As for Winter Park, the D&SL timetable from 1926 lists Irvings as Irvings (West Portal). No date yet for Winter Park, as a station stop, however. After a TT search, it was West Portal as of 1937, and Winter Park as of 1942. cannot find ETT's inside of those dates to nail it down closer.
I'm gonn back up a few miles, back to Loop. While searching the Denver Public Library's western photo collection, I found some sweet shots on the Hill! There's so many to see, some have been published in various books, others, well, I just saw this excellent shot at Loop. Note the snowshed is being extended, likely because of the 45-foot drift that collected at this location the winter before! LC McClure photo: Unknown photographer, view of Corona's immense snowsheds: Another McClure photo, this time of the gorgeous Corona hotel. It's no wonder Joe Culbertson called it the Crown of the Mountain! Feel free to browse the collection, there many gems there from the Hill line days. All photos are from the DPL archive.
Everyone, I have been bogged-down with working 12's the last several months, and I haven't yet finished the first tour! In fact, I have word of a new batch of pics from Alaska GP49, including some rare views of Loop, and a smokebox front from what might be the wrecked D&SL 2-6-6-0 #210! Hopefully I can finish this first installment soon. Future tours will be from the east side, depending on snowpack.
Man, I hate it when work gets in the way of life We will be here awaiting those pics, meantime don't work too hard!
Let's pick back up the trail... East of Devil's Slide trestles, is Needle's Eye Tunnel, or Tunnel 32. Looking east from Needle's Eye, you get this dramatic view of Yankee Doodle Lake: Here's the west portal of Tunnel 32:
I have more--Mikel made another trip to the west side, and grabbed some shots, and a trip to the east side as well, recently! Here's a teaser, until I get those pics! Rifle Sight Notch Loop Tunnel 33 has a famous view from Sunnyside, and the side you can view from there is often photographed. The other side of Loop Tunnel is much less often seen, as a tough hike at 11,000 feet altitude is required to reach it: A sweet view of Loop from the upper section: And near Loop in 1924, D&SL mallet #210 launched herself off the rails at terrific speed after a drive rod broke near Sunnyside, and stripped all the brak gear off. She soon ran wild, and the crew unloaded while she was going but 10MPH. The smokebox front can be seen still:
Hemi, I just went through your entire 58 photo album and am very impressed with the area and the photos. What I find amazing is the excellent condition of the tunnels, roadbed, and trestles after 80 years on non-use. I would have thought the harsh winter weather, especially at that altitude and lack of protection from trees would have eroded the roadbed and torn the trestles to bits.
Hytec, During the route salvaging inspection in 1934, it was found that ties and trestles were better preserved at higher elevations. The ties at Corona suffered no rot at all, except they did suffer the hammering of the engines. The telegraph poles and trestles are an exceptional case in point. Devil's Slide trestles are still usable for foot and ATV traffic, but not advisable for vehicular traffic. The main reason the Loop trestle is unusable, and dangerous for even foot traffic, is that Loop Tunnel collapsed in 1935, and the unsupported roof of the tunnel is the foundation for the trestle proper. The brutal winters and avalanches sometimes wreak havok on the roadbed, bringing trees and boulders down, but other than trees growing in the ROW in places, ther roadbed is remarkably well-preserved. The winds at Corona were once clocked at 105MPH, but that was where the weather station atop the summit snowshed was uprooted and hurled down the mountain by the hundred-mile-an-hour-hand of the winds. The actual top wind speed is likely much higher.
