Yampa Valley Mail

The Yampa Valley Mail and a rambling Colorado Railroad story. Colorado once had scores of railroad companies but the two that survived the longest were the Denver & Salt Lake and the Denver & Rio Grande. Both focused on routes West of the Front Range.

The D&SL, aka the Moffat line, was the builder/owner of the Moffat Tunnel. As part of the bond financing, a property tax, the Moffat Tunnel Tax, was imposed on portions of Colorado along the original route. The D&SL made it from Denver to Craig, CO before running out of money.

The D&RG was the most successful railroad and did reach Salt Lake City. Many smaller railroads, including the D&SL, were acquired. The financial maneuvers involved probably wouldn’t withstand close scrutiny. When the D&RG got control of the Moffat Tunnel, they acquired the debts and obligations. One obligation was to provide daily passenger service from Denver to Craig. No service, no Moffat Tunnel Tax.

Passenger service was a money loser and the D&RG tried to get out. There were three trains, the D&RG portion of the California Zephyr (now operated by Amtrak, the Prospector, an overnight train to Salt Lake City, and the Yampa Valley Mail. The dastardly Western Slope residents wouldn’t let the D&RG out of the passenger train service unless the Moffat Tunnel Tax was rescinded. Hence, the Yampa Valley Mail continued. The train usually consisted of a ALCO PA1 locomotive with a unique square nose profile, a mail/baggage car, and one passenger car. The ALCOs could haul. Even with numerous stops, the train averaged 60 mph over a roadbed that was kept to freight, not passenger, standards. At some point the mail subsidy went away; then the tunnel bonds were paid off, and around 1968 the service stopped.

In Colorado, the railroads are responsible for fencing their right of ways and are liable for any livestock they kill. In the Yampa Valley area, annual snowfall can exceed 30 feet making for steep snow banks along side the tracks.

Along about March each year, a certain rancher would run out of “drinking money”. His solution was to kick one of his culls onto the track just before the mail train was due. The claim was always for his best prime breeder.

A sound business plan and proper marketing could have made the train profitable. Today, the Union Pacific owns the D&RG and has closed several of the routes. The Craig route has been built up to handle heavy coal traffic. The roadbed is in excellent condition,

The UP could probably build a profitable business running a train catering to skiers with a stop in Winter Park, Bond, and Steamboat Springs. From Bond, shuttle buses could easily serve Vail and Beaver Creek.

My father was a section foreman for the D&RG for ten years. We used the Yampa Valley Mail to visit Denver. Often we were the only passengers. Some of the route is nearly wilderness as no roads go into some of the canyons.

Hope some of you will enjoy this as a break from the current crap (TSA, Congress, the One, etc.).

Cry Wolf

 

Colorado Wolf Pack

The environazis have successfully made introducing wolves in Colorado law and policy. Wyoming has a different take on the matter. Seems Colorado wolfs are showing up dead in Wyoming. Surely, no Colorado rancher would kill one then take a short drive across the state line and dump the carcass? Heavens no! Long article here. MORE

Will cracking down on this be a priority for the Jackson and Moffat County Sheriffs? Will average January temperatures reach 90°? Routt County is different in there is only one road to Wyoming, closed in winter, and high clearance vehicles recommended.

40°56’14.79”N 107°00’04.59W

Short geography explanation. From the Utah line across the Wyoming line are, in order, Moffat, Routt, and Jackson counties. Moffat and Jackson counties are impacted more by wolf reintroduction. As the wolf population grows, Rio Blanco and Grand Counties will be impacted.

But what wolves will be introduced? The wolves once common in the Rocky Mountains were about the size of Mexican wolves. The wolves to be introduced are Canadian wolves which are much larger.

What? No Masks!!

A study validating common sense for protection against colds. Face diapers not needed. MORE

 Broken Window Policing

A long article on how focusing on property crimes helps curtail car theft crimes. All have a degree of commonality. MORE

What I find telling is this practice originated in the conservative areas of Colorado and is grudgingly being started in the (P)regressive Front Range areas.

