Re: Adventures on the Narrow Gauge, June '63 to June '64
| March 27, 2020 10:45PM |
Continuing from our arrival at Cumbres to find 484, 498, and the freight having left, we turned around and headed back to Antonito. Arriving back at the tracks just west of Antonito, we saw a smoky dot in the distance. My British host dropped me off near the depot, and he headed west to meet the oncoming "dot". I was convinced that the train would stop in Antonito and that I could then surely get a cab ride with engineer Dunn, thanking my lucky stars for this turn of events. The first to come around the bend was engine 498 running light. To my shock the engine slowed down but didn't stop and my chance for a cab ride appeared to vanish in a flash. In a split second of thought I grabbed the cab rails and swung on to the tender steps of the moving engine, and climbed up into the cab. The fireman gave me a stunned and not happy look as engineer Dunn widened out the throttle a bit for the 30 mph run toward Alamosa. After getting over the surprise of seeing me in the cab, engineer Dunn was pretty friendly, and I enjoyed one of the best cab rides of my life. As for my English host, he caught with 498 after some time and spotted me in the cab. After wondering what happened to me after 498 had run non-stop thru Antonito, he followed the engine. At the edge of Alamosa, in the departure yard, engineer Dunn stopped 498 and let me off to my waiting driver, saying that he was glad that I had gotten my cab ride after all. So ended a "boring'" lay over day in Alamosa. Actually, it didn't entirely end, there was still 484 coming some distance behind, and later we went to visit 498, now permanently my favorite narrow gauge engine, in the roundhouse. Many decades later I bought a narrow gauge freight video, and to my surprise there was a clip of 498 rolling along the 3-rail speed way with some young guy standing in the gang way. Must have been taken by that English fan I never managed to remain in contact with....
The next day was another fabulous adventure, riding back thru spectacular Toltec Gorge, Cumbres and thru remote places with names like Gato, Tiffany, La Boca and Florida, on the Illini Special to Durango. Arriving in Durango, my power of persuasion seemed to be used up. My dad met me at the Durango depot, and unfortunately he could not be convinced that I really needed to ride the next day's Illini annual round trip on the Farmington branch. So I off to Vallecito lake and hikes in the mountains, instead of riding behind smoky steam engines.
In the summer of 1963 worked multiple jobs to finance a trip to the NRHS Denver convention and possibly more narrow gauge adventures. Jobs included picking fruit, painting apartments, and even 2 days of picking cotton in Tularosa. Finally in September I rode the SP/Rock Island IMPERIAL from Alamogordo to Tucumcary and Dalhart, and continued on FW&D/ C&S train 7 to Denver, as seen here near Mt. Dora, New Mexico
From Denver I made a day round trip on the Yampa Valley Mail via the Moffat tunnel to Granby, and then joined a bus day trip to the Colorado RR Museum for more narrow gauge action, including seeing 2-8-0 346 in operation.
The museum grounds still looked quite different then
Among the biggest attractions at the convention were two awesome excursions pulled by Burlington 4-8-4 5632 south to Colorado Springs and north to the Great Western railroad
Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2020 11:08PM by Olaf Rasmussen.
The next day was another fabulous adventure, riding back thru spectacular Toltec Gorge, Cumbres and thru remote places with names like Gato, Tiffany, La Boca and Florida, on the Illini Special to Durango. Arriving in Durango, my power of persuasion seemed to be used up. My dad met me at the Durango depot, and unfortunately he could not be convinced that I really needed to ride the next day's Illini annual round trip on the Farmington branch. So I off to Vallecito lake and hikes in the mountains, instead of riding behind smoky steam engines.
In the summer of 1963 worked multiple jobs to finance a trip to the NRHS Denver convention and possibly more narrow gauge adventures. Jobs included picking fruit, painting apartments, and even 2 days of picking cotton in Tularosa. Finally in September I rode the SP/Rock Island IMPERIAL from Alamogordo to Tucumcary and Dalhart, and continued on FW&D/ C&S train 7 to Denver, as seen here near Mt. Dora, New Mexico
From Denver I made a day round trip on the Yampa Valley Mail via the Moffat tunnel to Granby, and then joined a bus day trip to the Colorado RR Museum for more narrow gauge action, including seeing 2-8-0 346 in operation.
The museum grounds still looked quite different then
Among the biggest attractions at the convention were two awesome excursions pulled by Burlington 4-8-4 5632 south to Colorado Springs and north to the Great Western railroad
Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2020 11:08PM by Olaf Rasmussen.
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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.