Alpine is routinely mixed up with Alpine Tunnel by people. Alpine was an early terminus of the line in Chalk Canyon in 1881/82 and very busy as that line was also being shared with the D&RG as part of the joint operation agreement. A turntable would have made sense as they had to back down to the nearest turning facility. Apparently they felt not having one was okay. Yes, it was renamed Fisher eventually. I'm not certain it was to avoid confusion or not. The railroad called the place at 11000' Alpine Tunnel, not Alpine.
Romley wasn't technically the end of the line when the tunnel was abandoned as the line continued to rely on the wye at Hancock to turn the engines from 1910-1915. The Flora Bell, Alie Bell and Comstock mines all had spurs for ore and coal between Romley and Hancock and operated sporadically over the years after the tunnel closed. Romley got the Gunnison turntable in 1915 because running to Hancock was onerous in bad weather being steep, prone to icing badly and subject to snow slides. The turntable was installed on the site of the first station at Romley, which had burned down, just beyond where the second/third station was located. It was an semi-open pit on the steep hillside. Photos of it are in various books and Sam Speas had the misfortune of his engine tipping off and rolling down the hill on one turn in the early 20s.
The Mary Murphy mine at Romley was THE major revenue generator in the area and the major reason the line from Buena Vista stayed open after 1910. The Murphy operated from 1881 on-and-off throughout the line's existence and in addition to shipping a LOT of ore out, consumed coal from the Baldwin mines.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2020 10:42AM by degg13.
