The Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad

[ROMO]

Greetings once more, it's me, Andrew Wolf. I have several inquiries regarding the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad. According to a comment from a kind individual on one of my posts, it appears that the Denver Utah and Pacific Railroad did indeed lay tracks to Lyons, Colorado, where trains would travel along it. Additionally, I am in need of photographs, postcards, and maps related to the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad as it pertains to Lyons, and all of the different communities in Colorado that where along the old Railroad Right-of- way and the train line itself.

Did they ever extend the tracks beyond Lyons? Furthermore, did the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad have any train depots, stations, roundhouses, turntables, transfer tables, engine sheds, machine shops, coal chutes, calling towers, coal tippers, water towers, stockyards, grain elevators, or mines? What other businesses did the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad support?

Also, I keep hearing about a rock quarry that the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad served. Can anyone provide photographs, postcards, and maps that feature this rock quarry alongside the railroad? What is the specific name of this rock quarry?

I hope someone can assist me. Sincerely, Andrew Wolf. Once again, I have another question regarding the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad that constructed tracks to Lyons, Colorado. How much of the railroad was actually built, and did trains really run on the historic Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad? Best regards, Andrew Wolf.

[Todd Hackett]

I thought I had a booklet about the DU&P and Denver, Longmont and Northwestern, but can't find it at the moment. The line is covered briefly in most general Colorado railroad books. It was originally built from Longmont to Lyons in 1885 as narrow gauge. They operated a couple of Mason Bogie locomotives similar to those on the DSP&P. In 1889 it was converted to standard gauge with standard gauge track extended south to a junction north of  Denver. IIRC, it was acquired by the CB&Q and incorporated into their system. I'm pretty sure that it is still in operation as far west as the CEMEX cement plant just east of Lyons. I remember seeing trains in that area in the 1970s when it service a sandstone quarry in the same area, but the tracks into Lyons were long gone by then. The quarry was on the west side of US 36 as it approached St. Vrain Creek. I don't know the name of it's even the same one from DU&P days. The stone Lyon's depot is still standing here, although it appears to have been incorporated into a new building since I last saw it. The track never went very far west of the depot. Model Masterpieces produced a kit of this depot in HO scale back in the 1960s or early '70s. That was one of my first model building experiences. I don't have any detailed maps or information on their customers or train schedules, which were probably pretty limited and certainly varied over time.

[Ken Martin]

Here is a picture of the Lyons Depot.

One of the Mason Bogies went east and ran on the Burlington and Western.
A couple of pics of it.

Ken Martin

[Mike Trent]

Is this the line which operated the old D&RG "Montezuma" when it's duties on the D&RG were completed?

[jw.stephens]

I believe that it was the Colorado Eastern, from Grant Smelter in Argo to Scranton, about 5 miles south of Denver International Airport

[Todd Hackett]

Mike Trent wrote

Is this the line which operated the old D&RG "Montezuma" when it's duties on the D&RG were completed?

ke0azq wrote

I believe that it was the Colorado Eastern, from Grant Smelter in Argo to Scranton, about 5 miles south of Denver International Airport

The D&RG roster from the railroad museum shows Montezuma being scrapped in 1888. The Ute went to the Colorado & Eastern in 1888. According to the rosters in the Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History, the Ute was leased to the DU&P prior to this (from 1881 to 1884), so it apparently ran on both of these lines. It also says that the DU&P leased D&RG 11 (Cucharas) from 1882 to 1884. Ute was a 2-4-0 like Montezuma while Cucharas was a mogul.

[Todd Hackett]

Here's the only photo I've found on DU&P when it was narrow gauge. I believe the locomotive is #3 since it clearly has a Porter builder's plate, and #3 was the only Porter on the roster. It's just possible to make out the "&P" on the cab. The combine has "....AH & PACIFIC" visible on the letterboard, and the boxcar in the background is lettered DU&P but a tree blocks all but parts of the D and the P. I'm pretty sure this was at their depot in Longmont.

[Todd Hackett]

I found the booklet I was thinking of. It turns out it wasn't actually on the DU&P but does contain a lot of information on it. It's a tiny booklet that covers several steam trams in Denver, the Colorado Eastern, and the Denver, Longmont and Northwestern. It turns out that the DU&P actually started out running from Denver to a site called Mitchell near Erie in 1881. The DL&N built from Mitchell to Longmont, also in 1881. The DU&P caused difficulty for the DL&N, and eventually acquired them in 1885, thus having a line all the way to Longmont. The Lyons extension came after the merger. The leased D&RG locomotives would date from the pre-merger period when the DU&P was operating from Denver to Mitchell.