Electric Vehicle Trap

This has been floating around Falsebook for a few days. Authentic? Who knows? Sobering if true.

I Hear A Train A’coming

Brace yourself! WSF finds a public transportation scheme that makes sense.

Housing in Steamboat Springs, CO is so expensive only trust fund snots can afford it. Workers are squeezed. Many live to the West in Hayden or Craig, 25 to 45 miles away. Other live South in Oak Creek or even Phippsburg and Yampa, more miles away. All are served by two lane highways with very few passing lanes.

The Union Pacific rail line is well maintained with coal trains running constantly. Some sort of commuter train service along the Yampa Valley River corridor makes sense. MORE

In a earlier blog I wrote about the Yampa Valley Mail.

https://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/search?q=yampa+valley+mail

Would reviving the Yampa Valley Mail be financially viable? For Denver area residents wanting to do “The Boat”, avoiding a four hour+  drive over two mountain passes might draw a lot of passengers.

Colorado College Football

Disclaimer. I’m  a lukewarm football fan. As a player I never rose above mediocre. What gets my attention is Coach Prime Time Deion Sanders and his impact on the University of Colorado, aka Birkenstock U, and the (P)regressive sinkhole of Boulder, CO. Christian man, starts every meeting with a prayer, and exudes traditional values. In Boulder? Well, if you bring in the big bucks all is ignored. Estimates are last weekend $17,000,000 was spent in Boulder businesses. CU merchandise sales and ticket sales are over the top.

Lost in the excitement are other Colorado teams. Last year Division II runner up Colorado School of Mines is 2-0 as is the Air Force Academy.

 Up the road my mother’s Alma Matter, Wyoming is 2-0.

Sorry, Donkey, aka Broncos fans. 0-1. Yeah, yeah Sisty, the Seasucks are 0-1.

Good News – Fast Food

With seven locations now Along the Front Range, three more are being added. One will be four miles from me, another in Brighton where I lived for several years and one about fifteen minutes from DrJim’s abode.

DrJim and SLW are outstanding examples of the California refugees we welcome.

 Colorado Politics

Too much shit going on to burden you residents of other states. If you are a masochists you can read it here. MORE

As always, YMMV  

Spring, Where Are You

Ah, Colorado. It is mid April, and we have April showers today. White, fluffy showers. Which brings to mind April, 1956, in Toponas, CO., and a three day blizzard.

Some posts here are things related to the extended tribe I am part of, and occasionally written at the request of family member. This is one such post. Makes good material, at family gatherings, for the tribe’s favorite past time; arguing.  It may make for boring reading for anyone else. You have been warned

.

Most blizzards are a twenty four to thirty six hours events in Western Colorado. This storm was over seventy two hours. When it cleared, all of the roads were blown full. All of the fences were covered. Looking across the ground, you couldn’t tell where the roads began. The ranchers had a terrible time getting feed to their cattle

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My father was the Section Foreman on the portion of the Denver and Rio Grande railroad from McCoy, CO to Phippsburg, CO. Phippsburg, about 15 miles from Toponas, had a small rail yard and maintenance facility. Sitting in the yard was a steam powered rotary snowplow that hadn’t been used for years. My father, and his section crew, hitched a ride on a State snowplow that was opening Highway 131, to Phippsburg , where they joined other D&RG employees.  Somehow, they got the rotary up and running.

This is about the best I can do to show the equipment and usage of that era.

http://illianaroad.com/railroading/steam-powered-snowplows-throwing-snow/

The D and RG had gone 100% diesel, but most of the infrastructure to support steam remained. They had ample coal,  but water was a problem. Union rules, as to who could do what, were set aside as all of the employees pitched in to get the line open. In the next two days, they got the line open. First, they ran Southbound to Bond, CO where the D and RG mainline was located. Then they turned around and went Northbound to Craig, CO., where the line ended.

