Well... it's like this (or as we said back in my Navy days "this is a real no-s**tter"). The powers that be wanted to justify shutting down the RGS. It was losing money and there was no hope of any turnaround. Supposedly it was figured that destroying the rotary would result in a complete shut-down during the winter. So a dynamite charge was placed on the machinery end of the rotary where it would do the most damage, and the blame would be placed on an incompetent water tender. The rotary would be out of commission, and the railroad would follow suit. Or so the story goes.
This is where the story gets weird. In photos of the damaged side of the rotary, the damage is obvious. Right up front where the machinery is located. And NOT where the damage would be if the crown sheet let go. Now, failure of the front course is highly uncommon (but it has been known to occur) which would explain the damage at the front of the boiler, which is up around the smokebox end of the boiler. I've seen photos of the aftermath of a boiler explosion, and the common result is the boiler is literally rocketed up and lands several hundred feet away. Not the case on Rotary 2.
Or so the story goes...
Now the water tender could well have let the water get low, and burnt the crown sheet which would have condemned the boiler. But unless he added water after the fact, that would not have resulted in a boiler explosion. So if it had a burnt crown sheet. a replacement boiler could have been found... remember that a lot of smaller power was being scrapped at this time, and a suitable boiler could have been used (if the RGS had any money).
So whatever the cause, the Rotary was out of commission. And when Plow Flanger 02 went off the rails on Lizard Head, all of the RGS's snow fighting capabilities were toast. And they did shut down shortly afterwards.
So who knows? Did this really happen? The only testimony are the surviving photos of the rotary. Apparently nobody got photos of the inside of the rotary showing how the damage looked. And of course, all of the people involved are long gone.
Bill Daniels
Santa Rosa, California
