Re: Cumbres Pass before the road was paved.

Russo Loco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mark Petersen Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 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:
> [attachment 62901 680828b19.jpg]
>
> 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:
> [attachment 62902 700627-04.jpg]
> Photo copyright 1970, 2005 by Ernest
> W. Robart - All Rights Reserved.

WOW!!! those are interesting photos = thanks