When the rotary came by Toponas Southbound, they were running around ten miles per hour. Coming back, Northbound, they were moving fast. All you could see was a huge white cloud.

My father loved horsepower. I’m sure he got his hands on the controls of that rotary, and had a grin from ear to ear as he ran it. He, and his crew, came back from Craig on the Yampa Valley Mail, a daily passenger train that had been stuck in Craig. The train slowed, not stopping, and my father and crew jumped off. Of course, they were riding in the locomotive cab.

http://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/search?q=yampa+valley+mail

The school was closed for a week. Located at the Junction of Highway 131 and Highway 134, it was a two mile walk for me. I had to walk the railroad tracks to Highway 134, and then on the highway to school. While the State Highways were soon opened, the county roads weren’t cleared for quite awhile, and some of the ranch kids had a two week recess. As I recall, we still had snow in places in June.

A few days after this storm, I saw my father come close to death on a motor car.

 The railroad used a private telephone  system. A “dispatcher” would give my father a “block time”, a period when there was to be no trains running his section of track. The system failed. Our house sat right on the tracks. I was on the front porch watching my father approaching on a motor car. Behind him was a locomotive unit coming up fast. Motor cars were very noisy. At the last moment, my father looked over his shoulder and leaped for his life.  The locomotive tossed the motor car several hundred feet down the tracks. Seems the locomotive driver had 1) left Phippsburg without clearance and 2) wasn’t watching the tracks,  per the fireman who was also in the cab.

So ends a bit of family history. Since only two aunts and one cousin are older than me, the rest of you shouldn’t argue with me about this. Not that that will stop any of you!

The picture at the start of this blog was a unit in Newfoundland. In my memory, it is very similar to the one operated by the D and RG.  The D and RG operated several rotary plows in the San Luis Valley area (Alamosa). Some of these are preserved, and one is on display in Chama, N.M.

I’m happy we are getting moisture; we need it. What I like about rain is, you don’t need to shovel it.

Railfan

Railfans may find some interest in this post. Others might want to skip it.

Locomotive manufacturing in the USA is in sorry shape, IMO, but Siemens, the German conglomerate, builds locomotives in Sacramento. Recently they secured an Amtrak order.

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/amtrak/news/Amtrak-orders-75-new-locomotives-from-Siemens--56369

I grew up along the tracks. For ten years my father worked for the Denver and Rio Grande maintaining tracks. I tried to watch the three passenger trains the D&RG ran daily, the California Zephyr, 

the Prospector (Denver to Salt Lake City)

 and the Yampa Valley Mail (Denver to Craig).

 Seeing them was exciting to a growing lad.

 As an employee, my father could get “passes” at greatly reduced prices. My mother and I made several trips to Denver on the Yampa Valley Mail from the various towns we lived in.

I’m happy to see the new Amtrak units will be A/C instead of D/C. Tesla was right and Edison wrong.

YMMV

Unintended Consequences

 

This picture was on Facebook, and it brought back an unpleasant memory.

Local kids in the Colorado Yampa Valley (Steamboat Springs, Hayden, Craig) wanted bragging rights on how fast they could drive the 42 miles between Steamboat and Craig.

Westbound out of Steamboat three Craig kids in a 1960 Chevy convertible slid off the corner just past Hwy 129 and hit a mailbox much like the one in the picture. They hit almost exactly in line with the steering column breaking it.  With no steering control they went into the ditch and rolled several times. One passenger was killed.

The mailbox owner had grown weary of having his mailbox knocked over by careless/malicious snow plow drivers. He put out such a stout mail box it would cause a snowplow truck to pivot.

The dead passenger had recently moved to Craig from Steamboat and was one of my best friends.

His parents insisted on an open casket at his funeral and made sure all us hot shots filed by. The funeral home workers did not do any cosmetic work on the face.

Sobering.