South Park 1874-1880 freight equipment candidate history list for the Sticky--Input requested

[Dave Eggleston]

Below is my first proposed addition to the Timeline Sticky, to the Freight Cars section: the equipment acquired by the South Park from 1874 to December 1880. The corporate history discussed in http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/DSP-amp-P-Passenger-Car-Research-td20585.html  will be coming and I am working on freight equipment info for the 1881-1894 timeframe. I interested in verifying what people want to see so bring questions, corrections, additions!

I've worked to give specifics as they are given in sources, while adding car numbering (often from Ron Rudnick's research) and occasionally some other thoughts. You'll notice the usual suspect books missing from the list of sources: I have focused on newspapers, photos and other period evidence and readily admit this is scanty. But it offers up treasures not seen in the books. Ron's books are a go-to for thinking though conflicts. This list is freight car oriented, so passenger cars make rare appearances and engines not at all.

The South Park did not operate in a vacuum, there were many influences, both local and on a national scale (people, financial, environmental, geologic, political, etc), playing parts in decisions on what or when the South Park purchased material. A list isn't the best means to pull all that together as a story so I suggest Poor, CRRM #10, Dan Edwards' books as starts on bigger events--the intent of this timeline is to provide specific acquisition data as I find it with some analysis at times.

What about the Colorado Central? I want to avoid the confusion of two lines' equipment in one list. Once we start 1881 with overall UP ownership things change and putting all the cars into one bucket will work best for the timeline.

I intentionally want to give specific dates for events, not just the year. The South Park in 1877-1880 moved through purchases and leases and I want to reflect the idea of dealing with the tidal wave that the Leadville Boom became. I'll be doing the same for 1881-1885.

Finally, to avoid a giant footnote list, each entry includes the date reported, the item and the source. In a couple of cases I've written out a source but the bulk are noted by abbreviations:

CODC Colorado Daily Chieftan (Canon City)
DDT Denver Daily Times
DP Derrell Poole Outdoor Railroader Aug/Sept 1995
FF Fairplay Flume
RW Railway World
RMN Rocky Mountain News (Denver)
RRDSPP Ron Rudnick DSP&P Modeling Guide

1874 March 18: Hallack contract for 42 cars: 30 flat, 5 coal, five box, 1 1st class pass, 1 1st class passenger. [DDT]
1874 April 1: EF Hallack visiting East Coast car manufacturers. Photos of early cars suggest Barney & Smith or Billmeyer & Smalls. [RMN]
1874 April - Aug: Hallack building and delivering cars, boxcars (theorized #500-504), flatcars (theorized #10-44), combine "Auraria" and coach "Denver." [DDT, RMN, RRDSPP]

1878 Feb 1: Gov Evans travels east to acquire equipment and materials. [RMN]
1878 March 16: Evans orders 2 passenger cars and "irons and running gear" for 60 freight cars from Barney & Smith. [RMN]
1878 April 5: First track arrives in Denver. [RMN]
1878 June 13: B&S contract reported as 2 passenger, 10 box and 25 flat + iron and running gear for 5 box and 25 flat. [RMN, RRDSPP]
1878 July 2: Coaches "Halls Valley," "Geneva," "Leadville" delivered from Barney & Smith. [DDT, RMN]
1878 Sept 4: Early mention of South Park hauling Leadville freight. [RMN]
1878 Sept 17: Air brakes [Eames] introduced on passenger equipment. [RMN]
1878 Oct: Barney & Smith cars arrive and put in service. Boxcars believed to be roughly #515-529 but possibly lower, and flatcars possibly #50-99. [RMN, RR]
1878 Oct 30: AT&SF lease of D&RG [CODC]
1878 Dec 31: AT&SF has ordered 100 box, 130 flat and 7 passenger cars for its Colorado narrow gauge. [AT&SF 1879 Annual Report]
1878 Dec 31: AT&SF offers DSP&P a $700,000 loan [RMN]
1878 Dec 31: End of track: Grant's. South Park roster: 4 engines, 20 boxcars (#500-504, 515-529), 85 flatcars (#10-44, 50-99), perhaps 1 caboose (#60). Focus shifted from Fairplay to Leadville. [RMN, DDT, RRDSPP, DP]

