First Taste of 3' Gauge - Black Hills Central 1961

A while ago I posted some pics of my first taste of NG - Edaville in 1959. I was surprised at how many other flatlanders had Edaville as your first narrow gauge too. My first taste of 3' gauge was ex-White Pass 2-8-0 #69 at the Black Hills Central in 1961. So maybe some of you visited there in your youth as well.

Love the smoke - but there we go again with the 1960s fake diamond stacks and box headlights. It was a disease, but it was steam.



What really caught my attention tho was "Deadwood Central" #9. Being only 9 years old I didn't figure out its Colorado history till a bit later.



I climbed all over that engine, and unlike #69 I loved how you could actually see the drivers. Geez those wheels seemed small compared to the big standard gauge steam I had seen. And I also remember exploring C&S biz car 911 - glad it's still around.



Caught up with #69 again in 1982, on one of my family's driving holidays to Colorado. The kids would need a break around Omaha, and we discovered US 30 and the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island NE. They had a neat little operation, but I gather there's only the standard gauge UP engine for a train exhibit now.



When I found out #9 was running at GLRR in 2006, we made a special trip just to see it. I'm glad we did because I gather it only ran that one year. It double headed a couple trips with #12, and boy did they make a racket when they opened them up after crossing the high bridge. I see #9 is now on display in Breckinridge and looks to be well taken care of.



Cheers all,
Ralph



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2020 07:11PM by tgbcvr.