Re: East-Side, West-Side - where to fight the snow ... 
| November 04, 2013 05:45PM |
|
rehunn Wrote:
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> Point taken, West end is too easily
> accessible, though. If you're gonna sit
> up on the hill and watch the Drive-In I
> want to be able to turn down the sound,
> nuff freeeloading goin on in the world
> without adding to it.
Right, Rich -
IIRC, the D&RGW based the flangers and spreader in Alamosa. When called, they would work westbound up the moderate 1.4% to Cumbres and then down the steep 4% to Chama. A day or two later the two engines and the snow-fighting equipment would head back to Alamosa - not clearing the track between Chama & Cumbres but taking seven or eight loads of oil with them as far as the top of the hill. I presume they would have cleared the sidings at Los Piños, Osier, Toltec, Sublette and Big Horn on their way home if necessary; Jimmy's records would hopefully show us the details.
So you're right - if you want authentic flanger & spreader action after a light or moderate storm, you need to stage it on the east end. But then, how do you run a "chase" train ahead of the snow-fighting train without clearing the track first, -or- how do you accommodate enough riders on the snow-fighting train to pay for it without compromising its authentic appearance. ...
Of course the "chase" train really could chase the flanger train, but then the participants would have to trudge a long way through the snow to get ahead of the action, severely limiting the number of run-bys you'd be able to do in one day.
- El Greencho Curmudgeoño
p.s. Here's a photo that Tom Gildersleeve sent for the Screen Saver a few years ago showing a snow-fighting train arriving in Chama in mid-March, 1963, after a hard (two?) day's work:
Photo Copyright © 1963, 2013 by Tom Gildersleeve - All Rights Reserved.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2013 05:52PM by Russo Loco.
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> Point taken, West end is too easily
> accessible, though. If you're gonna sit
> up on the hill and watch the Drive-In I
> want to be able to turn down the sound,
> nuff freeeloading goin on in the world
> without adding to it.
Right, Rich -
IIRC, the D&RGW based the flangers and spreader in Alamosa. When called, they would work westbound up the moderate 1.4% to Cumbres and then down the steep 4% to Chama. A day or two later the two engines and the snow-fighting equipment would head back to Alamosa - not clearing the track between Chama & Cumbres but taking seven or eight loads of oil with them as far as the top of the hill. I presume they would have cleared the sidings at Los Piños, Osier, Toltec, Sublette and Big Horn on their way home if necessary; Jimmy's records would hopefully show us the details.
So you're right - if you want authentic flanger & spreader action after a light or moderate storm, you need to stage it on the east end. But then, how do you run a "chase" train ahead of the snow-fighting train without clearing the track first, -or- how do you accommodate enough riders on the snow-fighting train to pay for it without compromising its authentic appearance. ...
Of course the "chase" train really could chase the flanger train, but then the participants would have to trudge a long way through the snow to get ahead of the action, severely limiting the number of run-bys you'd be able to do in one day.
- El Greencho Curmudgeoño
p.s. Here's a photo that Tom Gildersleeve sent for the Screen Saver a few years ago showing a snow-fighting train arriving in Chama in mid-March, 1963, after a hard (two?) day's work:
Photo Copyright © 1963, 2013 by Tom Gildersleeve - All Rights Reserved.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2013 05:52PM by Russo Loco.
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.