Above and beyond

What really impressed me was the D&S's determination to make things happen, to give folks who had come a long way a good show, under some pretty challenging conditions. Neither the goose nor the 18 had much extra "umph" for dealing with the snow, and the 18 uses a lot of water. The D&S could quite reasonably have said too bad, and run the trains with a big K. But instead the D&S invested the money in two flanger trains and a lot of MOW manpower to open the line so the the 18 and the goose could perform for the assembled masses. OK, the quantity of photo ops was more limited than planned, but I think the quality of the opportunities we did get more than offset the loss in quantity. Net net I think it was about as much fun as a railfan photog could have with his or her clothes on. And a partial refund as well. I feel guilty.

JBWX