Alpine Tunnel tracks remained un-abandoned for a long time

[Kurt Maechner]

There are so many gems in Daniel W. Edwards' A Documentary History of the South Park Line volumes.  I recently discovered in volume 5 that the stretch of track in Alpine Tunnel and about a mile west of the tunnel remained on the C&S mileage roster long after abandonment.  Here is a post that explores a few of details about that.  
Kurt

[Robert McFarland]

Why the hurry Kurt?Aren't you glad there still are rails inside the tunnel?Outside of  what was picked up in the wartime scrap drives there have been situations of lots of "junk'' lying around uncollected for decades....if not longer.A  Mason Bogie boiler at Weskan.Ks survived as late as the late 50's according to Art Wallace.

[South Park]

  I expect a train through at any time.  Outside of the loop, I can
think of no better place to run a scenic tourist line than from St.
Elmo to Pitkin.  The tunnel maintenance might be a costly deal
breaker, but the ride would be something spectacular.

[Kurt Maechner]

No hurry at all, Robert!  I just thought it was really interesting that even after the C&S pulled all the tracks up on the western and eastern approaches to the tunnel and removed them from their mileage lists, they oddly enough kept that 0.71 mile of track on the roster of C&S narrow gauge trackage.  Certainly they considered it junk, but it's strange that they didn't remove it from the railroad's official total.  
Kurt

[Kurt Maechner]

South Park, I totally agree that it would be one of the most spectacular tourist routes in the US.  To me, it would outshine the Cumbres & Toltec.  The very unfortunate part is that if it would include use of the tunnel, I don't see how they could do it without completely destroying the present Alpine Tunnel and building a new one.  That, I think, would be a tragedy.
Kurt

[Robert McFarland]

Why not Como to Newitt?

[Kurt Maechner]

Where is Newitt?

[Jeff Young]

Just the other side of Trout Creek pass.  (Where the Colorado Midland did freight interchange with the C&S, if memory serves?)

[Chris Walker]

From what I read the local Mining operations scrounged a lot of rails that were left up there, what book I can't remember at this moment.

Steam was running through Weston in 1968, eh Robert?

[South Park]

"Why not Como to Newitt?"

While I LOVE the South Park, with its vast, open terrain and endless skies,
it lacks anything of vertical interest.  Now, I am the guy who likes sage brush
and flat, open desert, but from a point of ticket sales to pay for the operations
and maintenance of a steam railroad ?  I'd put my money on the two ghost town
end points of St. Elmo and Pitkin and the spectacular scenery between the two.

Yes, the tunnel is both the attraction and a problem of Alpine Pass.  Neither
Pitkin or St. Elmo is on the way to anywhere, close to anything or a major travel
route.  It's just that route and scenery that is hard to beat.

  If I had to center an operation out of Como, it would run up Kenosha for that
incredible view looking out across the South Park.  Not too long of a run, Jefferson
depot along the way.  The down side is how to deal with highway crossings.

  Other than that, I say reopen the line all the way from Denver to Gunnison and
start hauling freight again !

[Robert McFarland]

The Romney,Hythe&Dymchurch 15"gauge line in England has had problems with grade crossings but that doesn't keep them from running trains.There's even a photograph of British soldiers  with a Lewis gun mounted on one of their trains during WW2.

[South Park]

  285 crosses the old mainline grade 3 times between the bottom
of Kenosha Hill and Como.  That's a lot of FRA restrictions an
operator would have to tangle with.  Lots of extra operating expense
to operate with FRA compliance rules.  Steam is expensive from
the start.  Operating budgets and earnings to keep a line in operation
run on a narrow margin.  Avoiding extra costs like bringing the FRA
to the dance would seem a prudent business move.