Mystery Rotary Snow Plow 012 at Kokomo

[Jim Courtney]

Count me in, too, Chris. It is a beautiful part of the C&S world.

[Jim Courtney]

I was searching the Ted Kierscey collection, maintained by Mark Evans, looking for early South Park photos on the D&RG's Buena Vista to Leadville line.

I found this photo, labeled as on Marshall Pass, that sure looks like the trestle at Rainbow Falls on the climb to Fremont Pass:

https://www.narrowgauge.org/images/tkcok/m00164.jpg



The relationship between the trestle and the falls looks similar and the consist would have been typical for a train on the Blue River branch.

What do y'all think?

[Jeff Young]

I've always been convinced that's Rainbow Falls....

[Chris Walker]

Well, (logically) IF it was Marshall, then we would have later era photos taken en masse at that location eh!

[Charles McMillan]

I have been over Marshall Pass a few times and there is no place on the Pass that looks this. There is no waterfall location anywhere along the roadbed so it must be someplace else.
Charles M .

[South Park]

  I believe the scrappers pulled out the waterfall when they came through.
A lot of uppity suburban folks paying good money to have waterfalls put
in their back yards.

[Jim Courtney]

And then there is this:


From Chappell, et al., Colorado Rail Annual No. 12


Colorado rail historians constantly have the urge to move poor-ole Rainbow Falls to other places. Even thought the negative is clearly inscribed with "Rainbow Falls", evidently the DPL lists it in Chalk Creek Canon on the DSP&P.

The authors then suggest it is one of Dave's 1881 D&RG scheduled "Express Trains" that the D&RG ran from Nathrop to Alpine (Fisher), before that road built its own line into Gunnison. (see the Leadville Map thread).

Has anyone found this image in the DPL online collection??


And, yes SP, eventually Rainbow Falls was sold to a banker here in Poulsbo, re-erected as a scenic display. But the teenagers kept putting laundry detergent in it, so they've stopped running water over it.  Doesn't look a bit like its former self . . .

[Chris Walker]

That's also in Mineral Belt II credited to David S. Digerness Collection (as usual).

DPL only have these, digitised.

https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/69807



https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/68228