Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly Railroad

Last updated

The Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly Railroad was incorporated in 1899 after Otto Mears and associates were unable to procure financing to build a branch of the Silverton Northern Railroad to the mining area around the town of Gladstone. The railroad was chartered in 1899 by the Gold King Mining Co. to haul ore from the mines on Cement Creek to the Silverton smelters. It was 7.5 miles long and had .5 miles of spurs. It was leased by the Silverton Northern in 1910. (Mears leased the Silverton Northern in the same year and purchased the SN outright in 1915, although traffic was discontinued soon thereafter.)

Construction began from the mainline of the SN on the north side of Silverton, and followed Cement Creek northward to the town of Gladstone. At one time, an extension to the Silver Lake Mine was proposed, but no further construction ever was accomplished. [1] The line served the Kendrick and Gelder (or Gilder) smelter, later run by the Ross Mining and Milling Co., the McKinley sawmill, the Boston & Silverton Milling and Reduction (Yukon Mill) site, the Anglo Saxon mine, the Mammouth Mine, the Henriette(a) mine, Fisher's sawmill, the Gold King mine and the Mogul mill. [2]

Following the ups and downs of the metals markets, the SG&N was finally absorbed by the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915, being operated as the Gladstone Branch. The line was dismantled between 1938 and 1942.

The railroad accessed the Denver & Rio Grande and also the Silverton Northern (at Silverton). As one of the shorter narrow gauge railways, the SG&N is an attractive railroad to model. [3]

Roster

Locomotives
NumberBuilderTypeSerial NumberBuiltAcquiredRetiredDisposition/Notes
32 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 5185188018891911Built as Denver & Rio Grande #78. Sold to Rio Grande Southern #32 in 1891. Sold in 1900 to SG&N#32. Scrapped in 1911.
33 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 5225188019001923Built as Denver & Rio Grande #79. Sold to Rio Grande Southern #33 in 1891. Sold in 1900 to SG&N#33. Scrapped in 1923.
34 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 24130190419041915Built and Acquired New. Sold in 1915 to Silverton Northern #34. Sold in 1942 to White Pass & Yukon #24. Scrapped at Skagway, AK in 1951.
Passenger Cars
NumberBuilderBuild DateNotes
Combination Car #1Unknown1899Retired at an unknown date.
Combination Car #2 American Car and Foundry 1905Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915. Retired at an unknown date.
Boxcars
NumberBuilderBuild DateNotes
#1000Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2000. Retired at an unknown date.
#1001Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2001. Retired at an unknown date.
#1002Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2002. Retired at an unknown date.
#1003Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2003. Retired at an unknown date. Converted into a storage shed after the Silverton Northern was abandoned. The shed was moved south of Silverton near the Champion Mine where it still remains today.
#1004Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2004. Retired at an unknown date.
#1005Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2005. Retired at an unknown date.
#1006Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2006. Retired at an unknown date.
#1007Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2007 (photos contradict that the car was ever renumbered to #2007). Retired at an unknown date. Converted into a storage shed after the Silverton Northern was abandoned. The shed was moved south of Silverton near the Champion Mine where it still remains today.
#1008Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2008. Retired at an unknown date.
#1009Unknown1899Sold to the Silverton Northern Railroad in 1915 and became #2009. Retired at an unknown date.

Related Research Articles

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad

The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.

Silverton, Colorado Town in State of Colorado, United States

The town of Silverton is a Statutory Town that is the county seat of, and the only incorporated municipality in, San Juan County, Colorado, United States. Silverton is a former silver mining camp, most of which is now included in a federally designated National Historic Landmark District, the Silverton Historic District. The town population reached 637 in the U.S. Census 2010.

The Nakusp and Slocan Railway (N&S) is a historic Canadian railway that operated in southeastern British Columbia.

Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad

The Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad was a historic 3 ft narrow gauge railroad that operated in Colorado in the western United States in the late 19th century. The railroad opened up the first rail routes to a large section of the central Colorado mining district in the decades of the mineral boom. The railroad took its name from the fact that its main line from Denver ascended the Platte Canyon and traversed South Park. Founded in 1872 by Colorado Governor John Evans, the company was purchased by the Union Pacific Railway in 1880, though it continued to be operated independently. The line went bankrupt in 1889 and was reorganized under the new moniker the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway. When the Union Pacific went bankrupt in 1893, the DL&G lines went into receivership and were eventually sold to the Colorado and Southern Railway. In the first half of the 20th century, nearly all the company's original lines were dismantled or converted into 4 ft 8 1⁄2 instandard gauge. The last train to run the old DSP&P tracks was from Como, Colorado on April 11, 1937. A section of the standard gauge line between Leadville and Climax is still operated as a passenger excursion railroad called the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Railroad. At its peak the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad had 335 miles (539 km) of narrow gauge line, making it the largest narrow gauge railroad in the state of Colorado.

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad United States historic place

The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on 45.2 mi (72.7 km) of track between Durango and Silverton in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a federally designated National Historic Landmark and was also designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1968.

Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway United States historic place

The Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway was a 4 ft 8 1⁄2 instandard gauge railroad operating in the U.S. state of Colorado around the turn of the 20th century.

Rio Grande Southern Railroad

The Rio Grande Southern Railroad was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railroad which ran in the southwestern region of the US state of Colorado, from the towns of Durango to Ridgway, routed via Lizard Head Pass. Built by Russian immigrant and Colorado toll road builder Otto Mears, the RGS operated from 1891 through 1951 and was built with the intent to transport immense amounts of silver mineral traffic that were being produced by the mining communities of Rico and Telluride. On both ends of the railroad, there were interchanges with The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which would ship the traffic the RGS hauled elsewhere like the San Juan Smelter in Durango.

Silverton Railroad

The Silverton Railroad, now defunct, was an American 3 ft narrow gauge railroad constructed between Silverton, Colorado and mining districts near Red Mountain Pass, Colorado.

Gilpin Railroad

The Gilpin Railroad, earlier the Gilpin Tramway Company, was a 2 ft narrow gauge railway in Gilpin County, Colorado, in operation from 1887 to 1917.

Silverton Northern Railroad

The Silverton Northern Railroad, now defunct, was an American 3 ft Narrow Gauge Railroad constructed to reach the mining area north of Silverton, Colorado along the upper Animas River. This line was the third railroad project built by known Colorado toll road builder and Russian Immigrant Otto Mears, beginning in 1889 as a branch of the Silverton Railroad to Eureka. Incorporated in 1895 as the Silverton Northern Railroad, the line was projected to run past Eureka to Animas Forks and on to Mineral Point and then on to Lake City via Henson Creek, including a proposed three-quarter-mile tunnel through the mountains. However, Animas Forks was the end of the line, which was reached in 1896.

Otto Mears

Otto Mears was a famous Colorado railroad builder and entrepreneur who played a major role in the early development of southwestern Colorado.

The Delta Consolidated Mining Company was an American mining company that operated a gold mine in Shasta County, California. A 3 ft narrow gauge railroad connecting the mine to the nearby town of Delta, California operated for several decades.

Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad

The Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad (F&CC) was a 3 ft narrow-gauge railroad running northward from junctions with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad at the mill towns of Florence and later moved to Cañon City, Colorado, on the banks of the Arkansas River, up steep and narrow Phantom Canyon to the Cripple Creek Mining District, west of Pikes Peak. It was founded in 1893 and went out of business in 1915

American Fork Railroad

The American Fork Railroad was a 16 miles (30 km) long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 3 ft from American Fork to Forest City in Utah, which operated from 1872 to 1878.

Rio Grande 315

Denver and Rio Grande Western No. 315 is a class "C-18" 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type narrow-gauge steam railway locomotive that was originally built for the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1895. It was later purchased by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG). No. 315 was retired in 1949 and had been on display at two City of Durango parks until the Durango Railroad Historical Society restored the locomotive from 1998 to August 2007. It has been operational since and will be receiving its Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) mandated 1,472-day inspection in 2022. Most "sister" locomotives to No. 315 were scrapped, but two others survive today such as is D&RGW No. 318 and F&CC No. 10. No. 318 is on display at the Colorado Railroad Museum and F&CC No. 10 is currently in storage at the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

Ironton, Colorado Ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado

Ironton is a ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado, United States. It lay south of the present town of Ouray, adjacent to the sites Guston of Red Mountain Town, fellow ghost towns. During the 1880s and 1890s, Ironton formed part of the Red Mountain Pass mining district, the second largest silver mining district in Colorado.

Everett and Monte Cristo Railway

The Everett and Monte Cristo Railway was built to transport gold and silver ores from mines in the central Cascade Mountains to a smelter in Everett, Washington. After the first mining claims were staked in 1889, entrepreneurs began exploring the possibility of building a railroad to exploit the find. Construction began in April 1892 and the first train reached what became the town of Monte Cristo in August 1893. The mining boom ended in 1903. Poor ore quality and quantity played a role in the decline, but the failure of the railway to maintain service to Monte Cristo in the face of floods, landslides, winter snows, fires, and other disasters was also a factor in the collapse of the industry. Nonetheless, the railway hauled out approximately 300,000 tons of ore over the course of its operations.

Guston, Colorado Ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado

Guston is a silver mining ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado, 11 miles (18 km) south of Ouray following the "Million Dollar Highway". Nestled in Champion Gulch, it is located near Red Mountain and the remnants of Red Mountain Town and Ironton. The Silverton Railroad ran from Guston in the Red Mountain Pass to Silverton in San Juan County.

References

  1. ↑ For detailed maps of the SG&N's route, see Blazek, Mike, "Narrow Gauge Workbook No. 16: Modeling the Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly."
  2. ↑ See Blazek.
  3. ↑ See Blazek, Mike, "Narrow Gauge Workbook No. 16: Modeling the Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly" (1998).

Sloan, Robert E. and Skowronski, Carl A. (1975). The Rainbow Route. Denver, Colorado: Sundance Publications Ltd. ISBN   0-913582-12-3.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.