Learn about the two railroads that once crossed South Park in this excerpt from the South Park National Heritage Area documentary. Produced by Lukacs and Associates.
I subsist on railroad history, and have studied the DSP&P RR from one end to the other...including Alpine Tunnel and Ohio Pass. I appreciate the work being done in Como to celebrate its history. (one caveat: the photo of the train in front of an "ice house (tall wood structure)" is a Colorado Midland train. The CMRR was a standard gauge (4'8 1/2") railroad that occasionally showed up in the South Park (but not on narrow gauge track!). Keep up the excellent work!
There is much anecdotal history of Colorado railroading in a book titled Little Engines and Big Men by Gilbert Lathrop. There are some hilarious stories about the South Park as well as some tragic ones. Worth finding for anyone who loves railroad history, particularly Colorado history.
The railroad was owned by the Colorado and Southern Ry. which was a subsidiary of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy RR. It wasn't a big political conglomerate.
Fascinating, particularly including both social and railroad history in one film. Loved the lady talking about the goings-on, and the man explaining how the roundhouse and turntable worked - how many youngsters would otherwise know what they were nowadays? The Johnson bar, incidentally, is the reversing lever on a steam loco - like a gear lever on a car - the beam to push the turntable round is an 'Armstrong' bar. Anything done manually on a steam railroad was credited to Mr Armstrong!
Back in that era, it was true that sometimes locomotive engineers would have their own unique whistles but what was more common was the way they blew the whistles. It was called "Quilling"
This is the origins story of South Park, probably the grand grand grandfather of Stan (who, for some reason, looked like Randy) worked as a geologist for the railway. Also, this railway exists in the cartoon.
We took the tracks because the people never wanted to pay for the train service. They had horses. Stop crying. Pay your bill. We might just come get your water pipes next. You have wells. Pay your bill.
