Re: RE: Wind caused derailments

Charlie Mutschler Wrote:
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> Following up on Chris Walker's post, reportedly
> there was also a wind caused derailment of a
> passenger train on the D&RG near Colorado Springs
> in its early years.

There is a picture of this incident (credited to Pioneer Museum, Colorado Springs) on pg 20 of Beebe & Clegg's "Rio Grande: Mainline of the Rockies." happened near Palmer Lake in 1877.

> In the 1960s the D&RGW
> encountered problems with wind derailing empty
> freight cars on standard gauge freights on the
> former D&SL where it climbs up from Rocky Flats -
> the curves near Fireclay seemed to be especially
> prone to this problem. A parallel track with a
> cut of retired hoppers filled with gravel as a
> wind break solved the problem.

It is mentioned on page 157 of "Call the Big Hook" by Samuel A. Dougherty (Golden West Books, 1984). He mentions that he suggested planting flowers in the dirt the hoppers were filled with. His boss nixed the idea and had the dirt salted with weed killer. [Book is a good read, includes some material(one short chapter) on Marshall Pass doings in the early 1950's, when he was stationed out of Salida]

hank