The booklet is "Steam Tramways of Denver - The Colorado Eastern Railroad - Denver, Longmont and Northwestern" Rocky Mountain Railroad Club June 1950. The copy I have was revised and reprinted in 1982. This (especially the reprint) seems to be readily available with one on Amazon, a few on eBay, and several listed on abebooks.com, all for under $20.

[jw.stephens]

This picture is also the only one that I have seen so far that seems to show a Colorado newsbutcher. If you are unfamiliar with "the butch" here is a link to an article on newsbutchery that I transcribed from The Denver Posse of The Westerners "Brand Book:" https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lcd8cgfcvUVq3rZEiaLjNh0iVw-wElGa/view?usp=drive_link

[ROMO]

Greetings, this is Andrew Wolf. Yes, you are correct. I was curious to learn more about it because I had the impression that it was a railway line that was initiated but ultimately never completed, and that trains never actually ran on the old tracks that I believed were never even delayed. I suppose I should leave it at that for now. Best regards, Andrew Wolf.

[ROMO]

Thank you all! Let’s continue searching for additional photographs, postcards, and maps, whether they belong to the Narrow Gauge period or the Standard Gauge era, or even from before and after the merger. I would truly enjoy seeing everything! You all have me incredibly excited about this, and I appreciate everyone’s assistance thus far. Let’s keep up the search! Best, Andrew Wolf.

[Todd Hackett]

I thought you might like this, Andrew - I found this in a large Burlington Route timetable from 1903 on line. It shows that there were two passenger trains except on Sunday when there was only one. The bold numbers mean PM. This, of course, was after converting to standard gauge and being absorbed into the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.

[Rick Steele]

I did a map showing the DU&P grade through Broomfield back in 1975 for the book Gem of the Mountain Valley, which was an early history of Broomfield.

Fortunately for me, the family that owned the property where the former right-of-way transversed were friends of mine. The head of the family showed me the location of the depot that the DU&P had in Broomfield. Unfortunately the building itself was long gone. Part of a fill was used as a dam for a reservoir there and it is quite obvious when looking at it. I also used to ride horses north of Broomfield in a development called "Pony Estates" the grade was quite obvious and led to an abandoned mine, which I was told was the LyLee Mine. There was an abandoned safe, some mining equipment, lots of cable and a huge sawmill type saw located there. From Horseback you could see the dark outline of the cinder ballast winding off of the hill and rejoining the right-of-way of the CB&Q "Buckwheat" Branch up to Lyons.

I acquired copy a map of Colorado done by "Nells". It showed the DU&P's Hallack Junction at about 100th and (old) Wadsworth Blvd, where the tracks took off toward the foothills. Back behind El Dorado Springs there were some deep cuts that still remained from the grading done toward Rollins Pass and the Utah Border. Bob Richardson told me that he found some abandoned piles of rail there waiting to be laid back behind El Dorado Springs in the cuts there. There is a fill in Yankee Doodle Lake on Rollins Pass that was a DU&P construction as they planned a tunnel there.

The Nells map showed the DU&P not going to Grand Junction to exit the state but through Rangely to the north of Grand Junction.

One must remember that the DU&P had Dave Moffat involved and if you read the book 'The Moffat Road" there are photos showing some of the Moffat grades built over those earlier built by the DU&P. Some say that the DU&P was Moffat's first attempt to penetrate the front range from the Denver area.

The Station of Mitchell has been placed to the north of the Weld County City of Erie. At Erie, Colorado the DU&P crossed the UP Boulder Branch which was built as the Denver & Boulder Valley from Hughes (Brighton) on the Denver Pacific to Boulder, Colorado.

The line west from Hallack Junction, according to LaMassina in his book Colorado's Mountain Railroads never had "A stick of rail" laid on it.

The line from Denver to Lafayette was built by the UP subsidiary the Denver, Western & Pacific and the grade there was later sold to the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad (Burlington) which used the grade to build the line from Denver to Lafayette. This transaction is briefly covered in the ICC valuation files for both railroads, if merely as a footnote. The new Burlington Line connected with the DU&P there and continued to the quarries at Lyons. Remnants of the B&MR grade still exist south of Broomfield if one knows where to look, or they used to... It is my theory that the Denver & Interurban used portions of the old B&MR grade for their right-of-way between Denver and Louisville Junction as the CB&Q (by that time) was using the C&S main line.

The DU&P line was never extended too far beyond Lyons although some authors have written about the line being surveyed to go west from Lyons to Estes Park by the Burlington. The line would have been spectacular but almost strictly passenger as there was no notable mining going on in that area.

The DU&P was originally built as a 3' gauge but when the B&MR bought it and combined it with the DW&P it was Standard Gauged. The line remained intact until the 1980's when vandals burned a trestle at Idaho Creek. The traffic from Lyons was then handled via the C&S from Longmont to Denver and the remaining portion from Burns Junction to Lafayette was operated as an Industrial Spur.

Rick