Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 3B: 1973 ”If the world ended today….”
| January 08, 2011 10:20PM |
|
When we arrived in Chama in 1973 there was a story going around about an incident involving Dean Martin when he was in town for the filming of the recently released movie “Showdown.” Seems he failed to show up for work one morning and was nowhere to be found. It turned out that he had packed up and gone home without telling anybody. When he was finally located he spent several minutes sharing with the press his utter dislike for Chama and environs, ending with the statement “If the world ended today they wouldn’t find out about it in Chama until next week.” That wasn’t far from the truth. Radio and TV reception was poor, folks were busy trying to make hay while the sun was shining, and we just weren’t too involved in the outside world. It was great; I think that’s what I miss the most about those days.
Well, by mid-July Nancy and I had to make a decision. Back in the real world school would be starting soon, she was under contract in Vermillion, Ohio and I had a graduate assistantship waiting for me at Kent State. But we were only half way through the season in Chama. Things seemed to be going well for the C&TS and for me. It looked like I had a future with Scenic. What to do!?
Maybe if I had been paying more attention to what was going on in the world we would have gone back to Ohio, pursued humdrum careers in education, retired with good pensions…but of course we did the dumb thing: burned our bridges (maybe not a good metaphor right now) and plopped ourselves down in Chama for the duration. Can’t really blame Nancy for that, she still labored under the delusion that I knew what I was doing. Anyway, we soon found a house with very reasonable rent and moved out of the Chama Station Lodge. The house, located right across the street from the coal tipple and sand tower, was owned by Bob Brascher, the bank president. Brascher was a C&TS supporter on good terms with Keller, Bell and Watson, which may explain the reasonable rent we were offered. Also, about this time, Nancy learned that a music teacher was needed at nearby Dulce. She applied for the position and was hired. So we at least would have an income through the winter.
Left: our first home in Chama; Right: Nancy didn't let a little thing like being stuck in the middle of
nowhere interfere with her career plans.
Among those who had moved to Chama from faraway places because of the C&TS there were two other married couples: Doug and Janie Chaeney, and Bernie and Sissy Watts. Well, actually, Sissy was from Chama. Bernie had acquired a narrow gauge railroad coach somewhere, parked it in the yard near the oil house, and called it home, serving as watchman in exchange for space rental. I think he also worked as cook and bottle washer at the High Country.
In addition there was the bachelor crowd – Richard Braden, Gary Getman, John Oldberg, John Coker and of course Fritz Baur. I think those were the only permanent “resident outsiders” that year. They each had a place to live in town, but I have no idea how they supported themselves duiring the off-season. Well, actually, living was pretty cheap in Chama if you were frugal.
I think we were Chama’s equivalent of illegal aliens, although that term wasn’t really current then. We were outsiders who had come to town to take jobs on the C&TS that “rightfully belonged” to locals, we worked those jobs for extremely substandard wages, and then we went on the dole for half a year. However, I never really felt any animosity on “main street,” and on the rare occasions when I went out on the town it was at the High Country or Kelly’s, both of which catered to the “main street” crowd. There were a couple of other places in town where I might have picked up different vibes. I do remember a C of C meeting where someone used the term “Anglos.” Recently arrived businessman Joe Piuma took great offense at that, stating: “I’m not Anglo, I’m Italian!”
Also, about this time a local resident made a remark to Fritz about so many of the railroad personnel being “outsiders.” Fritz replied “I have lived here for three years now. How long does it take to establish residency?” (Ten years later Nancy was hired by the Chama Valley School District to set up a music program at Escalante High School. In his introductory remarks to staff that year the new superintendent stated that the primary purpose of the school district is to provide jobs for locals. He then defined a local as someone who has lived in the community for at least seven years. We had long understood these “rules of thumb” regarding public sector jobs in the area – which, of course, includes the C&TS – but it was the only time we ever heard them so blatantly stated.)
