John West Wrote:
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> The fact the Friends are working on the pipeline,
> and there seems to be at least semi serious talk
> of rebuilding the snowshed at Cumbres, is a
> testament to how much progress the C&TS and the
> Friends have made. Twenty years ago talk of such
> projects were considered pure railfan fantasy, too
> many other more critical things needed attention.
> But so much has been done that now fantasy has
> become if not reality, at least a real
> possibility. For those of us who were around when
> the Rio Grande was still running, things like a
> working water tank at Lava and the snowshed were
> an integral part of the operation. Who in 1968
> would have thought this possible half a century
> later. What an amazing museum of historic
> railroading.
>
> JBWX
Right John, when I have looked at some of the videos that Les Jerrett of Railway Productions made of some of the Friends work sessions in the early 1990s about all they did was paint cars and one year replaced the floorboards in a high side gon. Ted Norcross's square nail gang had just gotten started and were replacing the roofs at Sublett and Osier section houses, and continue to this day. (Just about everything you see at Osier has been rebuilt by the Square Nail Gang). I think that things really started changing with the work up on Cumbres Pass when the Friends replaced the first bent of the snowshed and completely reskinned the outside and top with new 2X12s. There was a lot of remodeling work done on the section house and carman's house as well with new roofs and interior.
Now it is not uncommon to take a car down to the trucks and replace ALL of the rotten wood if that's what is needed. I think that Don Atkinson set a Friends record this summer of completely rebuilding the wheel and tie car all the way down to the trucks and building it back up to a finished car in
20 DAYS of work sessions. All that car needs now is paint and stenciling. John Sutkus taking on the leaning coal tipple, installing a concrete grade beam to replace the collapsing wooden mud sill installed in 1925 and slowly jacking the structure to the straight position after leaning for almost 3/4 of a century. And don't forget the work that Bob Conry and his crews have done the last few years up on Cumbres Pass on lifting the sagging section house 6 inches and completely repairing and residing both buildings. Amazing!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2016 11:51PM by John Cole.
