Re: Alpine Tunnel Construction Camps

Posted by Dave Eggleston on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Alpine-Tunnel-Construction-Camps-tp19236p19253.html

Rick, great information. A few items and a question.

Atlantic is not listed on the Oct. 1st, 1884 Employee Timetable but is listed in the 1889 timetable reprinted in the endleaves of Mac Poor's DSP&P. Not definitive documents on its existence but you could be led to believe Atlantic siding wasn't built until the mid- to late-1880s. Or you could be led to believe it was built during 1881--whether left or removed in 1882 or 1883, we don't know. I do think it is plausible the company didn't see a siding as critical for unloading on a dead-end construction stub.

St Elmo got the turntable in July 1885 both in anticipation of Aspen traffic and the newly discovered need for months-long winter closures of the line from St Elmo or Hancock and Pitkin. An interesting side comment in one newspaper is that with the turntable the trains will no longer have to back down Chalk Creek Canyon during tunnel closures. Backing was a tolerated norm for a period of time, which I hadn't expected.

I need some clarification on that Hancock photo. Is it the one in Helmer's book on page 123 with the flangers, business car and passenger car? And is the wye indicated in it by the engines appearing to sit on the wrong side of the water tank? Or is it another photo? There IS another photo taken on the same day from the other side of the train that can be seen in Klinger's Gunnison book, I think page 152.

Hancock's wye in the 19th century is a head-scratcher for me--it makes sense but there is conflicting information as to its existence. I've learned that what makes sense to me wasn't necessarily how railroaders thought in the 19th century. I know, welcome to the South Park.

<slightly edited> The main reasons I've wondered if it existed at that time is based on no wye listed at Hancock in South Park/DL&G timetables I've seen (1884, 1889, 1898) and also on the C&S discussions starting in November 1903 about putting in a wye at Hancock, a discussion that implies there was no wye there, almost like there hadn't been one there for some time, if ever. It was approved and built. As much as logic suggests otherwise I can't overlook these items. And I agree with Jim Courtney's argument that a wye made sense during construction but I just haven't found anything to substantiate that. Could it have been put in during 1881 only to fall out of use in 1882 once full operation to Gunnison started? The DL&G era photo seems the one solid supporting piece of evidence for a pre-C&S wye I've found or heard of, I'm just not certain which photo clearly shows the wye at that time.