Re: Freight trains at Dillon (or Keystone)?

Posted by Jim Courtney on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Freight-trains-at-Dillon-or-Keystone-tp1868p3170.html

I saw this photo on eBay, one I've never seen before, so I bought a copy to add to this thread:



Okay, so it's not a freight train at Dillon.  But it is a freight engine on the daily Leadville passenger train.

The photo is not dated, but considering that there is not an RPO on the train, just a 4 door baggage car (is it number 1 or number 2?), the photo must have taken place between 1917 and 1931, when RPO operations were limited to the "Denver & Como RPO".

The locomotive, B-4-E number 72, gives other clues as to date:  The rebuilt "modern" tender, the CB&Q style box headlight, the Ridgeway spark arrestor, the modern sanding pipes all suggest post 1918.  The steel pilot beam still has a wood slat pilot attached.  To me this suggests 1922-1925, based on dated Otto Perry photos of engines with similar features.

Note the Dillon depot still is painted in the light grey with green trim at this date--note also the painted light bands on the two chimneys. The darker red and green scheme is still in the future.

There are little piles of cinders on either side of the switch stand, suggesting that the switch stand was possibly used as a marker, to spot the passenger train at the depot.

At this point, I've still not seen a photo of the passenger train at the depot, with the engine headed north toward Keystone.  Is it possible that both the eastbound and westbound passengers were backed from Dickey to Dillon, and both returned to Dickey engine first?