I was third grade in 1972, and my folks and & I were on our annual vacation to South Fork.
My aunt was at that time an English teacher at Monte Vista High School, and she talked about how some of her students had helped save "the little train" (a term most of the locals used for the ng).
She thought that it would be a nice family outing, and give her a chance to see some of what her students had been doing.
I had always been interested in trains, but going to Antonito, then Chama, was the first time that I became aware that OTHERS were as well. This was not my first train ride, as I had ridden NYC passenger trains before.
We went to Antonito, picked up our tickets in the then new, tiny C&TS depot, and waited for the busses. Remember, the C&TS was still in it's mode of running one train over the entire line, going east one day, and west the next, 4 days a week.
I clearly remember see ing 494, 495, OY and other equipment shoved to the end of track. 463 had just arrived, and 484 was sitting dead on one leg of the wye.
The bus came and took us to Chama, where 483 was under steam, and up the hill we went with about 8 boxcar coaches.
One major difference I can remember from today is that the flanges squeeled much more often than they do today!
We stopped for water at Cresco, and it was neat to see a water tank "just like the one in South Fork" actually being used!
Of course most of the amenities that passengers have today were absent. Lunch was in the Osier Section House.
One neat thing was that photo runs were done at Tanglefoot Curve (downhill!) and at Osier.
But the steam and ng bug got me that day. I still have my Instamatic photo of 483 sitting in Chama and the Osier photo run. Mom would not allow me to shoot the one at Tanglefoot as the notion of getting off the train to take a picture of it seemed odd to her!
We got to Antonito, and of course I wanted to watch the switching, while my aunt and Mom wanted nothing more than to get back to South Fork and wash out the cinders.
The last thing that I remember seeing was 483 coupling on to 484 at the wye, obviously to move it out of the way for 483 to turn. To this day I have no idea what 484 was doing in Antonito. Work train duty perhaps?
But the draw of the ng is sure powerful. It would not surprise me that there is some second or third grader riding this season who will, in 30 years, be writing about HIS (or her!) first trip on the narrow gauge.
And who knows how it will change? When I was there in '72, OY was sitting there looking all forlorn. Maybe the second grader of today will write in 30 years how he saw 495 before it was restored. Will be interesting to see, huh?
Les
