Freight trains at Dillon (or Keystone)?

[Jim Courtney]

A new computer (old one having agonal gasps!) required transferring and reorganizing my photo files this weekend.

I realized that I've never seen a photo of a freight train at Dillon, published or online.  There are precious few photos of passenger trains at Dillon.  I've never seen any photo of a D&RG train of any sort at Dillon, even though Dillon was the northern terminus of the D&RG's Blue River branch.

Here's all I have, maybe y'all can supply more:


Early view (1880s) of the South Park (foreground) and D&RG (two span Howe truss bridge over Ten Mile Creek) entering Dillon from the South.



Early view of joint D&RG / C&S depot at Dillon.  Stock yards are at left background.



Three car C&S passenger train departing Dillon southbound for Dickey, c1902-1906.  Evidently the false front building in the foreground is the town newspaper building.



Later (1920s?) view of Dillon depot, after D&RG ceased operations.  Track in foreground is the D&RG stockyard track, a C&S connection was added in about 1910, the only other place besides Leadville that C&S and D&RG 3 foot tracks actually connected between the two towns.



Later, 1920's view of said stockyard, with 4 C&S stock cars.  I think that's a C&S reefer in the background on the house track.  I don't know where the "second view" of the Dillon yards ended up (perhaps it is the prior photo?).  This is the only photo I've seen with freight cars at Dillon.


OK folks, Dillon was the shipping point for the Montezuma mining district and the entire Blue River valley to the north-northwest.  There had to have been more activity and photos than this.  Post them if you have them!

(Edit, 9/22/16: See also Jimmy Blouch's thread: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.41377.n7.nabble.com/Ten-Mile-Stations-of-the-D-amp-RG-td6164.html for much more information on Dillon and the Keystone branch)

[Jim Courtney]

BTW, here is a fairly good map of Dillon from Roadside Summit by Sandra Pritchard, Summit County Historical Society Publications, 1992.

[Chris Walker]

Mineral Belt 2 pg 184 and pg186, on pg151 of C&S High Line Memories along with pg112/113 of C&SNG have trains at the Dillon Station.
This DPL pic is the one in the MB2


http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/72071/rec/15

[Jim Courtney]

Nice photo, Chris.  Still looking for freight trains though.

[Chris Walker]

That'll teach me to speed read the board over a quick coffee stop.  Good luck with that, photos are precious in that area, I've been "enthusiastic" over this area for a very long time as my first n.g. layout of US type was Silver Plume to Redcliff via the proposed A&P tunnel.  The Roundhouse & Shops were adjacent to Dillon.
This is my gateway down here....:)

[Chris Walker]

I guess you won't settle for a Mixed Freight coming into Frisco perhaps....:)  

Stopping the Mixed to have ya picture taken, hmmm, we got all day.


http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/72032/rv/singleitem

[Rick Steele]

I'd settle for the mixed because back then that's all that they more than likely had running up there.

Rick

[Jim Courtney]

Close, but not quite Dillon.

Yes, Chris, the area around Dillon is beautiful.  Spent several summer vacations with my kids in the Frisco-Dillon-Keystone-Montezuma area.  One summer, my son and I bicycled up the C&S Tenmile grade from Frisco to Wheeler Flats (Solitude) -- going back down grade was much more fun!

[Mike Trent]

Doug Schnarbush, who worked as a West End Fireman from 1927 to the end, told me that switching dutied to Dillon and Keystone were usually done by the lead helper engines of the Monday/Thursday Eastbound freights while the road engine was bringing down the train from Climax and then serviced at Dickey. Loads bound for Dillon and other points on the Keystone Branch were set off at Dickey Westound..

Given how few pictures were taken at Dickey during those years it isn't surprising that very few if any pictures would be found of any of the switching operations on the Keystone Branch.

This operation would also have included the pickup of empties or any outbound loads. As the ticket office at Dillon was active until the end, they could communicate any needs to Leadville.

Surely there could have been exceptions, but this is how freight was routinely handled in the last 10 years. There was grousing about this by the helper crews as they did not receive extra pay for this, but they did get to go home earlier. As we have noted previously, there were plenty of reasons the Como based enginemen resented the Leadville based trainmen, and this was part of that as well.

