Hi Ralph,
The reason that I have faith in the Receivers inventory is because the information that I transcribed is from the hand written original.
I got a copy of it from Jim Eherenberger when he copied it from the original files in Omaha. I am afraid that in your hurry to justify your point you forgot to ask the question. "Why would a turntable be included at Alpine Tunnel when the Employee Timetable said that there wasn't one?". Remember this was an inventory of what was there, not what was used and unused.
You don't just make up something so easily identifiable. As I have stated elsewhere, The turntable may not have been in service at that time and used merely as a run-through track. I feel it was definitely there and not something that some law clerk contrived out of whole cloth.
The second turntable (St. Elmo) could have come from anywhere It shows as being installed before the January 1, 1886. Remember, the DSP&P/DL&G was part of the Union Pacific System. The UP was busy replacing turntables as their power grew to more than 50'. These things were considered obsolete for the standard gauge, and if they could find a practical re-use somewhere else, then they saved all of that money on a new one. Perhaps it came from the old DSP&P Roundhouse (most likely) in Denver when all of the maintenance and repair was transferred to Pullman (Station) in Denver or one of the three other UP roundhouses in Denver, who knows? I have also read that the 50' turntable from Alpine Tunnel (after abandonment) was moved to Georgetown for use as a bridge.
The problem with the extra braking power argument is that after the advent of the Westinghouse Air Brake and the use of retainers, the argument is moot. In the early vacuum brake or hand brake days I would agree with you. Not after the Westinghouse (or in the C&S's case New York) air brake system. As a retired locomotive engineer, I am not buying that one.
So what I am saying is that I believe that there was physically a turntable there, whether it was in use or not. From the excavated pit to the lawsuit for falling into it to the Receiver's Inventory, I am pro-turntable.
Rick