1879 Jan 1: DSP&P Board approves order for 50 cars--Litchfield. [RMN]
1879 Jan 21: AT&SF has ordered 50 cars for the South Park, presumably from St Charles but possibly Litchfield. [RMN]
1879 Feb 5: D&RG vetoes AT&SF South Park loan and car order under lease agreement terms. [CODC]
1879 March 15: Litchfield Car Company is building 25 boxcars and 25 flatcars for a Colorado railroad. [RW]
1879 March 15: 6 carloads of car kits arrive--Litchfield. Cars continue to arrive over next two months. Boxcars believed possibly numbered 530-554 and flats possibly in the 100-299 range. [RMN, RR]
1879 April through June: AT&SF narrow gauge cars arrive in Colorado, moved to Canon City. [AT&SF Ledger of Narrow Gauge Purchases]
1879 June 14: Pullman 4-car order nearing completion. [RW]
1879 June 30: South Park roster: 6 coaches, 2 BME, 109 flatcars, 45 boxcars, 16 construction [Poor's 1879]
1879 Aug 14: First reefer (#505) built by Denver shops. [FF]
1879 Aug 14: All AT&SF equipment (engines, freight and passenger cars) leased by DSP&P, actual number of cars used is unknown. [RMN, RR]
1879 Aug 16: 100 freight [box] and 60 coal cars ordered from Litchfield. [RW, Denver Tribune]
1879 Sept 18: Denver shop turns out cars including coach "Como." [FF]
1879 Oct 7: Litchfield flat cars arriving in Denver. [RMN]
1879 Oct 24: First Pullman sleeper "South Park" arrives. [RMN]
1879 Oct 28: Pullman sleeper "Bonanza" arrives [RMN]
1879 Nov 11: Pullman sleepers "Leadville" and "San Juan" arrive. [RMN]
1879 Nov 24: DSP&P Board authorizes order of additional 300 freight cars (Litchfield). These possibly numbered 560-739 for boxcars, 100-299 for flats, 400-467 for coal. [DDT, FF, RR]
1879 Dec 4: First news report of D&RG cars running on South Park. [RMN]
1879 Dec 31: End of track at Garos. Roster: 19 engines, 145 boxcars, 169 flatcars, maybe 7 waycars. All Hallack, Barney & Smith and Litchfield with an unknown number of AT&SF leased cars and likely D&RG cars in interchange. [RMN, DP, RR]

1880 Jan 20: 700 cars reported in service [more likely this count includes in service and on order], including two new Horton recliner cars. [RMN]
1880 Jan 15: Paymaster car reported at Weston. [RMN]
1880 Feb 24: 120 box and flatcars on way from Litchfield. [RMN]
1880 April 15: DSP&P lease of AT&SF equipment ended. AT&SF equipment returned to Kansas through October. [CODC, AT&SF Annual Report 1880]
1880 May: DSP&P acquires the six Bowers & Dure AT&SF passenger cars but no AT&SF freight cars. [RR, DSPP Groups.io discussion]
1880 July 4: Tracks reach Leadville. Article lists 26 coach, 5 baggage, 260 flat, 30 coal, 250 box, 3 construction trains and 2 new Tiffany reefers. [RMN]
1880 Dec 31: Maybe 11-12 waycars built during the year. [DP]

That's it for now. Please offer comments on data, anything that seems to be missing, whatever! Next up after comments have been addressed will be the 1881-1885 freight cars.

Thanks

[Dave Eggleston]

This has been up for three weeks and not a single comment. I'm not certain what that means. For now I'll put the corporate history and freight equipment 1881-1898 timelines on hold, awaiting input on moving this current post in some format to the timeline--issues, editorial, whether it fits the timeline qualification. Thanks.

[Paul R.]

All interesting info to set up the right timeline for your equipment. Keep it up.
Paul R.