After Hours in Central City, Redux

[John Schapekahm]

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[John Schapekahm]

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[Mike Trent]

Great photo.

Is the track on the far side 2' gauge? I need a little memory refresh. Is this the structure that was buried under tailings?

Interesting detail of the rain gutter set below the edge of the roof.

Thanks for posting this. From DPL?

[Tim Schreiner]

There was never nt 2' gauge track at the depot, and yes this is the depot that is buried under the tailing.

[John Schapekahm]

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[John Schapekahm]

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[John Schapekahm]

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[John Schapekahm]

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[John Schapekahm]

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[Derrell Poole]

Great stuff, John. Thanks.

[Darel Leedy]

They chipped away at that pile again recently. Thought they might come across the depot this time. Even if they did they might not have known it if the bricks have become dirt again. "Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth."

[John Schapekahm]

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[Keith Hayes]

John, thanks for the post on the CC depot, and the mill that eventually covered it up. When I was planning my layout, I briefly considered modeling Black Hawk and Central. Black Hawk has a great yard with an interesting prototype track arrangement that offers some challenging switching, and though the switchback to Central was abandoned early, the Central City depot ranks among the unique depots in the state. I love the polychromatic brick used as quoins, the flemish end gables and other details. The brick corbels at the end that hide the eaves are also of note. It would be something to model.

For those considering the C&Sng, Black Hawk is a very doable model. It is affordable as you could easily develop a shelf layout and it would not take more than a locomotive and some cars with a staging yard/ cassette. Black Hawk had a turntable too.

William Muchow is mentioned as the owner of Chain 'O Mines. I can't help but speculate that his son is Bill Muchow the architect. I came very close to visiting Bill when I first came back to Denver in the early 90s. He practiced from the 60s until his passing in 1994 or thereabouts. Many fine architects passed through Bill's firm, and they left a legacy that is Denver architecture today. You may still recognize Park Central (final home of the D&RGW corporate offices and dispatch, I believe), the Blue Cross Building and Currigan Hall.

[Robert McFarland]

I thought that at one time Doug Heitkamp was going to build a layout involving Blackhawk and Central City-and had a blog involving his ideas about it.

[John Schapekahm]

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[John Schapekahm]

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[Keith Hayes]

Interesting John. Perhaps not father and son, but maybe related.

Architect Muchow was born in Denver and went to North High. His bio indicates he attended Notre Dame and Illinois, which suggests a possible family connection. I should add that his firm also designed the Engineering Building at CU Boulder--what not to like there, unless you work in it. :)

Fascinating stuff about amalgam. During this same periodmy great grandfather evidently liked to speculate in the mines at Cripple Creek. I guess he had expensive taste? Evidently he would practice water law and make some money, then lay off to Cripple to lose it. Sadly he died during one of the mining spells, or perhaps our family would have been better off: his wife subsequently took on boarders to keep the family afloat.

What a different time.

[John Schapekahm]

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[Rick Steele]

When I was up there, Doc Muchow was long dead. His successor Harold... (Geez, I can't remember his last name) was in charge up there. When I mentioned that I did an article on the Central City Depot in the Gazette, he got all excited and told me that Doc always wanted to unbury the building, which is why he put interior braces in it when he filled the site with tailings. I don't know if what he was telling me was true, but he went so far as to suggest the it would be a really nice Public Service project for the town.

A little footnote on Doc Muchow. Bill Russell used to tell the story that Doc was a real wheeler-dealer. He said that Doc would attract investors by booking rooms on some of the most expensive all-Pullman trains that he could find and some time during the trip he would take out a ball of genuine Gold, I was lead to believe that it was a bit larger than a baseball, and he would go to the Parlor Car or Diner or into the Men's Smoker and roll the ball down the center aisle of the car and then go chasing after it. People would ask him where he got it and he would reel in a few new suckers... err....investors.

As some of the locals in Central City used to say. "The rest of the country was starving during the Depression, but we got by pretty well, thanks to Doc." I don't know how true the statement was, but it was told to me by more than one old timer.

Rick

[John Schapekahm]

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