Re: Cumbres Pass before the road was paved.
| March 29, 2020 03:59PM |
|
Mark Petersen Wrote:
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> It must have been a very lonely place to live and
> work when the D&RGW was operating. I don't
> imagine the highway was kept open then as it is
> today either.
It wasn't a highway back then, Mark -
Just a narrow dirt road. You can still see traces in places, especially right below the S-curves above the second crossing. There are also short stretches of it still in existence — behind the snowshed and under the trestle at Cumbres, and uphill from the track above the pond near m.p. 326.
The new paved highway was under construction when the last D&RGW trains ran in 1968. If you look closely there are stakes marking the route in this August, 1968 photo, and a bulldozer working in the background:
Construction was still underway in The Narrows, and had seriously damaged the track, when the Volunteers started resuscitating the railroad during the summer of 1970:
Photo copyright 1970, 2005 by Ernest W. Robart - All Rights Reserved.
- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2020 04:01PM by Russo Loco.
-------------------------------------------------------
> It must have been a very lonely place to live and
> work when the D&RGW was operating. I don't
> imagine the highway was kept open then as it is
> today either.
It wasn't a highway back then, Mark -
Just a narrow dirt road. You can still see traces in places, especially right below the S-curves above the second crossing. There are also short stretches of it still in existence — behind the snowshed and under the trestle at Cumbres, and uphill from the track above the pond near m.p. 326.
The new paved highway was under construction when the last D&RGW trains ran in 1968. If you look closely there are stakes marking the route in this August, 1968 photo, and a bulldozer working in the background:
Construction was still underway in The Narrows, and had seriously damaged the track, when the Volunteers started resuscitating the railroad during the summer of 1970:
Photo copyright 1970, 2005 by Ernest W. Robart - All Rights Reserved.
- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2020 04:01PM by Russo Loco.
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
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