Jerry Day Wrote:
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> Well I didn't find this artifact, but sure tried.
>
> In the early 70s, a D&RGW retired engineer told me
> that around 1910, a flanger was pushed over the
> side of a very steep hillside on the Floresta
> branch. It slid over 500 feet to the bottom of the
> grade. According to him, the D&RGW left it there.
> All 11 D&RGW narrow gauge flangers survived into
> the 50s, so it his story is true, the D&RGW built
> a new flanger with the old number.
>
> In 1975, a friend and I searched that area for
> hours, but after a couple of close encounters with
> rattlesnakes, we decided that no flanger was worth
> a snake bite.
>
> I do not know if the flanger is there, but if it
> is, it would be a great find as it would still
> have the wood (rotted for sure) frame.
>
> Jerry Day
> Longmont, CO
Jerry,
Several people have stated we should leave artifacts where we located them, but a lot of railfans/historians/and daisy pickers in general would not adhere to that policy. In the early seventies my son and I gave up on removing a complete coupler and draft gear from one of the old cars in the Rico yard. Too heavy and partially buried. We did get a corner brace from a boxcar. As you posted about Ridgway having "scrap" laying around, Rico was the same way. The engine house was torn down, but the pits were still exposed with some rail still in place. In the mine trackage above Telluride in Ingram basin, I collected about 20 Jeffrey/Greer spikes. Left a lot more. No, I won't post where I found them. Best find or gift was when I had a trailer on the west bluff on Trout Lake. Just up the hill was the old Matterhorn section house that was used as a summer cabin. (close to RGS coach 0252) Owners were friends of ours. I was given the harp switch stand from the Matterhorn spur that was removed when the section house was moved. It was cemented in place in my front yard for 30 years (Louisville) When we moved to Erie I donated it to the CRRM who then sold it to one of the contributors to the Narrow Gauge Gazette. Leave the artifacts in place? That's up to the collector. Case in point- The RGS roadbed from the Ames tank to the Butterfly trestle still had/has a lot of ties in place. Someone took a chain saw to all the ties that had Jeffrey spikes and sawed them out. They have now turned that section into a hiking trail so it's a moot point. The cutting out was done in the seventies.
Go figure,
HighCommander