By 1973 several C&TS employees were qualified for Railroad Unemployment, so Fritz encouraged me to become the local railroad unemployment agent. Turned out there were a few Santa Fe and Rio Grande employees in the area who also took advantage of the local office. I kept morning hours Monday through Friday and received some small remuneration from the Railroad Retirement Board. Thus Fritz had someone else to maintain a part time winter presence in the Chama depot to deal with mail and phone calls (don’t know if that was legit, but I was there anyway so I did it). It was the rare day when he didn’t come in, but he wasn’t obligated to be there as he had been during the past.
Left: Main Street Chama and the Chama Days Parade; Right: Red & Mid's Grocery, Shamrock Hotel
One day, shortly after the season ended, I was walking home from the office with one of the other fellows, Doug Chaeney I think, and as we passed Red & Mid’s Grocery Store (yes, there was a grocery store in “uptown” Chama in those days) Red asked us if we would help him unload a truckload of potatoes just arrived from the San Luis Valley. Having nothing better to do we said “Sure.” In exchange for an hour or so of hard work Red gave us each a fifty pound sack of potatoes, and we were glad to get them.
As I mentioned above, Nancy landed a teaching job in Dulce, which was the only reason we could afford to stay on in Chama. I’m not sure how it started, but soon after the season ended the C&TS bachelor crowd got into the habit of coming over to our place for lunch two or three times a week. They chipped in a few bucks a week for food, and Nancy would throw together a crockpot lunch for us to enjoy while she was at work. It has always been a mystery to me, and to everyone who knows me, what I ever did to deserve such a resourceful, flexible, open-minded and understanding wife. Anyway, I think it was during one of these lunches that we came up with the OM scheme, which is the subject of Part 4.
"Sometimes he remembers things that never happened and forgets things that did happen!" Mrs. B.
See also:
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 1: Meeting Fritz
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 2: Expectations
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 3A: 1973, Filling Trains
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 4: OM-74
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 5A: 1974, Biting the Bullet
About the author
Also of interest:
How Many Winter Specials did Scenic Railways operate?
Bite the Bullet Photo Gallery
"Time spent with CATS is never wasted." -- Sigmund Freud
"Nothing endures but change." -- Heraclitus
"C'est le meilleur des mondes possibles." -- Candide
Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2011 08:51PM by gothpapa.
Well, by mid-July Nancy and I had to make a decision. Back in the real world school would be starting soon, she was under contract in Vermillion, Ohio and I had a graduate assistantship waiting for me at Kent State. But we were only half way through the season in Chama. Things seemed to be going well for the C&TS and for me. It looked like I had a future with Scenic. What to do!?
Maybe if I had been paying more attention to what was going on in the world we would have gone back to Ohio, pursued humdrum careers in education, retired with good pensions…but of course we did the dumb thing: burned our bridges (maybe not a good metaphor right now) and plopped ourselves down in Chama for the duration. Can’t really blame Nancy for that, she still labored under the delusion that I knew what I was doing. Anyway, we soon found a house with very reasonable rent and moved out of the Chama Station Lodge. The house, located right across the street from the coal tipple and sand tower, was owned by Bob Brascher, the bank president. Brascher was a C&TS supporter on good terms with Keller, Bell and Watson, which may explain the reasonable rent we were offered. Also, about this time, Nancy learned that a music teacher was needed at nearby Dulce. She applied for the position and was hired. So we at least would have an income through the winter.
Left: our first home in Chama; Right: Nancy didn't let a little thing like being stuck in the middle of
nowhere interfere with her career plans.
Among those who had moved to Chama from faraway places because of the C&TS there were two other married couples: Doug and Janie Chaeney, and Bernie and Sissy Watts. Well, actually, Sissy was from Chama. Bernie had acquired a narrow gauge railroad coach somewhere, parked it in the yard near the oil house, and called it home, serving as watchman in exchange for space rental. I think he also worked as cook and bottle washer at the High Country.
