30's as a small boy. We even shipped our
> sheep to market on the famous stock extras out of
> Gunnison.
> My grandfather ran the Rio Grande 268, 261, 278
> and a number of the K Class engines including the
> OO rotary to Crested Butte and Floresta. The 278
> was recently restored and placed on display at
> Cimarron on the steel deck bridge just below the
> Marrow Point Dam over the Cimarron River. As a
> small boy I use to go with my granddad down to the
> roundhouse where I use to play around all of the
> facilities.
> The Baldwin Branch also ran through my uncle’s
> sheep ranch located further up Ohio Creek at the
> confluence of Mill Creek where my dad was born on
> a ranch that I fraternal grandfather homesteaded
> in the 1880's. I also had many relatives from
> Crested Butte that were involved with the various
> coal mines and where my grandmother was born in
> 1893.
> It is too bad that none of the rail lines or
> facilities do not still exist as this could have
> all been a great attraction such as the Toltec and
> the Silverton are today.
Richard
Nice to see you posting here, appreciate you sharing your memories from that time!
Thanks
William
aka drgwk37