Re: Adventures on the Narrow Gauge, June '63 to June '64
| April 03, 2020 11:20PM |
As I mentioned in my previous post, I arrived in Walsenburg with two essential items: my continuing train ticket to Alamogordo and 25 cents.
The tiny amount of funds remaining from the 13 dollars I had left Walsenburg with 2 days earlier was largely caused by the unused motel rooms in Durango, where the management agreed to refund the cancelled second night, but not the first night, for a painful loss of a precious 4 dollars. Luckily the room at the Shamrock in Chama only cost $ 3. I spent the last 25 cents on a Fig Newton bar to tide me over until the following afternoon. Breakfast in the Colorado & Southern coach/dinette was not an option, nor was lunch on the Golden State. Since I only acquired a coffee addiction in my grad school days, I still had an enjoyable train trip home.
What I remembered most of the night time ride on C&S train 7 was the train handling south of Trinidad as the train wound thru the hilly terrain. The E units would roar to accelerate the train, followed by a hard brake application before entering one of the many tight curves, then the diesels would roar back to life before the next hard brake application which was deafening in the heavy weight coaches with friction brakes, so for a good part of the ride I stood by the open dutch door enjoying the action, since sleep wasn't an option anyway
At Dalhart I transferred to Southern Pacific train 3, the Golden State. Rock Island E units provided the power until Tucumcary, where SP E units took over for the run to Los Angeles.
The Golden State reached Alamogordo in the early afternoon, and now home was only a 2-mile hike away.
Arriving back at my parents house, I was amazed that my adventure had worked out with such a great dose of luck. And I am still amazed. However this narrow escape from a potentially seriously difficult situation did not prevent me from gambling on another narrow gauge expedition with inadequate funding in the middle of the winter.
(to be continued)
As an afterthought, here is a picture from Alamogordo's past when it was the headquarters of the El Paso & North Eastern railroad and had extensive yards, a turntable, roundhouse, and fully equipped shops. All gone, but the concrete turntable pit can still be found.
The tiny amount of funds remaining from the 13 dollars I had left Walsenburg with 2 days earlier was largely caused by the unused motel rooms in Durango, where the management agreed to refund the cancelled second night, but not the first night, for a painful loss of a precious 4 dollars. Luckily the room at the Shamrock in Chama only cost $ 3. I spent the last 25 cents on a Fig Newton bar to tide me over until the following afternoon. Breakfast in the Colorado & Southern coach/dinette was not an option, nor was lunch on the Golden State. Since I only acquired a coffee addiction in my grad school days, I still had an enjoyable train trip home.
What I remembered most of the night time ride on C&S train 7 was the train handling south of Trinidad as the train wound thru the hilly terrain. The E units would roar to accelerate the train, followed by a hard brake application before entering one of the many tight curves, then the diesels would roar back to life before the next hard brake application which was deafening in the heavy weight coaches with friction brakes, so for a good part of the ride I stood by the open dutch door enjoying the action, since sleep wasn't an option anyway
At Dalhart I transferred to Southern Pacific train 3, the Golden State. Rock Island E units provided the power until Tucumcary, where SP E units took over for the run to Los Angeles.
The Golden State reached Alamogordo in the early afternoon, and now home was only a 2-mile hike away.
Arriving back at my parents house, I was amazed that my adventure had worked out with such a great dose of luck. And I am still amazed. However this narrow escape from a potentially seriously difficult situation did not prevent me from gambling on another narrow gauge expedition with inadequate funding in the middle of the winter.
(to be continued)
As an afterthought, here is a picture from Alamogordo's past when it was the headquarters of the El Paso & North Eastern railroad and had extensive yards, a turntable, roundhouse, and fully equipped shops. All gone, but the concrete turntable pit can still be found.
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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.