[Jim Courtney]

I've been looking for photos of Dillon and Keystone for years, and they are as rare as hen's teeth.  Since the Kokomo thread yielded so many unexpected photos, I thought I'd put this out there, just to see what would come of it.  If you goad Chris a little, he can come up with amazing stuff!

[Jim Courtney]

I had forgotten this photo in Ferrell's C&Sng Colorado & Southern Narrow Gauge:




April 7, 1937, last Denver to Leadville passenger train.  Richard B. Jackson photograph.


This may be the only photograph of a C&S freight car in a C&S train at Dillon in existence!

[Robert McFarland]

Don't you think the boxcar is being used as a baggage car?

[Jim Courtney]

Could be, it was handled all the way from Denver to Leadville, first by #60 to Como, then on to Leadville.

Might also have been a carload of company supplies for the soon to be isolated Leadville to Climax run.  Or perhaps one of the boxcars assigned to Leadville, being moved empty per company instructions.

Anyone know for sure?

[Chris Walker]

Looks like we're looking at a possibility that Dillon only saw the Freights around 0Dark:30.  {:))

As to the actual reason, one Coach, one RPO/Baggage, would there be enough need for a baggage Boxcar? Not sure on that, maybe more for carrying out the intermediate Station office records, but even that scenario doesn't fit with the routing of the Boxcars.

Actually Jim, you have the direction and date wrong at Dillon, that's the Leadville to Denver last train on the 10th.  The Boxcar is #8300 and isn't on the last train by the time it made Platte Canon and Sheridan Junction, in photo's taken by R.B.Jackson also in Mal Ferrell's C&Sng.  Did it too get put off at Como?

Further to this, the last train Denver to Leadville on the 9th (unless they did some fancy, last minute switching at Union) didn't have the boxcar on the train until Platte Canon, was it lifted at Sheridan or South Platte perhaps? That westbound Boxcar was #8225.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/42517/rv/singleitem/rec/118


http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/42521/rv/singleitem/rec/1

The Boxcar was put off along with the #60 at Como and replaced with a Flanger and the #9 for the last run to Leadville.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/42489/rv/singleitem/rec/1

[Mike Trent]

As I pointed out earlier, freight up the Keystone Branch was handled by helpers on Eastbound freights out of Dickey. As these were run on Monday and Wednesday, there was very little opportunity for photos. As in maybe never.

Passenger runs to Dillon were completed on a 20 minute round trip from Dickey with time only to throw off a mailbag and the occasional stray passenger. There was very little opportunity for any pictures which is why there were so few.

[Robert McFarland]

A bit off topic,but when did they replace the Platte Canyon  bridge with the shorter,more modern span?

[Chris Walker]

Robert, didn't you say you had an original Pict. Sup to D.SP.&P. ?

[Robert McFarland]

How would that answer when the bridge was replaced?

[Mike Trent]

Going back to this thread about freight movements in Dillon.

I have two questions. One is, the location of the depot in Dillon. In looking at photos and trying to orient myself to the goings on there, it appears that the depot sat outside the curve adjacent to the the stub track that appears to have been the end of the track that passed the small siding there. Is that correct? The curve in question is the C&S track to Keystone, which brings me to the second question.

Chris and Jim, are there photos of freight equipment at Keystone? I believe there was still at least some traffic that went to Keystone.

Finally, in the above photo of the passenger train at Dillon, assuming the depot is located where I suspect it is, this train has backed to Dillon from Dickey and is now headed engine first back to Dickey where it will pass in front of the Dickey Depot as it did on the trip up to Dillon. In winter months, the train would have been engine first to Dillon for the benefit of the plow. That the train had to back either to Dillon or to Dickey is obvious, as there was no time for any switching movements at all. Just to pick up and drop off a mailbag and an occasional passenger. This explains the need for the pigtail whistle on the rear of the coach.

Anyway, check for evidence of freight cars at Keystone, which had to have been delivered there through Dillon.

Interesting how you can thread a few beans together to figure out how things were done.  

[Chris Walker]

Mike, there isn't much out on the Keystone Br, I was very interested in  that area when I was in Hon3 and I suspect what has been done in Min Belt 2 and Highline Memories plus Mining the Summit I doubt there is much more unless it's undiscovered.
I'm keeping my eye out but I'm bogged down in Clear Cr at the moment.