... And Exploring the East End with Steve and Fred
| November 06, 2012 02:00PM |
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Exploring the East End. Guide Service & Transportation by Steve Forney.
The most enjoyable day of my entire week in Chama was Thursday, 10/18 - the day before the Charter - which I spent with Steve Forney and Fred Oster puttering around in Steve's Jeep on the rough and convoluted "roads" in the Bighorn - Lava Tank area.
One spot I've been wanting to explore for a long time is the big curve at about milepost 294.25, between Lava Tank and The Whiplash. We had staged a run-by there on 05/25/10, but had gone about an eighth of a mile too far around the curve; there's an embankment right at the apex of the curve that needs only a little brush clearing to be a really good location for a run-by - especially if the train is westbound in the afternoon . . .
Steve shot some excellent video here of the morning train on 10/18 - see [ngdiscussion.net].
While Steve was setting up and waiting for the train I hiked part way up the hill to the southeast to get an overview:
The 'road' visible in front the engine is where we unloaded in May, 2010; as you can see we should have stopped nine or ten carlengths sooner:
(The 'road' also shows in the background of my #315 blowdown shot at the bottom of [ngdiscussion.net].)
Steve's familiarity with the area allowed us to drive directly down to the crossing near the infamous green culvert at m.p. 287.5 without getting lost, and we were soon headed up the much better road toward Antonito. Then Fred mentioned the Lava Tank pump house, so we gave up on lunch, turned south before getting to town, and followed a well-graded road southwest up the valley of the Los Piños River:
After exploring the pump house for an hour or so, Steve declared that he had never gone west from there, and wanted to check out the road that leads from the valley up to the crossing near m.p. 302 east of Sublette. Beyond the pump house the road soon gets a lot rougher, but it was no problem in a 4WD. From the crossing, we turned up the road to Bighorn, and then descended to the site of the section house in the lower loop of The Whiplash. I hiked up the dry creek-bed to the trestle, and caught the eastbound train as it passed the rock I had "discovered" and claimed for myself back in '08:*
A few minutes later there was a lengthy blowdown of #489's boiler as she approached and crossed the trestle:
THANK YOU, Steve and Fred, for sharing a FABULOUS Day!!
- Russo
* See [ngdiscussion.net] for photos taken FROM "Russo's Rock", and [ngdiscussion.net] for my crude maps of the area.
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2017 08:45PM by Russo Loco.
The most enjoyable day of my entire week in Chama was Thursday, 10/18 - the day before the Charter - which I spent with Steve Forney and Fred Oster puttering around in Steve's Jeep on the rough and convoluted "roads" in the Bighorn - Lava Tank area.
One spot I've been wanting to explore for a long time is the big curve at about milepost 294.25, between Lava Tank and The Whiplash. We had staged a run-by there on 05/25/10, but had gone about an eighth of a mile too far around the curve; there's an embankment right at the apex of the curve that needs only a little brush clearing to be a really good location for a run-by - especially if the train is westbound in the afternoon . . .
Steve shot some excellent video here of the morning train on 10/18 - see [ngdiscussion.net].
While Steve was setting up and waiting for the train I hiked part way up the hill to the southeast to get an overview:
The 'road' visible in front the engine is where we unloaded in May, 2010; as you can see we should have stopped nine or ten carlengths sooner:
(The 'road' also shows in the background of my #315 blowdown shot at the bottom of [ngdiscussion.net].)
Steve's familiarity with the area allowed us to drive directly down to the crossing near the infamous green culvert at m.p. 287.5 without getting lost, and we were soon headed up the much better road toward Antonito. Then Fred mentioned the Lava Tank pump house, so we gave up on lunch, turned south before getting to town, and followed a well-graded road southwest up the valley of the Los Piños River:
After exploring the pump house for an hour or so, Steve declared that he had never gone west from there, and wanted to check out the road that leads from the valley up to the crossing near m.p. 302 east of Sublette. Beyond the pump house the road soon gets a lot rougher, but it was no problem in a 4WD. From the crossing, we turned up the road to Bighorn, and then descended to the site of the section house in the lower loop of The Whiplash. I hiked up the dry creek-bed to the trestle, and caught the eastbound train as it passed the rock I had "discovered" and claimed for myself back in '08:*
A few minutes later there was a lengthy blowdown of #489's boiler as she approached and crossed the trestle:
THANK YOU, Steve and Fred, for sharing a FABULOUS Day!!
- Russo
* See [ngdiscussion.net] for photos taken FROM "Russo's Rock", and [ngdiscussion.net] for my crude maps of the area.
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2017 08:45PM by Russo Loco.
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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.