Steam & Excursion > C&TS Osier Coal Docks

The first photo is from the 1980s. The second is from earlier this year.

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The first photo is from the mid-1990's given the condition of the track. In '93 or so, we moved the siding back to its original location, replacing ties and leveling out the area. While we were at it we tried to put the coal dock back together, but there was much missing. We think it had been a source of wood for hunters and snowmobilers. After the Friends' Square Nail Gang completed the section house restoration, they rebuilt the coal dock to its original configuration. Photo is of the siding after rebuilding, also showing the coal dock at that point.

Bill Kepner

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Does anybody have any idea how often the coaling dock was used in the 50's and 60's? Hard to imagine trying to load a tender at night in a driving snow storm.

And that's most likely when it was used, to fuel the rotary and the plow trains.

Out



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/14 18:07 by callum_out.

cbk Wrote:
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> Does anybody have any idea how often the coaling
> dock was used in the 50's and 60's?

For coaling locomotives? Most likely never.

I've never seen anything that indicates it was a regular coaling point for trains. It was installed in conjunction with a turntable at the end of the spur, for use if a locomotive was either assigned to Osier, or which laid over for some reason.

Once the turntable was removed and the smaller inside-frame 2-8-0s were retired, it wasn't very useful. I've seen one photo from 1950 that shows the platform - it has a small amount of coal on it, not enough to supply a locomotive. The coal was probably there to be used for heat and cooking in the various buildings.

As Bill indicated, the siding was moved away from the platform at some point, making it impossible to use it as originally intended.

Edit: John Norwood refers to the platform in his October 1969 TRAINS magazine article about the events of January 1952.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/14 07:07 by johnacraft.

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The track was moved in the early 1970's to parallel the mainline. A boxcar containing restrooms was installed there until the Osier depot building was converted to a restroom building. After that a boxcar containing a gift shop was set out on the track. Once the present dining hall was built, there was not need for a gift shop and rest rooms there as they were contained in the new building.

The first photo, taken by C. R. Lively and published in "Chama / Cumbres" by Richard Dorman, shows Osier around 1915.

The second photo, from the ca. 1976 C&TS Historic Preservation Study by Spencer Wilson and Vernon Glover, shows what remains of the platform around that time.

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