Well, John -
It just doesn't make sense to my curmudgeonly brain to ship large quantities of anything over Cerro Summit behind small locomotives on a flimsy railroad which, IIRC, couldn't even support a K-27, and hauling coal – even pretty good coal – to Montrose via Salida, Alamosa, Durango, Mancos and Ridgway doesn't seem cost-effective either. IIRC, the Crested Butte coal was of a fairly high quality – good enough for making steel – so most of it ended up in the furnaces at CF&I in Pueblo (aka 'Pee-eblow' as pronounced locally or 'Pee-yoo-Town' by residents of General Palmer's little village a few miles north). And weren't there mines near Durango producing coal good enough for heating homes in Silverton and Telluride, so why ship the CB coal to Alamosa and then west, even in the early days of the D&RG (no 'W') and RGS?
OTOH, the bagged coal mentioned in the 1962 letter was apparently a very high quality Filter Coal needed badly enough for a process at Shell Oil in Farmington that a request was made to expedite the delayed shipment.
* * * * *
Also, you mention railroad tariffs — about which I know nothing.
If I wanted to ship a tank car of K. B. Hall's
'Old Number 500 Industrial Strength Red Table Wine' or a tank car of 'GRAMP
S Chromo Crude Triple Chocolate Stout (with capsaicin)' from Los Angeles to Chicago would there be a difference in the rate paid for equal quantities of these two delicious commodities? And would it have made any difference back in the 'Olden Days' before all the mergers if it were shipped on the UP via Omaha, the SP via Tucson, or the ATSF via Albuquerque?? What if the UP handed it over to the D&RGW at Salt Lake City, or would it matter which of several railroads completed the shipment that left L.A. on the SP???
- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2023 11:45AM by Russo Loco.
