"How many winter specials did the C&TS operate?"
| November 26, 2010 12:04PM |
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This question was just put to me in a private message but thought I would answer it in the forum as there are probably others who would be interested. My response deals with the Scenic years, but as far as I know, no one else has operated "winter specials" as such.
OM-74: Jan. 12, 1974. Consist: Rotary OM, #487, an open gondola, a C&TS excursion boxcar, and caboose #0503. There were 43 riders at $50 each, and at least as many more bought “pacer passes,” at $25 each, IIRC. This one day event made it into the Narrows to about MP341.5. We had about three feet of fresh snow in places.
OM-75: Originally scheduled for Jan. 11 & 12, rescheduled to Feb. 1 & 2 due to very poor snow conditions in January. Conditions in February weren’t much better but we decided to go with what we had. Consist: Rotary OM, auxiliary water car, #487, bunk cars, cook car, and caboose #0503 (we tried to make it look more “authentic”). On Saturday the train got to approximately MP341.5 and bogged down on ice. We returned to that point on Sunday and again bogged down on the ice. We finally cut off the train and were then able to proceed on to Lobato Trestle. Many of the 99 fans who paid $30 each to ride the train ended up wading the last mile-and-a-half through the snow as we staged a series of runbys. They were rewarded with a ride back to the train on the tender and in the OM. An additional 200 fans bought “pacer Passes” at $20 dollars each.
OM-76: February 15, 1976. Marginal snow conditions. Consist: Rotary OM, #487, #484(?), open gon, two outfit cars, and caboose #0503. Among the 118 passengers on the train were the grandson and great-grandson of J. S. Leslie. We made it to Lobato Trestle and found enough snow in some of the cuts to make it worthwhile.
1977 was a bye year.
Winter Special 1978: Having learned our lesson, we decided to forego the Rotary focus and to go with a “Winter Special” theme instead, promising only to operate whatever equipment seemed appropriate for existing conditions. And we also decided that in the future it would be a sporadic rather than annual event. A thirty-two year gap is probably more sporadic than we had in mind. Unfortunately I have very few details of what turned out to be our last winter event. It was a two-day event, but I don’t know the dates. We had Rotary OY under steam for the first time and had enough snow for a pretty good show. We also pushed snow with the pilot plow on the 487 and used the OU. I think we went to Lobato Siding.
The details for 1974 through 1977 were taken from the Souvenir Program "An Illustrated Review of Winter Operations on the C&TS RR" that I wrote for Winter Special 1978, and are pretty accurate.
The details for 1978 are from memory and are open to modification by anyone who's memory is better than mine.
All photos here were taken by me or my wife as far as I know. However, slides from other sources have found their way into my collection, so if I have inadvertently used someone else's work here I do apologize.
"Time spent with CATS is never wasted." -- Sigmund Freud
"Nothing endures but change." -- Heraclitus
"C'est le meilleur des mondes possibles." -- Candide
OM-74: Jan. 12, 1974. Consist: Rotary OM, #487, an open gondola, a C&TS excursion boxcar, and caboose #0503. There were 43 riders at $50 each, and at least as many more bought “pacer passes,” at $25 each, IIRC. This one day event made it into the Narrows to about MP341.5. We had about three feet of fresh snow in places.
OM-75: Originally scheduled for Jan. 11 & 12, rescheduled to Feb. 1 & 2 due to very poor snow conditions in January. Conditions in February weren’t much better but we decided to go with what we had. Consist: Rotary OM, auxiliary water car, #487, bunk cars, cook car, and caboose #0503 (we tried to make it look more “authentic”). On Saturday the train got to approximately MP341.5 and bogged down on ice. We returned to that point on Sunday and again bogged down on the ice. We finally cut off the train and were then able to proceed on to Lobato Trestle. Many of the 99 fans who paid $30 each to ride the train ended up wading the last mile-and-a-half through the snow as we staged a series of runbys. They were rewarded with a ride back to the train on the tender and in the OM. An additional 200 fans bought “pacer Passes” at $20 dollars each.
OM-76: February 15, 1976. Marginal snow conditions. Consist: Rotary OM, #487, #484(?), open gon, two outfit cars, and caboose #0503. Among the 118 passengers on the train were the grandson and great-grandson of J. S. Leslie. We made it to Lobato Trestle and found enough snow in some of the cuts to make it worthwhile.
1977 was a bye year.
Winter Special 1978: Having learned our lesson, we decided to forego the Rotary focus and to go with a “Winter Special” theme instead, promising only to operate whatever equipment seemed appropriate for existing conditions. And we also decided that in the future it would be a sporadic rather than annual event. A thirty-two year gap is probably more sporadic than we had in mind. Unfortunately I have very few details of what turned out to be our last winter event. It was a two-day event, but I don’t know the dates. We had Rotary OY under steam for the first time and had enough snow for a pretty good show. We also pushed snow with the pilot plow on the 487 and used the OU. I think we went to Lobato Siding.
The details for 1974 through 1977 were taken from the Souvenir Program "An Illustrated Review of Winter Operations on the C&TS RR" that I wrote for Winter Special 1978, and are pretty accurate.
The details for 1978 are from memory and are open to modification by anyone who's memory is better than mine.
All photos here were taken by me or my wife as far as I know. However, slides from other sources have found their way into my collection, so if I have inadvertently used someone else's work here I do apologize.
"Time spent with CATS is never wasted." -- Sigmund Freud
"Nothing endures but change." -- Heraclitus
"C'est le meilleur des mondes possibles." -- Candide
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
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