First, there are very very few timetables in existance. I don't think many survived. I see references to an 1897 timetable and someone referred to an 1883 timetable that is not the reprint in the 1959 Pictorial Supplement. Finding anything definitive is going to be near impossible given the tiny amount of documentation that has survived. The mother lode could be the papers at CO State Historical and at the CRM. UP Boston archives, too. I'm not going while Covid is active.
I looked at Poor and his comment about the 1897 timetable is the data hadn't changed from an earlier document. Not a statement of what was shown, just that there wasn't a change. To me that is interesting but inconclusive. Nothing personal, Mac, but I've learned to find the actual item!
Second, that lawsuit of 1897 is pretty clear reference before 1905. It's transcribed in V1 of Daniel Edward's incredible documentary book on the South Park. The 1893 inventory is pretty clear reference before 1905. And there is also a listing of a turntable there in 1898 in one of Dan Edward's books that is pretty clear as a reference point. Cliff Mestel also had tax and other data from his research for 1890-94 that was published in the Bogies and the Loop. A timetable would be nice to strengthen an already fairly conclusive conclusion.
I'm not sure what resources you have available. If you don't have Klinger's Gunnison Memories or Edwards' two volumes in the Documentary series, you're missing out on a lot of data and images. All three books have been published within the past 10-12 years. Colorado Historic Newspapers has provided me with several dozens of articles on the line and especially closures.
I've done a lot of work over the past month digging through a lot of information and sources, documenting and diagraming the data and mapping out things on the line between St Elmo and Baldwin. Research and data is very different since I last looked at this in 1989. I bought Edwards' and Klingers' books, and Ferrell's (more valuable for pictures), and have pored over them in addition to all my other books and a lot of online information. A notebook is overflowing with notes, maps and ideas as this effort has evolved. Slowly I've been moving to these scenarios: 1) the turnable was installed in 1882, 2) the turntable was installed in 1890, 3) the turntable was installed ca 1892, 4) the turntable was installed in 1895. I have no doubts it was inside the engine shed--the question remains "when?" I have gut feelings that 1895 is the likeliest time given what else was going on at that time on the line--and reading the newspapers has been helpful in understanding the overlaying social and business activity that drove the South Park and UP to some interesting changes in 1885, 1890 and 1895. 1890 stands out as very plausible except for Cliff Mestel's notes in Bogies and the Loop that indicate there wasn't a turntable there in the early 1890s. The mood of the companies in 1882, 1890 and 1895 was most favorable for the turntable's installation. I have little hope we'll get the full answer but the fact that it's closing down to a 5-7 year timeframe is making me very happy.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2020 07:23PM by degg13.
