Como, Colorado 1929-2018 Video

[Kurt Maechner]

I just put together a video of our visit to Como last summer.  It was the first time my wife and I had been back since the summer of 2004.  While we unfortunately didn't come on a day when Klondike Kate was steamed up, it was nonetheless astonishing to see how different the entire place was 14 years later.

In 2004, the depot was a rotting shell.  Today it is a lovely building, ready to receive a train from Denver.  Back in '04 I had no access to the roundhouse.  In 2018, Jeff Badger graciously welcomed us inside to look all around.  What fun!

This video is a mixture of before-and-afters photos and some before-and-after-and-afters, as well as some other photos and video of the site.  If you've never been to the roundhouse, or it has been a while, you'll get to see what's going on inside and some of the various items that are being restored.

Does anyone here know the background on the standard gauge (I think) boxcar shed?  Is it a replica or the original?  Also, does anyone know the identity of the other rather shabby-looking car on the ground across the track from the boxcar?  

Enjoy!

[Kurt Maechner]

Of course, when I wrote "and some of the various items that are being restored" I should mention at least as of 2018-so, so much more has happened since then.

[Tim B]

Hi Kurt,

C&S Boxcar #131201 is indeed a standard gauge wooden boxcar that was built in 1906 as part of an order for 500 such cars (numbered 12700-13199). The car was retired in August of 1937, stripped of its metal parts and sold to a farmer in Niwot, Colorado. For the next 62 years, No. 13121 served as a hay storage shed at the farm. In 1999, the farm was sold to an adjacent Montessorischool that wished to use a portion of the land to build a new building. As a condition of constructing the new building, Boulder County required that the school remove the house and “outbuildings” (about 15 boxcars) from the property. No. 13121 was spared when a private party funded its removal from the farm to temporary storage in Strasburg, Colorado in April of 1999. The car was later moved to the former Boulder County Railway Historical Society site east of Boulder, where it served as a shed until being donated to the South Park Rail Society and moved to Como on June 26, 2017.

From about 1900 until abandonment in 1937, three narrow gauge boxcar bodies were located at the north end of the Como yards where they served as bunkhouses and sheds. No. 13121 was placed at this location to serve as a storage shed and a reminder of the cars that had once been located there

As for the "shabby-looking" car, and that is being generous, its the remains of a C&N-W tourist car. After the C&N-W was abandoned in 1920, this car and its sisters were bought by a local Boulder man and made into little cabins on a hillside on the west end of town. The survivor was cut in half in 1920 before being moved to its cliffside perch. After several additions, the car became part of a decent sized house and remained so until 2013 when the front range of Colorado saw unprecedented rain and flooding. The house was damaged by water running down the hillside and condemmed. Boulder County eventually bought out the property owners and demolished the house. The county and the demolition contractor were kind enough to let us have the carbody.

We know the C&N-W car is a little out of place in Como but since C&N-W stuff is so rare, we thought we could give it a home in Como.

Please note that all above information is from the South Park Rail Society's newsletter and an article written by Jason Midyette.

Kurt Maechner wrote

I just put together a video of our visit to Como last summer.  It was the first time my wife and I had been back since the summer of 2004.  While we unfortunately didn't come on a day when Klondike Kate was steamed up, it was nonetheless astonishing to see how different the entire place was 14 years later.

In 2004, the depot was a rotting shell.  Today it is a lovely building, ready to receive a train from Denver.  Back in '04 I had no access to the roundhouse.  In 2018, Jeff Badger graciously welcomed us inside to look all around.  What fun!

This video is a mixture of before-and-afters photos and some before-and-after-and-afters, as well as some other photos and video of the site.  If you've never been to the roundhouse, or it has been a while, you'll get to see what's going on inside and some of the various items that are being restored.

Does anyone here know the background on the standard gauge (I think) boxcar shed?  Is it a replica or the original?  Also, does anyone know the identity of the other rather shabby-looking car on the ground across the track from the boxcar?  

Enjoy!

[Kurt Maechner]

Tim,
Thanks so much for that info!  Is there a way to subscribe to the South Park Society newsletter?

[Robert McFarland]

At least two of the standard gauge boxcars in this class had their wheelsets narrowed to 3ft and hauled freight on  the South Park.Cars 13000 and 13157 were involved in a derailment in Platte Canyon.Pictorial Chapter 5-Wrecks.

[Tim B]

Kurt Maechner wrote

Tim,
Thanks so much for that info!  Is there a way to subscribe to the South Park Society newsletter?

Absolutely Kurt. All you need to do is sign up as a supporter of the South Park Rail Society. Details can be found on the SPRS website.

The news letter goes out to all supports quarterly.

[Jim Courtney]

This is one of the photos that Robert is referencing:


Denver Water Board  photo, in Kindig, et al., Pictorial Supplement . . . July 23, 1912.


Two standard gauge boxcars of the 13000 class were derailed on the narrow gauge in lower Platte Canon. Looks like the original standard gauge arch bar trucks have been modified with 3' gauge wheel sets -- wonder why they didn't just replace them with new narrow gauge Bettendorf trucks, like on East Broad Top?

The upside down boxcar in the foreground is one of the 1907-1908 (phase 2) boxcars with wood, truss rod under frame and Bettendorf trucks.

Note that one of the recently rebuilt C&S cabooses followed the standard gauge boxcars into the river.

Perhaps this one experience ended this practice.

Who knows, maybe the Como boxcar 13121 made a similar trip . . .