Hi, Just a short note saying that I have just joined as a result of finding Michael York (dspfan) via Google. I model the colorado narrow gauge , with a considerable leaning towards the DSP & CCRR in about 1880, in Fn3 scale. That keeps me busy as I live in England, and virtually all my layout is scratch built in the garden: I have put up a message uneder the G scale section - really I am not yet sure which section would be best for me. Why the 1880's - the trains were short and colorful, (before the Union Pacific changed everything to black!) and rolling stock was short as well. Yours Peter.
Welcome Peter. Like you, my layout is outside and I love it. Since you model DSP&P, many many years ago, my late wife & I visited the Alpine Tunnel on the old South Park. At that time, it was still possible to get inside (the west portal) with some digging and moving large timbers. As my wife hollered that I would get killed, I got to actually get just inside the tunnel...it was pitch dark and smelled like..well, it was nasty in there. I took a couple of very dark photos and scrambled back out. The old station was still there and remains of the stone enginehouse and turntable were fairly easy to identify. I believe the tunnel has been permantly closed now and the station has been restored by the Colorado Parks Dept. What a wonderful place to have been. Woodie
Hi Woodie, Thanks for the note, I was smitten by Colorado as a result of a holiday there a long time ago now, but Alpine tunnel is a bit out of where we went (1000 miles in a brand new car in a week) , I know of its location and the troble to both build it and much more to attempt to maintain it. The geologists got it wrong big time in their estimation of the make up of the rock at its location, didn't they! Something very like it also occured in the building of the Eisenhower tunnel of I 70 I believe - that was cured of its troubles with a huge girdle of conrete. Yours Peter.
Peter-the Altman Pass which the Alpine Tunnel went through was/is just a lot of loose rock between two mountains. The engineers either didn't know or maybe didn't care about this dangerous feature when they built it. The tunnel has been the source of many haunting legends in the "high country", supposedly, the Ute Indians laid a curse on the area before the railroad pushed through. Added to the legends is the fact that a few years ago, the Utes had the curse taken away. Facts are stranger than fiction. Woodie
They didn't know what they were up against. It wasn't until they spent a number of months digging that they brought in some geologists. It was too late by that point. Michael
