I hadn't yet come into this world when the D&RGW ended its narrow gauge operations, but I'm glad the good folks here who were there have been so willing to share. THANK YOU!
It seems that the humble Volkswagen Beetle was the railfanning conveyance of choice in those final years. How many folks chased & documented in VWs? I get that the Beetle was affordable and offered good capability on imperfect roads, but was there anything else special about the Volkswagens that made item so popular amongst railfans? I've only driven 2 in my lifetime (1971 Super Beetle & a 1978 Super Beetle Convertible). I found the brakes to be weak, the power at speed to be quite lacking, but otherwise surprisingly nice to drive and far better screwed together than I had assumed. Had I been around at the time, I would have likely considered driving a VW too. I've never owned an air cooled VW, but I've come to like & respect them, and I have enjoyed my limited time behind the wheel of them.
Since the end of the D&RGW narrow gauge is now long enough in the past to be considered historic, everything about the chase at the time is worthy of notation. What would a chase have been like at the time? Where would you stay, what would you eat, what sort of stuff would you take with you? Did the folks you encountered think you were crazy or give you hard time, or were they generally more accommodating? In some respects, the experience of railfanning in the twilight years of the D&RGW might have been every bit as interesting as the railroading being chased and documented.
Does anyone have access to any early to mid 1960s examples of VW Beetles? Does anyone still chase with one? It might be a nice touch to have a few Beetles present during a photographers' special. (It would be one of very few occasions where people intentionally get the chase vehicles in the shots with the trains because the automobiles would have historic relevance.)
I think I'd rather chase in an air cooled Volkswagen than the boring rental cars I usually wind up with when I visit the area.
Dave
