Re: Sort of NG, Chasing late D&RGW with Volkswagens.

My 1964 VW Beetle was a plainer version than the beetles made for the US market. It was bought in Germany by a US military person who had it shipped to Ft. Bliss near El Paso when he returned to the US, and we bought it in 1965 for $1,400. A most important feature was that it had a radio (an optional accessory in beetles) that made it possible to stay alert on 7 or 8 hour night drives from Las Cruces to narrow gauge country. In the mid-sixties there were no New Mexico radio stations on the air after midnight. There were only two powerful stations one could reach driving the long stretches of desert country. One was KOMA in Oklahoma City that played rock and roll. Occasionally even KOMA would fade then and now, and the only other option was a holy roller station in Laredo, Texas that specialized in predicting most dire consequences for seemingly trivial lapses. Luckily KOMA was never gone for long, and alertness could be maintained.

Of course, the other good feature of the VW beetle was its ability to make it up barely discernible snow covered "roads", as here at the Whiplash on January 25, 1966.





VW beetles could even be counted on when conditions were far from optimal for chasing the narrow gauge, as here on November 23, 1966





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2021 04:39PM by Olaf Rasmussen.