DSP&P LIFE and TIMES     More DSP&P at my Railway Pages Index

The D&RG was bigger, the RGS was more romantic, but the DSP&P overcame more hurdles – my kind of railroad!

The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad is my favorite narrow gauge railway, partly because of the scenery, the difficulty, and the underdog status of the road. Another reason is that the DSP was the largest user of Mason Bogies, my favorite locomotive. They were the most artistically finished locomotives of any era, with pin-striping, glorious colour schemes, and curvaceous fittings where rectangular would have sufficed.

This page contains a brief history, route map, roster, schedules, and representative photos of prototype and model rolling stock.

There are more pages printed about the DSP&P per mile of track than nearly any other narrow gauge railway. This page is probably the shortest survey possible.
 

DSP&P CORPORATE
The Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad was a 3-foot gauge railway that served the mining boom of the late 1800’s in the mountains of Colorado. Construction began in 1873. The line from Denver to Leadville via Como was completed in 1880, and to Gunnison through the Alpine Tunnel in 1882.

In 1885, the Union Pacific Railroad purchased a majority interest in the DSP&P, resulting in a re-numbering of all locomotives and rolling stock to match the UP family system. The DSP&P was reorganized in 1889 by UP as the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railroad.

In 1894, the DL&G went into receivership and successfully emerged in 1899 as a profitable enterprise. The Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railroad, previously the Colorado Central, running over the Georgetown Loop to Silver Plume, also came out of receivership in 1899. The DL&G and UPD&G were then merged to become the Colorado and Southern Railroad.

The UP mismanagement was now gone and the C&S was profitable for a while. It continued to run the narrow gauge to Gunnison until 1910, and to Leadville until 1937. The C&S re-numbered all locomotives and rolling stock in 1899 and again in 1911 - some locomotives and cars carried four different road numbers in their lifetimes.

Today, a section of the standard gauge line between Leadville and Climax is operated as a touist railroad called the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Railroad.

DSP&P ROUTE
The mainline ran from Union Station in Denver up the valley of the South Platte River to the town of South Platte, then followed the North Fork of the South Platte through Buffalo Creek and Bailey. West of Bailey, the route ran along North Fork and through the north end of the Tarryall Mountains to Como, a distance of 88.2 miles by rail. A small branch, just south of Denver, connected to Morrison. This was the first part of the railway to be built, back in 1873.

From Como, the mainline traversed South Park to Garo, where a spur went northward to Fairplay and Alma.

The mainline continued south from Garo, over Trout Creek Pass. On the western side of the pass, a small spur connected to Buena Vista, then over the southern end of the Sawatch Range through the Alpine Tunnel to Pitkin, then Gunnison at milepost 208 (measured from Denver).

The principal branch line went north from Como over Boreas Pass to Breckenridge, Dillon, Keystone, Frisco, Climax, and finally Leadville at milepost 151.3. Scheduled passenger trains took 8 hours to travel Denver to Leadville. The time-freight took 12 hours and a way freight could take two days.

DSP&P CONSTRUCTION
Grading began in August 1873 from Denver to Morrison. The first rails were laid on 18 May 1874. On 20 June 1874, the tracks reached Morrison, and on 03 July 1874, scheduled service began between Denver and Morrison with two round-trip mixed trains per day.

From 1874 until 1878, the company progressed slowly on its mainline, using a series of different construction companies as it struggled to remain solvent. The tracks finally reached the mouth of the Platte Canyon on 04 May 1878, 20 miles from Denver, and by 02 June 1878, the tracks reached 12 miles up the canyon. The tracks reached Buffalo Creek on 17 June 1878. The following year, on 19 May 1879, the tracks reached to the summit of Kenosha Pass and on 27 June 1879 they reached Como.

In November 1879, with the tracks only as far as South Park, the company contracted for the initial construction of the Alpine Tunnel, with an expected completion date of 01 July 1880. The following month, the tracks reached to the summit of Trout Creek Pass. That same year, work began on the branch line, the "High Line", to Leadville, and on 02 July 1880, the first train arrived in Leadville.

The Alpine Tunnel broke through on 26 July 1881, a full year later than planned. The mainline reached Gunnison the following year in 1882.

The Colorado and Southern started dismantling in 1910, with the closure of the Alpine Tunnel. In 1930, the C&S attempted to shut down the mainline through the Platte Canyon, due to a decrease in revenue and traffic. The last freight and passenger trains between Denver and Leadville operated in April 1937, and on 10 April 1937, the South Park Line officially closed. The last regular freight train operated between Denver and Como on 25 April 1937.

The last narrow gauge section, between Leadville and Climax, was converted to standard gauge on 25 August 1943, connecting a number of mines to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, the then owners of the C&S.
 

DSP&P ROLLING STOCK
The first DSP&P locomotive was a Dawson and Bailey 2-6-0 built in 1874, named Fairplay. The second was a D&B 4-4-0 named Platte Canyon. Five boxcars, five coal cars, thirty flat cars, one baggage and one passenger car were built in 1874 by Hallack and Brothers in Denver. These were used mostly for construction.

Not much equipment was acquired during the slow period between 1874 and 1878. Then new money and the prospect of profits from shipping silver ore brought 14 2-6-6T Mason Bogie locomotives in 1878. These were numbered 3 through 16, and had names assigned that disappeared in later years. Nine passenger cars from Barney and Smith (6 built by DSP&P at Denver) arrived in 1978 and early 1979. Photos below are HO or S scale models from published sources to illustrate the DSP^P rolling stock.

 
 Berlyn Locomotive Works Sn3 Mason Bogies

 
Cimarron Car Works Sn3 DSP&P Freight Cars c.1893

Three second hand D&B 2-6-0 Moguls, numbered 17, 18, and 19, built in 1875 arrived in 1879, followed by 5 more 2-6-6T’s , numbered 20 - 24, and four 2-8-6T’s in 1880, numbered 25 - 28.

Twenty seven more passenger cars (including baggage, mail, and conbines) and six Pullman sleepers arrived between 1879 and 1884.  Several hundred freight cars, mostly 26 to 27 foot, 10 to 14 ton capacity, were delivered between 1880 and 1884. Some 1883 and 1884 cars had a capacity of 20 tons.

During 1883 and 1884, a large group of Brooks and Cooke 2-6-0 Moguls and 2-8-0 Consolidations joined the fleet, bringing the locomotive roster to 74 at the time of the UP renumbering in 1885. Many of these survived to become C&S locomotives, but none of the Mason Bogies lasted past 1899.

DSP&P ROSTER
Below is my simplified roster that can be used to put appropriate car numbers on commercial products, as well as to see the evolution of the rolling stock before the C&S takeover.