Re: C&S RPO 11: More details
Posted by Jim Courtney on Nov 04, 2018; 5:52pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-RPO-11-Linn-Moedinger-s-Shapeways-Print-in-Sn3-and-Hon3-tp12427p12618.html
Mike,
I believe you misunderstood my comment about the RPO service on the Leadville passenger train in the 1929 photo, re: going only as far as Como. Perhaps we should review the history of passenger operations and RPO service over the High Line, including your Dickey:
Per Mac Poor and Cornelius Hauck, the new C&S established through Denver-Leadville mail service with RPOs in 1901. First decade photos of South Park Division passenger trains show both RPO-baggage and RPO-Coaches in the consists.
Ronfor Collection, in Grandt's Narrow Gauge Pictorial VI. Leadville c1903. The RPO behind C&S 22 will later be rebuilt into our familiar RPO 13.
McClure photo, DPL. Shawnee, c1905. Two door baggage car (later C&S 1 or 2) and RPO-Coach at head end.
Remember that in 1911, the run over Boreas was closed by the new CB&Q management. Passenger trains 71-72 ran only Denver to Como, including mail service. Breckenridge and Dillon were served by a passenger turn out of Leadville, out and back daily. Not sure if mail was handled, the only photo of such train shows a combine and coach, though the combine looks to be one of the RPO-Coaches 40-43. Maybe Ken Martin can opine here.
Otto Westerman photo in Kinding, et al, The Pictorial Supplement . . .
Public and legal pressure from the state resulted in the C&S resuming through Denver--Leadville passenger service in 1913, including RPO service.
According to Rail Annual 12, RPO service from Como to Leadville was again discontinued west of Como in 1917. Passenger service continued to be Denver-Leadville, daily except Sunday.
When the passenger trains 71-72 became tri-weekly runs in 1931, through Leadville RPO mail service was re-instituted and continued until abandonment of the South Park mainline in 1938.
So, from 1917 to 1931, the RPO out of Denver was operated as the "Denver & Como" RPO and mail handled locally along the line was so post marked.
A lot of photos of the Denver-Leadville train from the late teens to late 1920's show the Mail-Coaches 40-43 in the consist, with a baggage car ahead and one or more coaches behind. I've often wondered if the coach portion of cars 40-43 was a designated smoking section.
R.J. Jackson photo, Crossens tank, 1929.
As we've discussed in another thread, the Mail-Coaches ran only so far as Como, where they were cut out of the west bound train on arrival (the arriving train had turned on the wye east of town and backed to the depot, so the RPO section was pointed east), then cut into the east bound passenger train for the return to Denver. Denver-Como mail clerks made a daily round trip. From Como to Leadville a baggage car handled the express business and a single coach usually sufficed for the dwindling passenger traffic.
Otto Perry photo, near Boreas Snowshed, also 1929
When express business was light (winter perhaps), one of the RPO's 10-13 might be used in lieu of the RPO-Coach, if the through express business could be handled in the baggage compartment of the RPO. An example would be RPO 11 in the passenger train at Buffalo, in my post above in this thread. If an RPO was used in the consist, the mail clerk likely de-trained at Como and the RPO section was run locked and empty from Como to Leadville and return.
After through Denver -- Leadville mail service returned on the tri-weekly trains after 1931, express business had fallen off, there were fewer passengers and the mail contract was the money maker that kept the passenger trains running. The usual two car consist of RPO and coach became the norm, usually RPO 13, occasionally 10, 11 or 12:
If express business was unusually heavy on a given day in the mid to late 1930s, a baggage car 1-4 might be added to the head end:
Both photos Breckenridge, 1935. Note RPO 10-11-12 in lower consist.
This scenario likely explains no photos of the mail coaches 40-43 after 1930. Hope this explanation helps . . .
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-RPO-11-Linn-Moedinger-s-Shapeways-Print-in-Sn3-and-Hon3-tp12427p12618.html
Mike,
I believe you misunderstood my comment about the RPO service on the Leadville passenger train in the 1929 photo, re: going only as far as Como. Perhaps we should review the history of passenger operations and RPO service over the High Line, including your Dickey:
Per Mac Poor and Cornelius Hauck, the new C&S established through Denver-Leadville mail service with RPOs in 1901. First decade photos of South Park Division passenger trains show both RPO-baggage and RPO-Coaches in the consists.
Ronfor Collection, in Grandt's Narrow Gauge Pictorial VI. Leadville c1903. The RPO behind C&S 22 will later be rebuilt into our familiar RPO 13.
McClure photo, DPL. Shawnee, c1905. Two door baggage car (later C&S 1 or 2) and RPO-Coach at head end.
Remember that in 1911, the run over Boreas was closed by the new CB&Q management. Passenger trains 71-72 ran only Denver to Como, including mail service. Breckenridge and Dillon were served by a passenger turn out of Leadville, out and back daily. Not sure if mail was handled, the only photo of such train shows a combine and coach, though the combine looks to be one of the RPO-Coaches 40-43. Maybe Ken Martin can opine here.
Otto Westerman photo in Kinding, et al, The Pictorial Supplement . . .
Public and legal pressure from the state resulted in the C&S resuming through Denver--Leadville passenger service in 1913, including RPO service.
According to Rail Annual 12, RPO service from Como to Leadville was again discontinued west of Como in 1917. Passenger service continued to be Denver-Leadville, daily except Sunday.
When the passenger trains 71-72 became tri-weekly runs in 1931, through Leadville RPO mail service was re-instituted and continued until abandonment of the South Park mainline in 1938.
So, from 1917 to 1931, the RPO out of Denver was operated as the "Denver & Como" RPO and mail handled locally along the line was so post marked.
A lot of photos of the Denver-Leadville train from the late teens to late 1920's show the Mail-Coaches 40-43 in the consist, with a baggage car ahead and one or more coaches behind. I've often wondered if the coach portion of cars 40-43 was a designated smoking section.
R.J. Jackson photo, Crossens tank, 1929.
As we've discussed in another thread, the Mail-Coaches ran only so far as Como, where they were cut out of the west bound train on arrival (the arriving train had turned on the wye east of town and backed to the depot, so the RPO section was pointed east), then cut into the east bound passenger train for the return to Denver. Denver-Como mail clerks made a daily round trip. From Como to Leadville a baggage car handled the express business and a single coach usually sufficed for the dwindling passenger traffic.
Otto Perry photo, near Boreas Snowshed, also 1929
When express business was light (winter perhaps), one of the RPO's 10-13 might be used in lieu of the RPO-Coach, if the through express business could be handled in the baggage compartment of the RPO. An example would be RPO 11 in the passenger train at Buffalo, in my post above in this thread. If an RPO was used in the consist, the mail clerk likely de-trained at Como and the RPO section was run locked and empty from Como to Leadville and return.
After through Denver -- Leadville mail service returned on the tri-weekly trains after 1931, express business had fallen off, there were fewer passengers and the mail contract was the money maker that kept the passenger trains running. The usual two car consist of RPO and coach became the norm, usually RPO 13, occasionally 10, 11 or 12:
If express business was unusually heavy on a given day in the mid to late 1930s, a baggage car 1-4 might be added to the head end:
Both photos Breckenridge, 1935. Note RPO 10-11-12 in lower consist.
This scenario likely explains no photos of the mail coaches 40-43 after 1930. Hope this explanation helps . . .
Jim Courtney
Poulsbo, WA
Poulsbo, WA
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