I have seen 3 rotary runs, 1991,1993,and 1997. Having done a charter train after the 1993 run, I got a unique perspective of the operations.
While the crews were coaling up the engine at Cumbres for day 3 of the run, I sat in the truck with GM Joe Vigil, and we talked about stuff. He told me these operations were very expensive, to the tune of $10,000 per day. So 1993 was $40K. Now they did recoup about 14K from our trains, but they also had some expenses there as well.
I think the big difference that we are overlooking in this discussion is that the early runs of OM where basically fantrips, whereas the runs in 1990's were to open the railroad so they could haul tourists. These later runs covered most of the railroad where the snow was, whereas the early runs went to Lobato or Cresco, never nearing the summit. So they were both "Different" circumstances.
As John West and Jerry Day pointed out things were different in the D&RGW days, and the Rotary would be used after a huge storm where cuts and other areas were drifted so high a flanger could not be used. Flangers could sometimes keep the railroad open without the use of a rotary, but on today's C&TS it is futile to plow the line in January cause they might have to do it again in April or May. I believe thats why they did it the way it was done, about 3 weeks before opening day, so it gives some time to melt from the ties after plowing.
With the costs associated with the Rotary(which might be more than $10K today since my cost figure was 1993), I think they figure it is easier to use Soni with his snow blower, or simply pay a dozer to clear it. Even if they have to pay $1000 per day, and spend 4 days, its only $4K total, compared to $20-$40K for the Rotary.
Therefore I think the whole thing is primarily economics. They tried to defray some of the costs in 1991 and 1997 with a photo special on day 2. However that could not have been a huge amount of cash back.
In 1993 Joe Vigil told us later that yes the cost was a lot, but they did gain a lot of national exposure(for the 1991 run), and were able to open the line a week earlier. There were 3 videos made of the 1991 event which further advertised the railroad. CBS did a spot on the evening news and had a helicopter over Tanglefoot for day 2.
In summery, the neat thing about the 90's Rotary runs were that they covered so much of the railroad, and the purpose was to open the line.
The neat thing about the 70's rotaries was that they used OM, and plowed in fresh snow, more like the D&RGW days.
One other thing to keep in mind is the exhaustion factor. I know the crews were fried after most of these monster 4 day deals. In 1997 we did another little 2 day charter and they asked us to wait a day or two so they could catch their breath. Since there were only 4 of us involved we were able to do that.
Photographically, the Rotary runs were simply put-Spectacular!!! If you want to see a preview of two of them(1991 and 1997), here are the links below.
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www.youtube.com]
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www.youtube.com]
For wedge plows (shot in 1987 and 1988) try here.
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www.youtube.com]
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www.youtube.com]
Greg Scholl
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www.gregschollvideo.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2010 08:09AM by Greg Scholl.
