Re: Narrow gauge rolling stock on Ebay

Here is the short version of the story of how these cars came to be in Alva, Oklahoma;

"these cars were owned by a private collector (Wayne Kinze) who bought them from the scrapper in Alamosa and Chama in the early 1970's. He dealt in helicopters and parts and had a truck that he used to haul wrecked helicopters back to Oklahoma, was passing through Alamosa once and saw the scrapper burning cars. That caught his attention so he stopped and worked out a deal to buy intact cars. Over the next few years he bought several gondolas, idler flats, boxcars and stockcars out of Alamosa and Chama and hauled them back to his property north of Alva, Oklahoma."

The two cars now listed on ebay were /are located at Mr. Kinzie's home in Alva. The rest of them were located at some property he owned north of town, along with an ex Santa Fe depot.

To add some trivia, Mr. Kinzie told me that it was the smell of burning wood and the smoke that caught his nose/eye as he passed through Alamosa, so he detoured to the yards to see what was going on. Also, all of the cars he bought had the bearings and wedges removed as the scrapper knocked $50.00 off of the price of the cars if he kept the bearings.

Jason Midyette