Colorado Railroads Chronological Development by T Wilkins w/DJ1974 + supplement

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Colorado Railroads Chronological Development By Tivis Wilkins

Hard Cover with Dust Jacket

309 Pages

Table Of Contents

PrefaceVii

Part IEarly Construction1

Part IiExpansion And Consolidation29

Part IiiChange Of Pace93

Part IvAbandonments And Joint Lines195

Notes276

Bibliography285

Index 295

This chronological account of the development of Colorado's railroad system was compiled to provide a unified source of information and to furnish a nucleus for more comprehensive research into the State's railroad history. The primary objective is to show the physical development of the system, although for explanatory purposes occasional reference is made to corporate actions, court decisions and intercompany relationships. The chronological format was adopted to enable the reader to systematically trace the over-all development through the first hundred years and at the same time observe concurrent developments in the construction and abandonments of the different lines. Factual information rather than entertainment is the underlying theme, with a degree of brevity consistent with adequate communication.

The information is presented in a modified outline form showing the name of the railroad, the section of track constructed or abandoned, the gauge and the mileage. This is usually followed by a brief statement of related information. Gauge changes are shown in the construction sections in the years in which they occurred. When the name of a railroad appears for the first time, succeeding names, if any, immediately follow in parentheses. Only major name changes are shown; slight modifications in corporate titles, such as from "Railroad" to "Railway," are considered irrelevant to the purpose of the report. Where a line of road was built under the charter of a subsidiary company but upon completion was leased and operated by the parent company, construction is shown under the name of the parent railroad with appropriate notation in the text. This procedure is also applied where the original construction was financed by a non-railroad company with a lease or title transfer provision. Initials of railroads, or bynames like "Santa Fe," "Rock Island," and "Rio Grande," are frequently used in the explanatory text. Identifying symbols for individual railroads are shown with their names in the index.

Sidings,'yard tracks and industrial spurs within terminal or station switching limits are omitted except where they were used at some time as part of a main ,track. Although stretches of double track existed on main lines at various times, only single track mileage is shown except where the two tracks are separately owned. Government-owned lines are included only when operated under lease or other

agreement by a common carrier railroad, in which case the trackage is listed under the specific railroad with an explanatory note. Street railway systems within towns and cities and their immediate environs, including several short steam tramways which ran between Denver and what were then outlying areas, are not reported. However, electric interurban lines are included even though they might have been physically connected and under common ownership with urban lines. Logging railroads are omitted unless operated as a common carrier, primarily because adequate data on their frequently altered routes was not found. This is not to infer that the information does not exist; perhaps through more diligent research it will be uncovered at some future time, either in total or in part.

Specific dates shown for track completions and initial operations might in some instances differ from those given by the railroad company. This can partially be attributed to the company's practice of reporting such dates. A section of road might have been reported complete either on the date the track was ready for traffic, the date on which scheduled operations began or some other date selected by the railroad company, such as the date of an excursion or other event. Railroad companies frequently contracted with construction companies for the building of lines and in some instances the announced completion date was that on which the line was formally accepted from the construction company. Occasionally accommodation trains were operated by the construction company prior to the initiation of service by the railroad company itself.

An explanation of abandonment dates is appropriate also. Prior to 1907 a line of railroad within Colorado could be abandoned simply by decision of the raliroad company, without interference from any state or federal agency. In March 1907 the Colorado State Railroad Commission was created with certain powers over abandonments. However, the authority of that commission was ineffective and in August 1914 it was succeeded by the Public Utilities Commission of Colorado. The PUC was empowered with more authority than its predecessor in the control of abandonments and was the sole regulatory body in Colorado railroad affairs until Congress passed The Transportation Act of 1920. That regulation gave the United States Interstate Commerce Commission control over the abandonment of most lines of railroads engaged in interstate commerce. The authority of ICC has been broadly interpreted to include nearly all abandonments, regardless of whether the lines crossed state borders. This has somewhat abrogated the PUC authority in that function. As a general rule the effective dates given in PUC and ICC decisions are used in the report for abandonments which occurred after the regulatory laws became effective. For prior years reference was made to company records, reports of public agencies or contemporary news items. Occasionally there was a rather long interval between the actual discontinuance of service and the official abandonment date and in a few rare instances revenue trains were operated over a line after it was declared abandoned.

Distances shown in the report might not in all instances be in exact agreement with those in subsequent track records. Changes in station locations, corrected surveys, alignment changes or the omission of fractional track extensions or reductions could account for differences.

The material was compiled from numerous sources, including railroad company reports and records, reports and files of federal and state agencies, books, newspapers, trade publications and unpublished manuscripts. The elusive nature of some of the material and occasional conflicting information were among the difficulties encountered. Every reasonable effort has been made to provide an accurate account hut no matter how diligent the research nor how careful the editing, the possibility of error or omission is ever present in any work of this scope. Then, too, there is the danger of taking the wrong track where conflicts in source material occur. Any documented information in regard to inaccurate or incomplete data will be gratefully received.

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