SilverRails.net

Day 2 of our long weekend sees the most Ghostfanning. Our first stop is in Hartsel, CO where we stop to take several photographs of the Colorado Midland Depot, Section House, and Outhouse that still survive here.

Our next stop we will spend allot of the day at which is at Fairplay in the South Park City museum. Many old builds are either original or are builds that have been moved here to preserve them as well as help create this Ghost Town type setting. Here we also find various narrow gauge equipment as well as a engine marks as Denver South Park & Pacific #22. It's not really a DSP&P engine but one of the same used by the RR which is the best this musesum could obtain. The engine is actauly from the "United Fruit Company #39 of Bananera, Guatemala"

The Depot was moved here from Buffalo Springs. It was originally (1900) a school house and today holds many items from the DSP&P, CM, and C&S railroads.
The Water Tower is also authentic, it's the RGS water tower from Ophir.

We will also walk around in Breckenridge before the rain (and snow later that night) to locate some lesser know pieces of RR history that are still here. One of those finds is this building which was built 1909 right on Main Street and was the home of J. E. Sayres; the C&S Railroad Agent of Breckenridge until 1905.

Comment (0)

Our final day of this RRAdventure...
Since the A/C of the car remains questionable, we decide to reduce our itinerary so that we will get home before the heat bakes us alive.
We start the morning off in Laramie and as we head to our first destination we come across a UP Caboose we didn't expect to find.

From here we head over to the park that is near my Great Grandparents house where I remember a steam engine that stood there and it was great to see it was still there.

Comment (0)

We start out this day by heading to Walden, CO to photograph UP Caboose #25408; I wonder if folks remember looking for this Google Earth Contest location.

-

- -

-

Comment (0)

A new day and a new set of adventures. We start off this day at Fish Creek Falls which we hike to both the top and the bottom of the falls.
From hear we head up to Hahn's Peak Lake which is where I used to go fishing with my Grandfather, Father, and Brother. I had not been there in untold years but could still remember the exact spot and use to toss in my line and catch fish. Brought a tear or two of pure happiness.
We return to Steamboat Springs to photograph the D&RGW Depot to also find Rio Grande Caboose #01502 standing near by.

-

We will continue west along US40 until we reach Craig. Here we will photograph the old Denver & Salt Lake Depot (later a D&RGW Station) and also photograph David Moffat's Marcia Parlor Car. This car is marked Denver, Notherwestern & Pacific on on side and Denver & Salt Lake on the other. We found the car closed & locked even though all documentation we had said it sould be open from tour. Last time we were here it was open and there wasn't a shelter over it.

-

Comment (0)

On this day, it was originally all about a scenic drive. We started the day at Rifle Cap Falls and explored some of the shallow caves there too. We now hop onto County Road 8 for a nice drive through the mountains stopping for a picnic at the Ripple Creek Overlook. Nothing like having lunch and listen to the Elk "Bugle" in the valley below. We resume our drive passing over Ripple Creek Pass (10,343 ft.) and stop for a photo stop as we cross over Dunckley Pass (9,763 ft.) eventually coming out at Yampa, CO. At this point we detour as we learned just 2 days before we left that the Kremmling Depot is scheduled to be moved so we decided to swing by and get a few shots. This takes us over Gore Pass (9,527 ft) and the cars transmission is starting to say enough.
Well, wouldn't you know it, when we reached Kremmling our view got blocked a bit to get a nice clean shot of the depot.

Comment (0)

We start out on this day by going up the side of the mountain to tour the "Glenwood Springs Caverns Adventure Park" which I would find out was now owned by a guy I went to collage with. During the tour it opens up on the side of the cliff and looking down we caught a Coal Train passing through Glenwood Canyon. I wonder if HEMI knows which tunnel this is?

After the tour we walked to downtown Glenwood Springs to take a few photographs; especially of the Depot and the Spa.

After reaching the east end of Glenwood Canyon we turned around to drive back to Glenwood Springs. Along the way we saw a UP Truck on the highway and then we got a crew on the tracks. Remember in my previous blog "Here is just a teaser of what we found but not the only thing", that other piece we found operating along with others including this truck.

Comment (0)

We start the day NW of Leadville by taking a drive around Turquoise Lake. We look several small hikes as well as stop at the Charles H Boustead Tunnel (Water) and the Sugar Loaf Dam. We then swing by the Leadville National Fish Hatchery.
We next head SW and drive over Independence Pass (12,095 ft.) and also stop at what's left of the old ghost town.
Not to fear, our next stop is very much RR related as we head to Basalt. Here we photograph the Colorado Midland Depot and as well the C&S Caboose #1050.

-

As we drop up the highway we noticed something on a side road; track? Now we understand all that should have been gone so we doubled back to find the side road and sure enough there it was. A small section of the Rio Grande Trail still was a section of track. Might make a great Google Earth contest in the future.

-

At the end of the day we reach Glenwood Springs and when we drove towards our hotel I noticed the UP yeard was close by and something; so after dinner we drop over there. Here is just a teaser of what we found but not the only thing.

Comment (0)

We continued our day and switched Fallen Flags; now the Denver & Rio Grande Western. But first, before we leave Buena Vista I wanted to share a smile. Beside the Depot is a Caboose listed as Colorado Midland #425 but don't be fouled, it's really CB&Q #14364. It fact, they have not yet painted the backside of the display where it still sports it RED color, logo, and road number. When I do my complete RRAdventues story I will share those backside images too.

-

Comment (0)

As folks I'm sure know by now my RRAdventures website is full of Tourist Railroad shots and few real world Railfan photos. But what folks might not be aware of is that I also take time out to chase RR history and photograph those places before time catches up and they are lost.
So, this next section of our trip we stopped by and photographed many Denver, South Park & Pacific places.

- -
Boreas Pass
Summit is at 11,481 feet

-
Como

Jefferson

Buena Vista

Comment (0)

Not a political statement but not wanting to be around all the "other" stuff that comes with holding a political convention for any party just down the street from your home.
So, Lisa and I decided to head into the hills and spend a week plus at higher altitude and do some photography. Some places we have not photographed before as well as places we decided it was time to do it again.
Not everything was RR related but we did catch many of RR shots along the way...
We started out stopping by a geological road cut along I-70 just outside of Morrison, CO.
From there we stopped up in Idaho Springs and for the first time took some photographs of the Colorado & Southern Depot and Section House there.

-

We turned off I-70 to drive over Loveland Pass (11,990 ft) and hike around. We also stopped by Pass Lake to take some more nature shots there.

We then pulled into Dillon where we falsely hear the old Depot there still existed. We talked to a historian there that said it had long since burned down a few years after it was no longer in service. We did however come across a house that was adding a Caboose to it's layout.

We later went into Keystone where we had learned the old Denver, South Park, & Pacific depot still stands.

Before call it a night in Breckenridge we stopped by the Rotary Snowplow Park again, this time to take some SUMMER shots of the equipment there we photographed last WINTER in several feet of snow.

Day #2 will bring many more RR shots to enjoy too...

Comment (0)