Double Headed Passenger, Leaving Denver

[Jim Courtney]

I'm currently bidding on this photo, listed on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Railroad-Photo-Colorado-Southern-Line-Denver-Engines-5-6-Going-to-Leadville-/122206216137?hash=item1c740edfc9:g:5QwAAOSwMVdYF1Ro&autorefresh=true





The caption (on the back of the photo) says this is the Leadville passenger train, leaving Denver, double headed by C&S numbers 5 and 6, in May, 1934.

I've read somewhere about passenger movements of kids to Summer Camps, using extra coaches and an express car for all the kids' baggage, etc.  The passenger train would switch out the helper engine and the extra baggage car and coaches at that location, then head on to Como and finally Leadville.  

I believe I recall the location of the camp as Crystal Lake. Was the Catholic Camp at "Santa Maria" open by 1934?  

Anyone know this trains destination?

[ComoDepot]

May would be before Summer Camps start, well certainly now.

May is before most things start, wonder what it could be. Military?

[Jim Courtney]

Was the CCC in operation in 1934?  Perhaps this is a CCC special, like those on the RGS.

The RPO in the consist suggests that this is, indeed, the Leadville passenger, but with extra cars added for some kind of mass people movement.

[Mike Trent]

Hi Jim,


Could be travelers headed to various stops along the line, could be a veterans train, or any other of a number of reasons. Or, even a CCC train. I believe they were very active in those days.

Holiday getaways were probably not common during the depression, so the CCC movement idea is probably a pretty good one.

[Jim Courtney]

I don't know, Mike.

May, 1934, was only a year and a half into FDR's first term.  I'm not sure the CCC was up and running by then.

There is this Otto Perry photo of a double headed excursion in 1928:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/42528/rec/7



Per caption:
Order of Railway Conductors Special Train; 7 cars, 25 MPH. Photographed: South of Sheridan Junction, Colo., July 8, 1928

I guess the extra cars in the May, 1934, train could be to accommodate a day excursion as far as Dome Rock or Crystal Lake--Memorial Day Special maybe?  The cars could have been picked up by the afternoon Denver bound passenger.  

But wait!  When did the Leadville train cease being daily-except-Sunday, and become tri-weekly??

[John Schapekahm]

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[Jim Courtney]

Wow, talk about your immediate response to a question: <30 seconds!!

So, no known CCC camps in Platte Canon.  Was "Trout Creek" still accessible by the C&S as far as Bath or Newitt? Or had the track south of Garos been taken up by 1934?  Was Lake George, in the South Park, close enough for CCC recruits to de-train at Como or Garos, to report to the new CCC camp there?

Could these extra cars be headed out of Denver only as far South as Ft Logan?  Why then would they be folded into the daily westbound passenger train?

Amazing how one little photo on eBay can turn up so much discussion / information!

[ComoDepot]

The CCC building in Fairplay became the Town Hall and is now the Library.

I believe the track south of Garo had long gone.

[John Schapekahm]

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[John Schapekahm]

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[Jim Courtney]

As often happens here, one topic of discussion often morphs into others.

So now I'm curious.

If there was a CCC camp at Fairplay in the 1930s and a lot of CCC activity at Ft Logan and Morrison, were there other CCC camps / operations along the C&S that might have generated occasional train movements of these young men?  How about on Clear Creek?

[ComoDepot]

Fairplay had an office, if there were camp(s) in the area I do not know where they were.

[Mike Trent]

John, technically the Denver Leadville Passenger trains ran 6 days a week before and after 1931.

The "Tri-Weekly" schedule simply meant that they ran Westbound (Train No 70) Monday Wednesday and Friday between Denver and Leadville, and Eastbound (Train No 71) Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. All they did was eliminate the opposing train.

They may have already been on the "Tri-Weekly" schedule beforehand on the mail contract. There are a lot of pictures that claim to show the Denver-Leadville train running in both directions without a mail car.

[CM Auditor]

Lake George is at the west end of elevenmile canon, very close to the Teller-Park county line.