In addition there was the bachelor crowd – Richard Braden, Gary Getman, John Oldberg, John Coker and of course Fritz Baur. I think those were the only permanent “resident outsiders” that year. They each had a place to live in town, but I have no idea how they supported themselves duiring the off-season. Well, actually, living was pretty cheap in Chama if you were frugal.
I think we were Chama’s equivalent of illegal aliens, although that term wasn’t really current then. We were outsiders who had come to town to take jobs on the C&TS that “rightfully belonged” to locals, we worked those jobs for extremely substandard wages, and then we went on the dole for half a year. However, I never really felt any animosity on “main street,” and on the rare occasions when I went out on the town it was at the High Country or Kelly’s, both of which catered to the “main street” crowd. There were a couple of other places in town where I might have picked up different vibes. I do remember a C of C meeting where someone used the term “Anglos.” Recently arrived businessman Joe Piuma took great offense at that, stating: “I’m not Anglo, I’m Italian!”
Also, about this time a local resident made a remark to Fritz about so many of the railroad personnel being “outsiders.” Fritz replied “I have lived here for three years now. How long does it take to establish residency?” (Ten years later Nancy was hired by the Chama Valley School District to set up a music program at Escalante High School. In his introductory remarks to staff that year the new superintendent stated that the primary purpose of the school district is to provide jobs for locals. He then defined a local as someone who has lived in the community for at least seven years. We had long understood these “rules of thumb” regarding public sector jobs in the area – which, of course, includes the C&TS – but it was the only time we ever heard them so blatantly stated.)
By 1973 several C&TS employees were qualified for Railroad Unemployment, so Fritz encouraged me to become the local railroad unemployment agent. Turned out there were a few Santa Fe and Rio Grande employees in the area who also took advantage of the local office. I kept morning hours Monday through Friday and received some small remuneration from the Railroad Retirement Board. Thus Fritz had someone else to maintain a part time winter presence in the Chama depot to deal with mail and phone calls (don’t know if that was legit, but I was there anyway so I did it). It was the rare day when he didn’t come in, but he wasn’t obligated to be there as he had been during the past.
Left: Main Street Chama and the Chama Days Parade; Right: Red & Mid's Grocery, Shamrock Hotel
One day, shortly after the season ended, I was walking home from the office with one of the other fellows, Doug Chaeney I think, and as we passed Red & Mid’s Grocery Store (yes, there was a grocery store in “uptown” Chama in those days) Red asked us if we would help him unload a truckload of potatoes just arrived from the San Luis Valley. Having nothing better to do we said “Sure.” In exchange for an hour or so of hard work Red gave us each a fifty pound sack of potatoes, and we were glad to get them.
As I mentioned above, Nancy landed a teaching job in Dulce, which was the only reason we could afford to stay on in Chama. I’m not sure how it started, but soon after the season ended the C&TS bachelor crowd got into the habit of coming over to our place for lunch two or three times a week. They chipped in a few bucks a week for food, and Nancy would throw together a crockpot lunch for us to enjoy while she was at work. It has always been a mystery to me, and to everyone who knows me, what I ever did to deserve such a resourceful, flexible, open-minded and understanding wife. Anyway, I think it was during one of these lunches that we came up with the OM scheme, which is the subject of Part 4.
"Sometimes he remembers things that never happened and forgets things that did happen!" Mrs. B.
See also:
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 1: Meeting Fritz
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 2: Expectations
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 3A: 1973, Filling Trains
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 4: OM-74
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 5A: 1974, Biting the Bullet
About the author
Also of interest:
How Many Winter Specials did Scenic Railways operate?
Bite the Bullet Photo Gallery
"Time spent with CATS is never wasted." -- Sigmund Freud
"Nothing endures but change." -- Heraclitus
"C'est le meilleur des mondes possibles." -- Candide
Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2011 08:51PM by gothpapa.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.