"Unseen Clear Creek Passenger Service" -- Part 2

Posted by Jim Courtney on Nov 28, 2015; 10:01pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Yet-Another-DPL-Gem-Unseen-Clear-Creek-tp2400p4077.html

Since it appears that Chris's original thread has morphed into "Unseen Clear Creek Passenger Service", I thought I'd throw out a few more images.

After WWI excursion traffic up Clear Creek to the Loop and Silver Plume dwindled, the public preferring weekend auto outings thanks to Mr. Ford's product. The Argentine Central excursions ceased after 1917, and the Sunrise Peak aerial tram closed in 1915.

The mainstay of Clear Creek passenger service after 1920 was trains 52-53, the daily "down" local from Silver Plume to Denver and return. It departed Silver Plume at 7:05 AM (8:10AM on Sundays as train 56) and left Denver at 3:15PM, arriving back at Silver Plume after dark at 6:50 PM. The above photos of number 7 that I posted are all likely train 52. The 2-6-0 power spent the night in the open at Silver Plume during its layover. There was an ash pit at Silver Plume on the mainline just west of the depot to allow ashes to be dropped.


Sanborn image, dated 1926.  Only two cars today, the mail likely handled in the combine.


In a long ago post on the C&Sn3 Blog, Derrell Poole posted a photo of likely the same train pulled up to the depot at Silver Plume, awaiting departure for Denver:

http://coloradosouthern.blogspot.com/2014/06/ropers-snapshot-saturday-no6.html

The combine appears to be number 30.


In the summer time, from 1921 to 1926, there appears to have been enough remaining excursion traffic to restore the second "up train" from Denver to Silver Plume and return  (trains 55-56), usually from May 31st to October 1st. The train laid over at the Silver Plume wye, allowing the excursionists to have lunch at the C&S Pavilion next to the wye. During the summer, RPO traffic was handled on the up train, and RPO 13 was common in the consist.


Ducca photograph, dated 1926.



Photographer unknown, dated 1926 (I bought this image on eBay).

This, 1926, is the last summer that the "up train" operated. In the second photo, number 8 still has its "intermediate" tender, and coach 59 is again in the consist. Both number 5 and number 7 still have their wood slat pilots mounted to a steel pilot beam.  Number 7 in the 1926 image above already has a modern steel tube pilot.


There was another "unseen" scheduled bit of passenger service at Silver Plume in the 1920s, the Burleigh Tunnel's tourist mine tram ride (another reason for the "up train" 55-56 to layover at Silver Plume). The fare to ride 3,000 feet into the mountain via the tunnel in a modified tram car was 50 cents. The train was a name train, the "Groundhog". Motive power was the Tarkington locomotive, a rebuilt Ford model-T:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/34400/rv/singleitem/rec/1


The "passenger car" was un-numbered/un-named, but had reversible seats for the trip out, back to daylight.


Next to the tail of the C&S wye, the Burleigh Tunnel owners built the rustic clock tower depot for the "Groundhog", that Harry Brunk first introduced to us:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/3640/rec/1
 

The depot, like those of the Maine Two-footers, was a covered depot.  Note the main track for the "Groundhog's" departure behind the support posts. Only three passengers today?


Before the downturn in mining, the Burleigh Tunnel actually mined ore and had a large mill:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/347/rec/35

View from the Sunrise Peak tram, c1910. The bridge that carried the C&S tail of the wye over Clear Creek is just over the "S" of Silver Plume. Later, it would become a vital link in the Route of the Groundhog.



Claustrophobic excursionists could take lunch during the layover at the C&S Pavilion, built c1901-1902, or stroll the picnic grounds:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/77719/rec/154



After Clear Creek passenger service ceased, the C&S Pavilion was sold to a local restaurateur, and the iconic building lost its dignity:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/3652/rec/8


That looks like a stuffed chicken strapped to the tree, below the neon sign. An important modeling detail for your Leadville café or beer-joint, Keith.


References:

Cornelius W. Hauck, Narrow Gauge to Central and Silver Plume; Colorado Rail Annual 10, Colorado Railroad Museum, 1972.

P.R. Griswold, et al, Georgetown and the Loop, Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, 1988.