C&S Photos on eBay.

[ComoDepot]

Could the second image have been reversed?

[South Park]

 Is that Rocky Point to the right, on the upper grade ?

[Jeff Young]

I think South Park has it — it’s certainly Bald Mountain and Boreas Mountain in the background:

https://www.summitpost.org/september-6-2004-l-bald/77616

The photo angle is a bit lower than the Summit Post one; I'd say it was taken from somewhere in the Warrior's Mark neighbourhood of Breckenridge.

[ComoDepot]

General consensus seems to be that it is taken from the area of the ice skating rink in Breck looking upgrade.

[Jim Courtney]

So then, the bridge over the Blue would be just beyond the gentle curve to the right, in the near distance??

The future Gold Pan Shops will be built just above the small structure in the distance, the grade headed on up Illinois Gulch beyond??

Have I got this right??

[ComoDepot]

In modern parlance you are standing on Boreas Pass Rd in Breck looking in the Como direction, the grade swing around to the right and then curves to the left and eventually high in front of you goes from left to right in the direction of the Pass.

Blue River/ Traffic Lights are behind you.

[South Park]

  It is hard to believe how stupidly steep 4% grades are.  As I see it, this
shot is taken way down the straightaway below the valley where hookeye
curve is.  The track would turn to the right as it goes out of sight here, go
into hookeye curve, and cross the photo on the middle grade (hard to see)
to head for Illinois Gulch trestle and on around Nigger Hill, Mayo Spur,
resurfacing as the upper level seen in this photo.

  It is no wonder the South Park suffered massive operating costs.  Just
hauling tonnage over this hump in perfect weather would be a bitch.  Add
in Colorado mountain weather .... when I see photos like this, all I can think
is "WOW !".  

[Jeff Young]

ComoDepot wrote

In modern parlance you are standing on Boreas Pass Rd in Breck looking in the Como direction, the grade swing around to the right and then curves to the left and eventually high in front of you goes from left to right in the direction of the Pass.

Blue River/ Traffic Lights are behind you.

I don't think so.  I think this image is looking up Indiana Creek (which flows into Goose Pasture Tarn), not Illinois Gulch (which comes down by the Ice Rink).

In other words, about 1 mile South of where David has it.

[South Park]

 Funny to read these posts using modern references to locations.
In my mind (even though I know better), Breckenridge is still a
falsefront town of unpaved streets with a narrow gauge railroad
passing through.  What's all this crazy talk of "ice rinks" ???  
Everyone knows, miners have no time or interest in ice skating !
Duh !  

[Jim Courtney]

I'm still having trouble visualizing the location, haven't been to Breck in years.

Maybe Chis can jump in his New Zealand GoogleEarthMobile and help me out.

Or a map with "x-marks the spot". 

[South Park]

  Jim, ....  you bring your train over Boreas, make Baker tank, and
come out into the valley, high on the side of the mountain, working
your way past Rocky Point, Mayo Spur, around Nigger Hill to reverse
direction and come across the same hillside below Rocky Point and
reversing direction again at Hookeye Curve.  Just downgrade from
from Hookeye Curve, the track curves toward Breckenridge and runs
a tangent track down the gulch to where the Gold Pan shops were.
This shot is taken on that tangent stretch, looking up grade.

[Jim Courtney]

OK, SP. I've got it now!

[South Park]

  Using tracer rounds, we call that "walking it in".  

[Don Gustavson II]

A very cool picture. Rugged.
Wherever it is for sure, what I see in the picture is a lot of burnt trees.
I have thought about modeling a burnt out forest area. Maybe a lot less expensive way to model a pine forest.

[ComoDepot]

Not sure what time period this is but there was a lot of Beetle Kill in the 1880's.

[Jim Courtney]

There is a great photo (print) up for auction on eBay, on which I'm bidding:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1904-Colorado-Southern-Railway-Como-Colorado-Snow-Bound-Passenger-Train-Print/352319294360?hash=item5207ddcb98:g:2TEAAOSw5cJav8N9




A cropped version of this print, showing a C&S passenger train from Leadville stuck in the snow just north of Como, was published in Mac Poor's Memorial Edition . . . , page 315. The caption in Poor's book credits Otto Westerman as the photographer.

The back of the print is both mis-labeled and mis-dated.

The locomotive isn't C&S number 9, despite the number 9 faintly visible on the sand dome -- the rebuilt Cooke 2-6-0s didn't have dual air tanks above the boiler. The rounded Baldwin domes and dual air tanks suggest a Baldwin B-4-D, so this must be C&S number 69.

Love that particular box headlight! Some have referred to this as a C&S "cuckoo clock" headlight (as opposed to the later CB&Q "mantel clock" headlight).

The date of 1904 seems to early for this photo; it likely dates from 1906 to 1910. The RPO behind the locomotive is probably C&S 13. It has lost its end platforms (usually considered a 1906 or later event), but hasn't yet had its RPO compartment rebuilt to the "modern" window / door arrangement. Note the single window ahead of the narrow mail compartment door.

Also notice the stove vents on the car: They have the older style vent on the stove pipes with the cylindrical top, like on early DSP&P waycars. Another detail to add to a period first decade model (you seeing this Bob Stears??).

Maybe someone can offer a guess as to the number of the passenger car trailing the consist.

If I win the auction, I'll try to do a high res scan of the print, clean it up and re-post it . . .

[Ken Martin]

>Maybe someone can offer a guess as to the number of the passenger car trailing the consist.

The left side is cropped which is where the stack would be. That makes it a little harder but it does have "observation windows"
that is they go into the letter board. I do not see a vent for the toilet so this is probably either 78(162) or 79(163).  

Ken Martin

[Jim Courtney]

Well, I finally won a C&S photo on eBay. Here it is, scanned at 600 dbi, minimal cropping, cleaned up best I can with my software.





Not as sharp as I had hoped, seems to be a photo of a photo. I was hoping for a contact print from the original negative.

There is no toilet vent or stove vent on the far end of the passenger car. Can you firmly identify it, Ken??


The photographer is identified as O.C. Davis in Kindig, et al, The Pictorial Supplement . . .

Companion photos show, that despite a Cooke 2-6-0 and Cooke 2-8-0 triple heading the two car passenger train with C&S 69, the train from Leadville stalled in the snow just north of the Como depot.

[ComoDepot]

The exact spot is difficult to tell due to snow but looks like 1/4 mile north of the Hotel just before where the clump of trees are now.

There is another photo of that spot where there was a derailment.

[Jim Courtney]

Maybe this eBay photo will help in the location:






The 3 engine stalled passenger train is in the distance.

C&S 59, with its (new) diamond stack was trying to plow out the Denver main, but also stalled just past the trestle over the creek.


Looks like I need to purchase this one, too, to have the complete set.