Re: Semi-Recent (2008) photos of the DSP&P roadbed beneath The Palisades

Dave Peterson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> . . .  I'm trying to find recent photos of the DSP&P
> {roadbed beneath}* the Palisades taken at or very
> near the location of this historic photo:
> DSP&P Palisdades DPL Collection
>
> . . . as well as a photo take near the same loca-
> tion as this historic Alpine Tunnel location:
> DSP&P Alpine Tunnel DPL Collection
>
> If anyone has something taken in the last ten
> years or so, please shoot me a PM.
>
> Thanks in advance!


Here are a few more for you to check out, Dave -

These weren't among those I posted a few years ago at [ngdiscussion.net].  I'm posting them here since they can't be attached to a private message.

This first one doesn't match the DPL photo at all, since it was taken from the opposite direction:


Here's one looking downgrade, but from much farther away.  Remains of the South Park & Alpine Toll Road are clearly visible below the DSP&P roadbed:


. . . and a cropped version of the same photo that's at least a little closer to the DPL shot:


The closest I took that day to your second DPL photo is this one as I approached the West Portal along the DSP&P roadbed:


And finally here's a fairly close view of what was left of the tunnel entrance, hurriedly taken just a few minutes before it started to snow:


- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender

*  Technically, 'The Palisades' is NOT the rock wall built to support the DSP&P roadbed, it is the gigantic natural rock wall, similar to Half Dome in Yosemite, that towers above the roadbed.  It was so named many years before the railroad was constructed, even before the wagon road over Williams Pass that can be seen in the second and third photos above was established over Alpine Pass.   From page 218 of the Memorial Edition of 'Denver, South Park & Pacific' by M. C. Poor - Rocky Mountain RR Club, 1974 (emphasis added):

" . . . the right of way then approached that formidable and almost impassable granite barrier, the Palisades.  This famous rock formation . . . is a smooth, almost perpendicular wall of solid granite, . . . {which} rises upward for hundreds of feet . . .   It was decided to construct a large rock wall or crib . . . across the face of the Palisades . . . "

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2021 12:40PM by Russo Loco.