Chaos at Cumbres on 10/23 ...

"Save Time and Money
by
Avoiding Bedlam and confusion" *


Per his earlier post on another thread, JBWX managed to at least avoid some of the Bedlam and Confusion - if not to save any time or money - by chasing in his rental car most days rather than riding on the train during last month's charter on the C&TS.  I had offered to drive and provide a ride to as many as three others on the "chase and carpool" parts of the charter, but ended up driving alone on Tuesday morning, 10/23.  Nonetheless, I didn't fully avoid Bedlam & Confusion, as the following snapshots illustrate.   (It is probably best to consider them as out-takes from a jerky, poorly-panned video rather than as photographs.)

After narrowly escaping a head-on collision with an 18-wheel gasoline tanker (DUE TO THE CHARTER BUS BEING PARKED MORE THAN HALFWAY ONTO THE ROAD above m.p. 333.5, aka 'Valley View'), I headed on up to Roger's Rock to get photos of the two-engine train at Mudhen Marsh (aka 'Perry's Pond') and rounding Windy Point (see [ngdiscussion.net]).  when the engine stopped at Cumbres just shy of the water plug, and began to back down around the point, I realized there was going to be a second run-by - which gave me time to scurry down the trail and drive around behind the depot to a spot near the bridge over the old road.  By the time I hiked a short way up the hill to the west far enough to see the train, #487 had already pulled most of its cars across highway 17, but I did get a few shots of #488 taking water before moving a bit farther up the hill:


While I was moving uphill to get a better view, #487 backed part of the train across the highway and onto the wye:


#488 and the caboose escaped across highway 17 while I was hiking even farther up the hill, but #487 and her train soon came out of the snowshed and onto the westbound main line. The speeder, which had crossed the bridge, hurriedly backed away - but #487 reversed and backed her train across the road:


The rider gon was pushed back and coupled to the caboose, then #487 pulled the rest of the train forward again while #488 sneaked backwards across the road and into the snowshed:


The speeder again approached the depot, and again backed away across the bridge:


(To Be Continued ... )

- Rüsso

*  IIRC, the above was the slogan of a Mississippi short line - the Bonhomie & Hattiesburg Southern Railway - back in nineteen-fifties.



Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2017 11:39AM by Russo Loco.