I acquired an interest in railroads, especially Colorado railroads, while doing environmental work; professionally I was more interested in things like remediation of railyards and what you did with waste railroad ties, but of course there were plenty of things of personal interest and I began picking up books on Colorado and national railroad history. Dan Abbott’s Stairway to the Stars discusses the brief (1905-1918) operation of the Argentine Central, which ran from Silver Plume, Colorado to the Argentine silver mining district on the slopes of Mt. McClellan (the name confused at least one prospective passenger, who tried to buy a ticket to Buenos Aires). It’s rather surprising the line ran as long as it did; it could only operate, at best, four months out of the year since the only snow removal equipment was gangs of men with shovels. When the silver mines were running, everybody was happy; the mine operators could ship ore and concentrate and receive equipment at much lower rates than wagon haulage and the railroad could still make a profit, plus doing a fairly lucrative tourist business hauling people up what was describes as “the highest railroad in the world” (incorrectly, as the Peruvian Central went higher going over the Andes; the Argentine Central was definitely the highest in North America, though, even though it exaggerated the end of line elevation to 14007 feet). Alas, the tourist business was hampered by devotedly religious owner Edward John Wilcox’s refusal to run trains on Sunday. When the mines began to play out the line was sold to owners less concerned about Sabbath breaking and more concerned about making money, but automobiles finished them off. The old rail right of way is still there and is a jeep trail, never tried it but it sounds interesting.

The line ran Shay engines exclusively; I’ve ridden on a Shay on the Georgetown Loop tourist route and they’re fascinating to watch; the vertical cylinders, gear drive and asymmetrical layout seem “un-locomotive like”, somehow. Shays could handle a much steeper grade than a conventional side-rod locomotive – reportedly up to 14% - because all the axles were driven. They also sound like they’re going much faster than they actually are because of the rapid-fire exhaust strokes. They don’t fit with the standard Wyte locomotive classification system, so they were described by the weight and number of trucks – a “45-2” Shay weighs 45 tons and has two driven trucks.

Author Dan Abbott is a professional draftsman, which shows with meticulous drawings of all the Argentine Central’s rolling stock. The book is quite well illustrated with maps and period photographs. Recommended if this sort of thing interests you. ( )