Re: Here is location of 1st Como Depot

Posted by Dave Eggleston on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Here-is-location-of-1st-Como-Depot-tp18859p18879.html

John,

You've been making this argument for several years in several forums. I have to admit that I'm still hung up on the same question David Fromm asks: Why would they move this one building section to Como? To push this further: What is so unique about this piece of building that they'd chose a move over either new construction or moving a local Como building?

We have solidly verified that the railroad did move some structures in the 1880s (examples include: Hancock station (1887), Crisman water tank to St Elmo (ca 1886-1888), Woodstock section house to Alpine Tunnel (1890), a turntable to St Elmo (1885) and large items such as the Platte Canyon iron bridges in 1878). Records and photos exist for these moves--and all had a specific purpose as a structure that was critical to the move decision. What you propose, while physically possible, lacks that type of justification I see for the other structure moves.

That building wing seen in a fuzzy picture looks unpresupposing and common for that time. The logistics of this move would be significant, the costs not insignificant. The questions I ask are: Why this particular piece of a particular building? What was the cost of deconstructing and moving this structure 88 miles up Platte Canyon and Kenosha versus building it new?

From mid-1878 up to January 1881 the South Park was making money hand over fist on the Leadville traffic. And yet at the same time every expense was being scrutinized. They were deliberate in what they did. They also didn't have much bandwidth to move things given the vast traffic--Leadville and construction--they were dealing with. When the UP took over the oversight became worse. Yes, the UP spent money on bad ideas (where there was a whiff of profit) like a drunken <fill in the blank> but they also were stingy on spending on small details.

Overall, all the detail on the various constructional bits is part of the story. You've gone deep on those. But to me it is just as important to understand the motives and justifications (financial and business ops). Why would they do this move instead of the other options?