"Along The Blue" #16 | 4 Comments - Click Here :

    As a modeler who enjoys the historical aspect of my subjects, I relish the research which is involved. One of the reasons for my posting these old newspaper clippings, is that within each one there gleams little bits of information that change allot of the old preconceived notions we all take for granted. Take for instance the "Y" atop Boreas. The article below reminds us that the C&S operated a very long time with no way to turn helpers. If that's the way they operated atop Boreas, it's possible they operated that way over the other passes at times as well. Backing down the hill was normal operating practice.
Also by this time, Como was practically a ghost town, hence the car repairs being done on the other side of the mountain.

Summit County Journal; May 29, 1915
Colorado & Southern Makes Improvements
    H.Heath, car inspector for the Colorado & Southern, is doing repair work on cars in the Breckenridge and Dickey yards. He says that in order to keep from pulling empty cars over the hills to Denver for repairs, the work will be done here so they may be sent east loaded. It is also understood that Superintendent Mitchell has plans for putting in a "Y" at the top of Boreas so engines may turn there instead of backing down the hill.

Inspector Heath at work in the Dickey yard.

Summit County Journal; Oct 14, 1905
Railroad Grade Changed
    The Colorado & Southern railway company will try an experiment on the Atlantic slope of Boreas Pass this winter. For years the expense of snow-shedding that side of the pass has been an enormous annual drain on the treasury. Nearly every summer one or more snow-sheds burned down and had to be rebuilt. As snow-sheds cost about $7 a running foot, the company has hit upon a new plan, and instead of rebuilding the 1,800-foot shed which went up in smoke a few months ago, the location of the track was changed (away from the hill) and the track raised, on the presumption that the snow would blow off of the new roadbed.
    During the past two months a grading force has been on the hill, preparing the new grade, which was completed and railed on last Monday.
    Trains are now running over the new track, which is one-half mile in length, and for the good of all concerned we hope the new one will prove a better system of operating a railroad through a very, very snowy district.
    Snow-sheds are a menace to travel and should be dispensed with except in extreme cases, and if the "high grade" or "fill" proposition will not suffice, the trestle plan should be adopted.