Re: Rotary question

John,

I think both of your statements are true--in context. I'm quite sure railroaders did not consider using a rotary to open a branch in spring as "abuse." Good examples would have been the Floresta Branch out of Crested Butte on the D&RG, or UP's branch to West Yellowstone, Montana. Those operations were considered a necessity by the railroad, and utilization of equipment and manpower for that purpose--with the inherent risks therin--was comtemplated and planned for financially and logistically. With that, mechanical wear-and-tear on equipment--sometimes severe--was also expected, and the railroads had resources available to maintain and rebuild that equipment recognizing that reality.

Today's C&TS, however, I think is in a different situation. Using OY to open the line in the spring would expose the OY to the same inherent risks of mechanical wear and failures that it would have faced when it was being used by the D&RGW. What the C&TS does not currently have is the ability to rebuild and repair OY if the use of it did lead to a significant mechanical problem or failure. If those resources, financial and logistical, were available, using OY to open the line might be both logical and desirable--just as using steam locomotives to run the passenger trains is an expected operational feature of the railroad. Lacking those resources, using an alternative means to open the line probably makes more sense for the C&TS.

I'm not sure how one might make a financial plan to hold the OY available for the very episodic need to open the line every few years or so, given the other pressing capital needs of the C&TS. It's a nice wish, just as a nice wish would be have all of the locomotves on the property restored and available for use--along with some of the locomotives formerly used on the line that are rotting away elsewhere (a la D&RGW 493 in Silverton). I just don't know how all of the resources might be found to make all that magic happen.

All of that said, I would give my eye teeth to see OM or OY plowing again--undoubtedly one of the great spectacles of railroading.