Re: Chasing the narrow gauge 55 years ago, June 1964 -5
| September 10, 2019 07:55PM |
478 was looking mighty fine after her steam cleaning.
Although Mesa Verde was the goal for the day, we did take time out to chase 478 to Hermosa first. I hesitate to add the next blurry photos taken with the SLOW Agfa box camera (this was the last ng trip I used it on, I finally got a Yashica SLR with my summer earnings), so they are here just for historical purposes.
I believe that this is the much-photographed pond at the curve before Hermosa, the pond apparently newly constructed at that time, with the shoreline devoid of the current thick vegetation.
478 cruising along in the meadows. In those days there was no highway along the track, and the line ran thru open ranch land devoid of real estate developments.
On Sunday, June 7, we made a roundtrip to Silverton behind engine 476
The next four days were devoted to Red Mountain Pass, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Royal Gorge, and what Leo called in Cambodlish "Pick Pike", locally known as Pike's Peak. (Actually, Leo spoke excellent English 99 percent of the time). Here we splurged on another set of tickets for a cog railroad ride to the snowy summit of Pike's Peak. With time and funds running out, it was time to head south, naturally via Alamosa and another shot at the narrow gauge. Near Antonito we met 488 with the Illini RR Club excursion returning to Alamosa after 4 days of touring
the narrow gauge, including the Farmington branch.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2019 09:28PM by Olaf Rasmussen.
Although Mesa Verde was the goal for the day, we did take time out to chase 478 to Hermosa first. I hesitate to add the next blurry photos taken with the SLOW Agfa box camera (this was the last ng trip I used it on, I finally got a Yashica SLR with my summer earnings), so they are here just for historical purposes.
I believe that this is the much-photographed pond at the curve before Hermosa, the pond apparently newly constructed at that time, with the shoreline devoid of the current thick vegetation.
478 cruising along in the meadows. In those days there was no highway along the track, and the line ran thru open ranch land devoid of real estate developments.
On Sunday, June 7, we made a roundtrip to Silverton behind engine 476
The next four days were devoted to Red Mountain Pass, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Royal Gorge, and what Leo called in Cambodlish "Pick Pike", locally known as Pike's Peak. (Actually, Leo spoke excellent English 99 percent of the time). Here we splurged on another set of tickets for a cog railroad ride to the snowy summit of Pike's Peak. With time and funds running out, it was time to head south, naturally via Alamosa and another shot at the narrow gauge. Near Antonito we met 488 with the Illini RR Club excursion returning to Alamosa after 4 days of touring
the narrow gauge, including the Farmington branch.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2019 09:28PM by Olaf Rasmussen.
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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.