A History of The Tincup & Western Railroad

The Line

The Tincup & Western Railroad was a branch line which operated in the mountains of central Colorado. It began operations in 1894 to facilitate passenger, mail and freight service between the mining town of Tin Cup on the western slope of the Central Rockies and the town of Gunnison. In this respect, the railroad proved only marginally successful. It was much more valuable to the area as a short hauler of raw ore and concentrates from the mines and mills in the Tin Cup Mining District to the smelters in Gunnison, or as a link to similar Denver & Rio Grande services from Gunnison to population centers in Leadville, Pueblo, Denver and other points in the state. Its center of operations was the small mining town of Tin Cup.

Virtually all of the railroads which serviced the Colorado mining communities were faced with the same difficulties of terrain, extreme elevations, weather and maintenance in their respective remote operating areas. Fortunately for the Tincup & Western, the elevations did not pose a significant problem since the line followed the relatively easy grade up Taylor Canyon from Almont. And once Taylor Park and it's Alpine meadow environment were reached, the grades proved minimal until the line extended south of Tin Cup into the gold and silver rich areas of Gold Hill and West Gold Hill some four miles south of town. From its inception, the Tincup & Western operated on a shoestring budget, purchasing surplus rolling stock and leasing or purchasing surplus locomotives from other western railroads.

During the 1880's, the services provided later by the railroad were performed by several small, Tin Cup based freight companies. And, like similar operations elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain West, these operations employed ore wagons drawn by mules. But such operations proved to be expensive and time-consuming and were, at best, only marginally effective. For example, a typical trip between Tin Cup and the Denver, South Park & Pacific railhead at Quartz, via Cumberland Pass (10 miles), or St. Elmo via Tin Cup Pass (14 miles), took two days by freight wagon. In 1889, the owner of the Tin Cup Freight Company, Albert James Coupeau, decided to follow in the footsteps of railroads elsewhere in the state by replacing most freight wagon services with a small railroad that would accomplish the same objectives in a matter of hours.

Albert James Coupeau and his bride Myrtle Lee (circa 1888).

Coupeau began his railroad by taking advantage of a long-standing friendship with General William Jackson Palmer, the owner of the D&RG, and by obtaining loans from local Tin Cup banks. By 1891, these loans had permitted track laying to begin. The route chosen was the same one previously surveyed by D&RG crews in 1883 when General Palmer had explored a route from the small D&RG way station at Almont (which provided access to the coal mines at Crested Butte) to Taylor Park and neighboring Tin Cup. Coupeau's crews, assisted by Palmer's, laid track from Almont which followed the Taylor River up to Taylor Park and then to Tin Cup.

Railroad service between Tin Cup and Gunnison began in May of 1894, at the height of the spring thaw. And the Tincup & Western was plagued by flooding in lower lying areas along its route through the beautiful Taylor Canyon. Coupeau dealt with these problems by laying waste rock obtained from mine dumps and boulders in areas susceptible to washouts, thus stabilizing the roadbed. Throughout its life, the railroad suffered from similar weather related problems. And, like railroads operating elsewhere in the Rockies, it learned to live with these difficulties by establishing a method of rapidly making the necessary repairs.

When service initially began, the railroad had little in the way of rolling stock. A few freight and passenger cars were obtained from the D&RG, with most major maintenance being effected at D&RG shops in either Gunnison or Alamosa. Acquisition of locomotive power proved to be a relatively simple matter of, initially, leasing 4-4-0 American type locomotives built by Baldwin in 1868 from the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad. But these early steamers proved to be difficult to maintain due to their advanced age. In 1904, Coupeau replaced the Americans with four 1885 Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidations acquired from the Colorado & Southern, and which had previously seen service with the Denver, South Park & Pacific and Denver, Leadville & Gunnison railroads. This greatly aided the Tincup & Western's ability to haul heavier loads with stronger and more reliable locomotives. In addition, four small 0-4-0 switchers were purchased to facilitate the shuttling of rolling stock, and the movement of ore from the Gold Cup, West Gold Hill and Brunswick mills south of Tin Cup to the staging area at the road's small yard facility at Hillerton, some two miles north of town.