Re: Connecting the narrow gauge with SG logging mallets

Continuing with the story before the diversion to cold war trains, I arrived in Cheyenne on the "City of Portland" at 3 pm on May 27, and chose not to continue to Denver by train, as this would have entailed a 4 hour wait for the "City of Saint Louis". Instead I took the connecting bus to Denver. The next part of the trip to Alamosa must not have been seriously memorable, as the details have yet to be reappear thru the fog of time but I think it involved a hop on Frontier Airlines, and a ride with Ernie Robart and Jeff Stebbins from Albuquerque to Alamosa where the fog cleared entirely to reveal 476 and 478 preparing the first freight of the year for what JBWX coins the "Mad Dash" to Durango, a one-day run to make the engines available for the Silverton train.

I am planning a separate thread for my version of the Mad Dash as it will likely differ in detail from that of JBWX, but I first have to change the files scanned by Russ Sperry to jpegs for the NGDF. But here are just a couple of pictures for now:

The double header about 4 miles out of Antonito on May 28, 1968



The train starting out of Sublette after watering both engines



Very late in the day the two engines are heading out of Gato



With the light fading fast, we left the train and headed back to Albuquerque. Jeff had a final exam at UNM the next day, so he went to sleep in the back seat while Ernie and I took turns driving thru the night. We were both pretty beat by then, and the driving stretches gradually started getting shorter. Finally Ernie and I were rotating driving turns every ten minutes, just couldn't keep our eyes open and be alert much longer. We did make it back to Ernie's house and AFIK Jeff did OK on his final exam. The next day I traveled back to Denver by (UGH) bus. By this time there had been so many train-offs that a rail option was no longer practical. But the next morning I was back in the lap of luxury on the "City of Saint Louis" and the "City of Portland". No quick food stop at a gas station but dinner in the Dome Diner. Arriving back in Hinkle at 6:05 am, I drove home to Richland, met my brother and his girl friend Terry who were on a road trip to the Northwest, did a quick re-pack, and we were off to the Olympic Peninsula and a surprise encounter with Rayonier 2-6-6-2T 111 at Hoquiam/ Railroad Camp. As I related in a recent post, Rayonier was re-profiling the drivers by running the engine with abrasive brake shoes. Besides getting a few line-side photos, my log shows that the friendly crew had us ride the cab for 5 miles - certainly Terry's first cab ride and certainly my first cab ride in a 2-6-6-2.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2020 11:12PM by Olaf Rasmussen.