Re: Rotary OY... the way it IS.

Jerry -

Nope, no contest; you have more experience than myself.  But neither am I as ignorant as you imply,
nor - as your own experience clearly shows - is the concept of branding and brand promotion bogus.
Besides, there's really no point in us arguing about it here.  The Commission and the Management
Company made a decision some time ago; the only question is how to best carry out their branding
plans on a budget that - contrary to the funds available for your H-P advertising - is VERY limited.

My view is, in fact, probably closer to yours than to theirs - theirs being, SFAIK, that all equipment used by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR for regular passenger service display the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR name. This includes ALL FOUR K-36 locomotives in use by the railroad during the 2010 season.  IMHO, in view of the C&TS secondary mission of historic preservation, at least one - perhaps two - of these engines should retain the current 'Rio Grande' tender logos, at least for the time being.   Also IMHO when locomotive #463 is restored to service, its historic uniqueness should be honored by lettering it as accurately as possible using the "DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN" name on the tender, along with an appropriate Moffat Tunnel and/or Royal Gorge herald and an accurate reproduction of the cab numbers using the D&RGW variation of the Railroad Roman font in use during the 1930's - essentially the same lettering that is currently on #315's tender.

Since funding from the two states for historic preservation - as opposed to maintenance and operation of the C&TS as a tourist railroad - is essentially non-existent, The Friends have taken up the challenge to preserve the history of the Denver & Rio Grande (Western) railroad and to preserve and restore as much of the non-tourism-related rolling stock, buildings and other equipment as possible. Again IMHO, as a self-funded volunteer organization they have done an admirable - though not perfect* - job. There is an old saying that you can catch more flys with honey than with vinegar, and it seems to me to be counterproductive to criticize every little perceived error rather than to praise their efforts so far and to encourage them to do even better in the future. You can't boss volunteers, you have to lead by example - and there are many excellent people within The Friends doing just that. Here is an example of the results of their efforts - rotary OY on the evening of August 31, 2010:


To the best of my knowledge, the two cans of D&RGW Dark Olive Green Boiler Jacket Enamel Urethane left over from #489's "Season in Green" last May are still safe in Barbara Hogan's broom closet and that notorious paint-fume-crazed Wild-Eyed Foamer from California has not been seen in Chama since the First of September, so OY probably still looks pretty much the same as in the above photo - except for maybe some snow on her roof. And, IMHO, that's how OY should look for 99.999% of the rest of her hopefully long life. BUT - assuming that the above gray paint job is refreshed and the black Rio Grande logo and lettering accurately re-applied - IMHO, for the purposes of brand recognition and spreading the good news about the C&TS to a statewide or even nationwide audience - IF T-V news coverage of her hoped-for operation in 2012 can be arranged, then - for that ONE DAY ONLY - the "Rio Grande" and "D&RGW" can be overlaid with "Cumbres & Toltec" and "C&TS", as is dramatically shown in the excellent video that Greg Scholl has posted at [ngdiscussion.net].

Insofar as rotary OM is concerned - again just my personal opinion - IF the plans that Soni announced last year to cosmetically restore #483 and to set her up with OM as a snow-fighting display ever come to fruition, the auxiliary water car should not be part of the display, OM and her tender should retain the Tuscan Red color as a good example of how the D&RG(W) used to paint their rotaries, and the rivet counters will just have to endure a substitute tender that is a reasonable approximation of OM's tender during her flaming youth, but that is a few inches too long or too short, too high or too low, and with a few dozen too many or too few rivets.

- Russo de los Curmudgeones Viejo y Verde
(One of the original seven members of the Foundation for Unilateral Curmudgeonly Krankiness Espousing Railroad Subjects, as featured in Roger Hogan's Wigwam's upcoming Christmas special, "The Curmudgeonly Seven")**

p.s. In the spirit of Christmas Past, here are a couple of Tom Gildersleeve's beautiful photos of D&RGW snow fighting operations which he contributed to Volume I of the 'Narrow Gauge Over Cumbres' screen-saver a few years ago. Please note that these are copyrighted photos, and do NOT download or copy them without written permission from Tom.
#483 at "Lake Lobato", 1963:


#483 & #48_ with homeward-bound flanger train north of La Jara, 1963:



* I vaguely remember reading in an issue of The Dispatch a couple of years ago something to the effect that "the original boards extended about four inches beyond the ????, but I/we trimmed them off even with it ... "  and thinking to myself WHY??   If you're going to that much trouble to rebuild the pile driver, why not replicate it as exactly as possible?"   Hopefully, my memory is not what is used to be ...

** See [ngdiscussion.net].



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2010 10:57PM by Russo Loco.