Re: Freight trains at Dillon?

Posted by Mike Trent on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Freight-trains-at-Dillon-or-Keystone-tp1868p2789.html

Jim,

I don't think we can possibly think the stock cars in passenger trains were the norm at all. What we now know is that it happened on occasion, and that can't be denied. In fact, that they were in occasional passenger consists would have made it quite an interesting subject to Otto Perry and others, but still rare. I'm quite sure that an occasional reefer and boxcar were also run as express on the passenger train, but that probably would have been even more rare. The reason it makes sense to run stock cars in the consist was because it was a way to get around the 12 hour law to release the critters. It was probably never necessary to run stock cars in the passenger train between Denver and Como in either direction, and was also not necessary to run stock cars in the consist between Leadville and Como in either direction. It was necessary across the subdivisions at Como because of the way the regular freights were operated on a two day schedule twice a week.

A  20 car stock train between Denver and Dillon would  have been run "Extra", but would still have had to overnight at Como. Most likely, that would have been run on Friday and Saturday. East End Engine crews would have had to hole up at Como until their engines were returned late Saturday, and then run light back to Denver that night or Sunday.

I don't know how big the pens were at Como,, but it seems to me that 20 cars of stock would be a sizable population.

The only time the Como stock pens came up in my conversations with Doug Shnarbush was when he told a story about a government revenue agent who came up there looking for a still in the 30's. One of the local guys had a still down by the lower tank where the stock pens were and the guy went down and dumped all his stuff into the troughs, so the agent found only a bunch of drunk hogs.  

So, safe to say that hogs were transported as well, sober or otherwise.