MOFFAT ROAD/TUNNEL LAST OF 3 PARTS

Decided to try out the Moffat Road at the East Tunnel Entrance before closing out the season here. Over the pass on 40 and down to the new highway to the back road. This is an old mining shaft on the way to Central City.

Central City-- used to be a great old mining/tourist town. Then they legalized gambling in just this town in Colorado and this is about the only street that looks like the old town.Beautiful old gabled house.



Assay office in Rollinsville



Three large freight trains were stopped on the tracks as we made our way through the tiny valley. We ask a Union Pacific worker what was going on and they had a 3 hour work window on the west side of the tunnel. They were just waiting for it to end and then they were going to rush the trains through every 15 minutes. That's how long it takes to get a train through and blow the smoke out with the huge fans in the tunnel. This is Boulder Creek running along side the road. In the space of 4 miles we saw 6 police/sheriff/security vehicles. And they looked like they were there all the timeEast Entrance to the Moffat Tunnel. I like the West Entrance best.



Original 1921 houses for workers

This was a wagon road and stagecoach road before it was a railbed.

Keep in mind we're in a Honda Accord but we have taken it really terrible places so we

have faith we can get up to the top.

We were hugging the side of the hill to get around some bad spots when we came past

some bushes and all of the sudden this little guy was sitting about 5 feet from me. He had parked his 4W drive at the bottom of the hill and walked up to watch the trains. We ask him how bad the road got up ahead and he said "this is actually pretty good". We knew then we

wouldn't make it much further.

Beautiful forest along side the road. After we turned around and came down we found out that they grade the road the week before the 4th of July so torrents of people can get up to Yankee Doodle Lake. So perhaps we'll try that next year.

What could be better than an Ice Cream Store and a Book Store together.

Up the road a ways-- an old abandoned church in a seriously scarry town. Don't ask-I really don't want to go into it.

Another 45 minutes up the road a church to take your breath away. Called the Church on the Rock or St. Catherine of Siena Chapel. It is near Allenpark. Belongs to the Archdiocese of Denver and has a new retreat/convention

center up against the hill.

White Plaster Medallions on either side of wall once were in the Denver home chapel of Evalyn Walsh McLean of Hope Diamond fame.Longs Peak from Allenspark. This one's for you Mike

Adams Tunnel was dug in the 30's by the CCC's . Named the "Big Thompson Water Project" it was designated to take water from the West side of the Divide to the East side for the farms and ranches. The West intake is at the East end of Grand Lake and this is where it ends , Mary's Lake in Estes Park. From here it's piped down the canyon and onto the front range.

It was a fun day and somewhere along the way DH turned 71.
Happy Birthday

VINTAGE THINGIE THURSDAY-BACK IN TIME-VINTAGE RAILROAD-MOFFAT ROUTE # 2

This is my second post on the Moffat Train Route over Rollins Pass early in the 20th century.

As you travel up the road if you have the map you can tell where the main route and the by-pass road separate. Or if you run out of cinders on the side of the road you'll know your on the by-pass.

The by-pass road once again joins the old road bed for the railroad and there along the side of the road are actual 100 year old railroad ties.

You come around the corner and there is the Rifle Sight Notch Trestle. . The gully below actually contains the remains of the tunnel (Loop Tunnel) that went under the trestle. It caved in many years ago.

Look closely on the left hillside in the photo below and there are several telegraph poles left standing. In winter blizzards when snow was almost as high as the crossarms, men from stranded trains felt their way along these wires to shelter. Once when a train was stalled in a snowdrift, George Barnes, the conductor, struggled to a nearby telegraph pole, hooked up his telegraph instrument and reported the train's plight. The trainmen abandoned the train and walked to Corona in 50-mile-an-hour winds at 20 below zero.

During the winter months (Sept-May) nearly every train had to be preceded by a rotary snowplow and due to lack of adhesion and icy tracks, up to five large Mallets were used to pull a train. Other dangers were: trains that had to stop would suddenly freeze to the rails, brake failures and resulting runaway trains.

Current top photo is looking south down the hill and old photo is looking north up the same stretch of railbed.

In winter, snow on Rollins Pass drifted 20 to 30 feet deep, necessitating an extensive snowshed to cover the main line, the wye and the passing track. Below is the remains of this showshed. The elevation is 11,600 ft. There were 13 snowsheds in all ranging in length from 19 ft. to 400 ft. Despite the snow sheds, snow would drift inbetween the wood planking and makes the tracks impassable. Stopping the train inside the tunnel was dangerous as passengers were liable to suffocate from smoke inhalation.

The two photo's below are the foundation of the once beautiful restaurant-hotel built in 1913. You can also see the deeply-anchored cable supports used to keep the roof from blowing off. Most of the dismantling of salvageable structures on the Hill was done in 1936


Corona Station and Hotel
Usually guests would just dine but a few would stay overnight. There were bedrooms, a common room with a fireplace and a large vista room with big windows. The hotel was completely built of stone and cost $24,000 to build.

For more great Vintage Thingie's go to: http://anapronaday.blogspot.com/

BACK IN TIME- VINTAGE RAILROAD-MOFFAT ROUTE

Had a fascinating evening at the Library with a gentleman named Dave Naples who is part of "The Grand County Characters". A group of great people who are available for assorted functions and they portray some of the colorful character's of our area's history.
Dave does an excellent job of portraying David Moffat, the gentleman who was responsible for bringing the railroad across the Rockies at the turn of the century. This involved huge obstacles at the time. He invisioned the Tunnel that bares his name but didn't live long enough to see it built.
We have always wanted to explore the Rollins Pass /Corona Pass area where the train comes up over the highest point, so we headed out a few days ago to make the journey.
I'm going to spread this post out over a couple of days so I can get it all in. It was a great day.

David Moffat began the Moffat Route, originally named the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific (DNW&P), in 1902 with the intent to build a line directly west out of Denver that connected with Salt Lake City and then the west coast. The tracks move west out of the plains of Denver and
immediately begin the long climb over the continental divide of the Rockies by traversing the Front Range rock escarpments. Along this section, the rails wind through the foothills and into the mountains by going through 27 different tunnels cut into the rocks along the way.
This was a fantastic scenic route and an engineering marvel. Unfortunately, it was also a nightmare in winter months, which lasted from October to May. Keeping the tracks clear of snow was a full time task most of the winter and this expense often ate up all other profits made by the railroad

The Tunnel Section is on the East side of the Front Range which we plan to explore next week.

Our trip started on the west side near the exit of the present day Moffatt Rail Tunnel. A dirt road marked "Rollins Pass" takes off to the east from Hwy 40 just before you enter Winter Park.

For the most part the dirt road follows the old rail bed route. There is a short distance that diverts from the old rail bed but you can tell because the side of the road is no longer covered in old cinders. There are still lumps of coal along sections of the road.

Cinder field along side of road




The original railroad uphill from this point is impassable. The bypass road rejoins the railroad grade about 2 miles from here. At this point, about 150 feet above the curve, you will note the remains of two old cabins, which were used by loggers when the Moffat Road was constructed. The structure pictured above is a logging "landing deck". This structure was built by loggers to aid them in loading logs on flatcars.


There are numbered markers that correlate to a booklet that is excellent. We had a hard time tracking one down but finally located it at Routt National Forest Office outside of Granby.



There were many beautiful little run-off streams and the wildflowers were incredible.

Next Thursday will show the 100 year old trestle, original telegraph poles and top of Corona Pass.