larryjensen Wrote:
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> John Birmingham owned GW #51. He bought it around
> 1964 and it was used in several movies over the
> years as well as excursion service. John passed
> away in recent years but last I heard his kids
> still have the engine. It has been stored in
> Colorado and in need of a 1472 before it can
> operate again. Sweet loco. We had it on the
> Fillmore & Western for several years.
Very interesting. I have some old film footage on the GW and there was one such excursion with it
lettered in movie paint for some film. I did get to see the 51 in 1990 as it was in Toppinish, Washington, and participated in the
Washington Steamfest that fall along with visitors 4449, and 700 the following week. 51 ran side trips for fans to enjoy. I have scenes of it in both my 700 Washington Steamfest, and 4449 Washington Steamfest shows.
>
> Everett Rohrer acquired GW #75 in 1965. After its
> trip to California for "The Professionals" the
> loco was based in Denver (at Forney Museum) and
> Everett started a "have locomotive, will travel"
> business that resulted in it appearing in many
> movies and TV shows. After Everett died, the loco
> was sold to Heber, where it is currently out of
> service for a rebuild.
Interesting that Everett Rohrer owned it. I never met him, but bought several of his 16mm films from his son-in-law 10-15 years ago. There are some movies of GW, but he also had C&S, and UP with only about 2 minutes of
Monarch D&RGW in B&W which I put in the Rio Grande's 3rd Division show. Also I got a reel of the final run of the D&RGW "Royal Gorge" and he got a cab ride on the return from Salida. I also got a bunch of his Steam Tractor films, but have never done anything with them. Several films show him with his daughter and wife at times. So interesting to hear that name again. Also got a bit of UP from his collection. There were a few I didn't get, like one on D&RGW standard gauge.
Cheers,
Greg