Who the heck is Gothpapa...

…and why should anyone at NGDF give a toot?

Last things first. The ol’ Gothpapa plans to regale you, from time to time, with his version of the “true and unvarnished” (or is it “fair and balanced”) Saga of Scenic Railways and the C&TS. Now, he is about as opinionated and bull-headed as any other railfan, so you can expect his contributions to be sprinkled with opinions about the whys and wherefores of things – as in “Why did Scenic fail?” And of course his insights and biases will be informed by his background. So, if you know a little about him and how he came to be in Chama, you will be better able to judge how many grains of salt to apply to his tales.

He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, the son of a railfan/model railroader who drove truck for a living, grandson and great-grandson of “real” railroaders. Among his most vivid childhood memories are trips to DC on the Cincinnatian, the Chicago Railroad Fair, the infamous NMRA/Speedrail wreck, Sunday “daisy-picker” excursions to points of interests in Ohio, and his Dad’s humongous Lionel layout in the basement. His Dad was killed in an accident when Gothpapa was 12, and the family’s rail interests died with him – or so it seemed.

After graduating from the Ohio State University in 1966 with a BA in History, and a BS in Education, he embarked on a teaching career with a position in Lorain, Ohio. While he was busy with all this, the railfan flame rekindled itself in his younger brother John – who passed it back to him. During the mid-60's they once again enjoyed "daisy-picker" excursion trips around Ohio. Then in early 1966 John came across an ad in the classified section of Popular Mechanics, or some such, for the Illini Railroad Club’s “Journey to Yesterday” featuring the CB&Q's 4960 from Chicago to Galesburg, then on to Alamosa behind E8's and four days behind steam on the D&RGW narrow gauge. John thought it sounded like fun, and talked him into going. As far as they knew at that time, the only steam engine running in the whole world was the 578 at the Ohio Railway Museum (ORM), and they knew nothing of Colorado narrow gauge.

So, they did the "Journey," along with their sister. About this experience he says, “I was hooked, but I never dreamed that I would end up back in Chama!” As soon as he got home he drove right to Worthington and joined the ORM. Turns out some of the guys there remembered his Dad.

To summarize his “railfan career” from that point to his return to Chama:

1966-1973 -- member, Ohio Railway Museum, Worthington, Ohio: involvement included promotion and PR, B&B and track work; qualified operator of all electric railway equipment in service during those years; part of the team that rebuilt and operated the N&W #578; participation in the operation of several mainline “daisy-picker” excursions.


Left: CP≤ Right: Ohio Railway Museum. I am on the right in both pictures.

1967, summer – employee, Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad (CP&LE), Sandusky, Ohio: engineer and fireman.

1968-1973 – member, Midwest Railway Historical Foundation (MRHF), Cleveland, Ohio: involvement included maintenance of MRHF’s passenger fleet and ex-GTW #4070; participation in mainline “daisy-picker” excursions and the Conneaut Lake Park project (CLP&E). (Longer Version: the weekend before Thanksgiving 1970 he married Nancy, his BFF of many years, and for their honeymoon they went to New York City on the MRHF annual Thanksgiving Weekend excursion, with him as one of the volunteer docents. “When we got there,” he relates, “Nancy carried our bags while I carried bags for the little ol' ladies. She still won't let me forget that!” The next two summers they lived in a cabin under the roller coaster at Conneaut Lake Park while she worked in the gift shop and he split his time between working for the park's promotion director and helping with the CLP&E.)

1969-1973 – volunteer gopher on three mainline steam trips: one out of Chicago with the 4070, one out of Detroit with the 5629, and one out of Erie with the 4070.


With the 5629, Port Huron, MI, third from left; With the 4070, Conneaut Lake Park. on the right.

1970-1973 –attended several of the Steam Passenger Service Directory (SPSD) Conferences, organized by SPSD editor Marvin Cohen, representing both the ORM and MRHF. These meetings brought together leaders from America’s major tourist railroads and railroad museums, private car owners, mainline steam tour operators, and assorted vendors, for the purpose of finding solutions to a variety of common problems – the major one being insurance. It was during these meetings that he got to know Bob Keller. They served together on the steering committee that led directly to the creation of the Tourist Railway Association, Inc. (TRAIN), and were both at the meeting in Chicago when TRAIN was created late in 1972. He figures he made a good impression on Keller because a few months later, at the first TRAIN Convention in Milwaukee, he was invited to join the C&TS management team in Chama. After giving the offer several seconds of serious consideration he said “Well, I guess so.” Then he called Nancy to run it by her; she thought “I’ve lived under a roller coaster for two summers now, so how bad can this be?”

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Our cozy coaster cottage


"Sometimes he remembers things that never happened and forgets things that did happen!" Mrs. B.

---

See also:

Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 1: Meeting Fritz
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 2: Expectations
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History Part 3A: 1973, Filling Trains
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 3B: 1973, "If the world ended today...."
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 4: OM-74
Scenic and the C&TS, an Oral History, Part 5A: 1974, Biting the Bullet

Also of interest:

How Many Winter Specials did Scenic Railways operate?

"Time spent with CATS is never wasted." -- Sigmund Freud

"Nothing endures but change." -- Heraclitus

"C'est le meilleur des mondes possibles." -- Candide



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2011 04:05PM by gothpapa.