Re: different view in Alamosa...

Earl:
The two Gunnison engineers that I spoke to and corresponded with didn't like working the rotary as it made for a long, cold day or two. As you said, rotarys ON and OO did not have an outfit train. The Floresta and Smith Hill branches were notorious for rocks, trees, etc. The Floresta branch was normally shut down in the winter and when they were sent out to open it in the spring, the snow was packed like stone...like Cumbres and the C&TS. Frank said they sent a lot of time waiting for the section gangs to probe the drifts, to blast rocks, or to dig out by hand. They typically backed up to Crested Butte as the turntable at Floresta was covered and it was a real pain to turn the rotary on it according to him. At one time there was a wye at Kebler Pass, but Frank said it was gone by the time he started on the D&RGW...didn't know why they took it out. The Smith Hill branch wasn't that bad, but the snow gets very deep on the north end of that line. Slate Cut just south of Crested Butte was famous for slides filled with trees and rocks and was always a pain for them.
He said the snow would come into the rotary through cracks and the doors and windows and that they would stuff rags or newspapers to try to keep it out.
He didn't mind running or firing one of the engines pushing the rotary, but he didn't like to work the rotary itself very much.
If a run required more than one day, they would typically stay in a cheap hotel in Crested Butte. I think he just didn't like being away from his family. He normally made the Crested Butte run or runs from Gunnison to Cimmaron and back which got him home in time for dinner.
He tells of coaling and watering the rotary and three engines in the Gunnison yards when it was 45 below zero and when I said that I sure wish I could have seen that, he said...you ever worked outside when it is 45 below? Didn't say it to him, but I think the first C&TS rotary run in January of 74 was close to being that cold.