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C&TSRR 1970's rockslide incident

February 06, 2014 08:54PM
Fullscreen capture 262014 91124 PM.jpg
Fullscreen capture 262014 91059 PM.jpg

This winter, I am using crude technology in an effort to digitally capture thousands of slides taken over several decades of railfan endeavors.
While bravely digging into the depths of my den closet, I found about 30 rolls of un-edited 8 mm movie film including several from the early years of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.

Pardon the poor quality of the above movie screen shots, but in the process of trying to project the decades old film, the brittle cellulose was devoured by my projector, so this image, along with my vague memories are as good as I will be able to do...

Some of the movie footage shows Rotary OY in action, which I presume was film I took in 1978. Accordingly, I would date the vid caps as mid 1970's, possibly still under Scenic Railways operations.

The specific roll of film footage indicates the trip to be a typical Chama to Antonito run, with probably 12 to 15 rider boxcars pulled up the hill with two engines. The footage shows Osier, then Phantom Curve before encountering the rock slide, so my best guess is that it occurred somewhere between Toltec and Sublette.

My memories of the slide are clouded with the passing of 35 years. What I do recall is that passengers disembarked the cars and every able bodied soul assisted in moving rocks off of the tracks. Since I have no prints or slides, I suspect that I only captured the brief movie footage shown prior to being conscripted into rock moving labor.

I vaguely remember the train crew using a jack hammer, presumably powered with train air to break up the larger rocks for removal.
Which raises the purpose of my posting.

Anyone recall jack hammers being carried on the locomotives? If so, was this common, or perhaps limited to unique slide conditions at the time of my trip? Where would one get air to power a jack hammer?
Assuming that the train brake air was dumped for parking, would there be access to any air reservoir immediately downstream from the compressor?

BTW: As I recall, the train arrived in Antonito just an hour or two down and the railroad didn't charge passengers for the extra entertainment...

Any responsive input solicited...
Subject Author Posted

C&TSRR 1970's rockslide incident Attachments

John Wilke February 06, 2014 08:54PM

Re: C&TSRR 1970's rockslide incident

Will Gant February 06, 2014 10:59PM



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