Re: NNG - 1992 Pacific Shore Limited & Earth Train w/ D&RG Ski Train

D&RGW 223 Wrote:
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> USAF_Andy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >I also remember all the D&RGW passenger cars
> > with SP speed lettering on them. One of these
> > days, I might make it back out to Cali and will
> > catch it again in the Niles Canyon.
>
> Would that be SP painted cars with Rio Grande
> speed lettering? Or am I confused?


I don't remember the details - this was almost twenty years ago. The 'Earth Train' was some kind of environmental awareness project for young people; John Voight and some other Hollywood people were involved somehow. The D&RGW Ski Train was leased for a few weeks in late summer '92 to provide the equipment, and the GGRM's #2472 was hired to pull the train. IIRC, the Ski Train ran light from Denver to S.F. and then the GGRM sold tickets on the S.F. - L.A. southbound segment of the trip (the Pacific Shore Limited) to help cover the costs. Saturday, Sept. 12 was S.F to San Luis Obispo, and Sunday was S.L.O. to L.A.   The return trip on Sept. 21 started very late, and then just got later and later. I remember helping the crew roll out firehoses to water the engine in S.L.O. after sundown during what was supposed to have been the lunch stop, and again in Salinas around 2:00 am Tuesday where we had been scheduled to stop for dinner Monday evening ...   IIRC #2472 pulled the train only as far as Oakland, and then some ugly diseasels took over for the rest of the trip to Denver (and beyond?).

- Russ