Steam & Excursion > Steam to Return to Como!

The Como Project.

A suitable steam locomotive, or words to that effect. I wonder which one. A South Park 2-6-6 is at the Colorado RR Museum, but I can't imagine them letting it go or loaning/leasing it out. Probably wouldn't be a great idea to try to restore something like that to service; too much original material would be lost.

Well, it just says "suitable" not "original" or "Authentic". Interesting project, anyway. Seems like we just drove by that area and looked at it again a year and a half ago, and no sign then anything serious was being done there. Nice to see now there IS activity there! === === = === JLH

For those of you interested in the "human side" of Como and the South Park, author 
Margaret Coel's grandfather and great grandfathers were engineers on the South Park.
Margaret, better known for her mystery novels, work with her grandfather and published
his recollections in "Goin Railroading" https://www.amazon.com/Goin-Railroading-Generations-Colorado-Stories/dp/0870814974 
It's a nice read for when the weather prevents us from getting out and chasing trains!

Nobody has ever heard of these people until a few days ago.
They want MONEY for a SECRET PROJECT and will not say what locomotive is involved. Schemes like these have come and gone over the years in Colorado and this is another one, but they do have a SLICK web page.

Eddy

CPR_4000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A suitable steam locomotive, or words to that
> effect. I wonder which one. A South Park 2-6-6 is
> at the Colorado RR Museum, but I can't imagine
> them letting it go or loaning/leasing it out.
> Probably wouldn't be a great idea to try to
> restore something like that to service; too much
> original material would be lost.

There is no 2-6-6 at the CRRM.  In fact there are no 2-6-6's left at all.  the last one was cut up during WWII.  They do have a former South Park 2-8-0.  It is a cherished object in Golden.  It has significant original fabric, including a wrought iron boiler, and will more than likely never see steam again.

I have to wonder about the steam engine. They say they acquired one, but do not have a picture of it, nor say where it came from. 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

The engineers were actually Margaret's father and grandfather. Both were named Sam Speas. Her uncles were also engineers.

   couple of the names are familar to me,  Jason has done a lot of projects and restorations was involved Boulder County heritage museum?, before red tape and neighbors efeectively squeleched that operation near valmont,  they wanted to do a dinner train, from Valmont to the 287 crossing on the UP line to boulder that RTD owns, that is where the rail is coming from.  UP still had the power as well to quelch, which they did, he continues to do stuff in kansas on a farm he got , Jason also published, colorado railroad news for a few years. Tim Bain's name i Have heard on his posts on NGDF.  But another name , who has tirelessly worked , and is the face to me, of work done there is absent, but this just could be he can't right now.

corrections welcome,

was kinda hoping Lindsey Ashby inc would take some toys up there, since his departure from the loop, or somewhere, and start getting some tracks inching towards boreas, over a shared road rebuilt RR alignment, there is space for both, in my studies, things get tighter on the Breckenridge side, with a few rock cuts, near Baker tank, approx. A 2-6-0, the last 6 was a typo , it is allready with in 20 miles of como, but that is top secret.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/17 09:37 by dan.

Why do you guys just love cast doubt on everything? My guess is that it's easy to do that when you yourself have never volunteered an ounce of real effort or personal resources into something of this magnitude. These guys built a couple hundred feet of track last year with hand tools and very little equipment as I recall.

TrackGuy

Posted from Android

Sorry I have not responded before now. I can understand a little skepticism about why we haven't identified the Locomotive. You see, the previous owner doesn’t want the attention this would bring as he has had security issues in the past. So he has asked us to not identity it until we have moved it off the property. And since he has been very supportive of the project, we felt this was a reasonable request. We hope to release more information about the locomotive within a few weeks. Sorry Eddy; its not a big conspiracy.  

As to Eddy's other statement of "Nobody has heard of these Guys until three days ago"; that is correct if referring to the South Park Historical Society. It was formed three months ago. However, the people who founded it ARE known by a few people. Dan has already mentioned Jason, who is also a director of the Denver South Park & Pacific Historical Society. Another founder has been the owner of the Como Roundhouse for 15 years. Our president came from the Sumpter Valley Railway where he was the Operations Manager for well over a decade along with a board member.  

However, this project also involves a lot of other people as well. The DSP&P Historical Society has been working on Como for years and continues to do so. The private individual who owns the depot and the Hotel also has sunk a lot of his own money in the Hotel; and still is doing so. One of the Roundhouse's previous owners is the guy who is managing the turntable project today and the current owner has invested a large amount of his own money into the preservation the Roundhouse. He started talking to me in 2015 about how to "take the roundhouse to the next step" and that's where the South Park Rail Society came from.  

So somebody may have never heard of us guys, but nobody? ......Well that just hurts :)

Thanks for your efforts so far. I'm looking foward to the future and hope the loco will be authentic.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

My wife and I attended Boreas Pass Railroad Day last year mainly to see the roundhouse and restored depot in Como.  We were extremely impressed and look forward to this project.  I joined the D&SPHS a few years ago and am impressed with the work they've done.  We hope the steam operation attracts enthusiastic attention with the dream of sending tracks over the pass again!

It would seem it would be relatively closer to a population zone than the Nevada Northern. (As much as I love the NN.)

​Victor A. Baird
​http://www.erstwhilepublications.com