February 24, 2007 04:35PM
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Life is a funny and wonderful thing. I was in Denver about a month ago and finally got the chance to pick up “Rio Grande chasing the narrow gauge Volume 2” Bob’s most recent book. I hadn’t had a chance to start reading it but last night at about midnight I suddenly woke up got out of bed went to the living room and started reading it. It really caused my memories to come back in a flood.
I had first gotten involved at the Colorado Railroad Museum back in 1963 when I was in high school. I remember hearing him tell many of the stories and how much we had enjoyed listening to them standing around the counter in the lobby of the museum or at lunch at Foss’s in Golden. He truly got me started in this business.
When we ran the “Rotary Snowplow Passenger Extra” in Chama in 1991 we invited him to be the guest speaker at the banquet held at Fosters. When I introduced him I recounted how he put up with us when we were kids, and how he was responsible for making the whole damn thing possible by either saving things himself or inspiring the rest of us. He got a little choked up when he started to speak. He said he hadn’t gotten a chance to see the rotaries in action back in the Rio Grande days because the road over Cumbres was closed in the winter back then. I realized he knew that the time he had spent with us young “whipper snappers” had not been totally wasted and it gave me great pride to have amounted to something in his eyes.
For those of you who were there you remember that most of us were sick the next morning. Bob didn’t get sick. When Veronica (my wife) asked him why he didn’t get sick he told her “He never ate anything south of Alamosa that wasn’t boiled or grilled well done.”
I am not sad for Bob he had a rich full life and many of us have spent years trying to re-create the pictures he got of the narrow gauge. I am honored to have known him. He will be missed.
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Mike Trent |
February 24, 2007 10:26AM |
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Richard "Bo" Boulware |
February 24, 2007 10:44AM |
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John West |
February 24, 2007 11:08AM |
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Terry W. Shirley |
February 24, 2007 08:11PM |
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Mark Petersen |
February 24, 2007 10:55AM |
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Herb Kelsey |
February 24, 2007 03:51PM |
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Charlie Mutschler |
February 24, 2007 09:07PM |
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Dave Dye |
February 24, 2007 11:12AM |
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Stephen Peck |
February 24, 2007 06:07PM |
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Steve Stockham |
February 24, 2007 11:17AM |
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Steve Hughes |
February 24, 2007 11:26AM |
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PRSL |
February 24, 2007 11:41AM |
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Jerry Day |
February 24, 2007 12:45PM |
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El Coke |
February 24, 2007 12:54PM |
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Floppo |
February 24, 2007 02:15PM |
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Rich Muth |
February 24, 2007 02:59PM |
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Mike Ramsey |
February 24, 2007 03:24PM |
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El Coke |
February 25, 2007 11:33AM |
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John Cole |
February 26, 2007 12:01AM |
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El Coke |
February 26, 2007 08:07AM |
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Thor Windbergs |
February 26, 2007 03:03PM |
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Herb Kelsey |
February 24, 2007 04:11PM |
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John Bush |
February 24, 2007 04:35PM |
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Philip H. Walters |
February 25, 2007 09:22AM |
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John Kyler |
February 24, 2007 01:05PM |
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Jon Waldon |
February 24, 2007 01:13PM |
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Jerry Day |
February 24, 2007 01:10PM |
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Rick Steele |
February 24, 2007 01:19PM |
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Jerry Day |
February 24, 2007 01:32PM |
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Jim Hollis |
February 26, 2007 09:58AM |
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Don Richter |
February 24, 2007 01:30PM |
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Mike Trent |
February 24, 2007 01:40PM |
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Everett Lueck |
February 24, 2007 01:50PM |
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L.E.Trump |
February 24, 2007 02:27PM |
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Matthew |
February 24, 2007 03:10PM |
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Jon Waldon |
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Rod Jensen |
February 24, 2007 04:46PM |
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Dennis Larson |
February 24, 2007 04:59PM |
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Tim Schreiner |
February 24, 2007 05:27PM |
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Richard "Bo" Boulware |
February 24, 2007 06:00PM |
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hogger42 |
February 27, 2007 03:32PM |
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Rod Jensen |
February 27, 2007 07:11PM |
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Jerry Day |
February 24, 2007 04:49PM |
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Tom Moungovan |
February 24, 2007 05:42PM |
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Rick Steele |
February 24, 2007 05:51PM |
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Donald Foster |
February 24, 2007 06:51PM |
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El Coke |
February 24, 2007 07:25PM |
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Ron Ruhoff |
February 24, 2007 09:28PM |
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Allan Fisher |
February 24, 2007 11:44PM |
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PRSL |
February 25, 2007 07:52AM |
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PRSL |
February 26, 2007 04:28PM |
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Eric Bracher |
February 26, 2007 04:32PM |
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Herb Kelsey |
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Dan A |
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Tim Schreiner |
February 28, 2007 06:44PM |
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chris ahrens |
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Linn W. Moedinger |
February 26, 2007 05:38AM |
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Bill Dennehy |
February 26, 2007 07:34AM |
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El Coke |
February 26, 2007 08:18AM |
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Mark Valerius |
February 26, 2007 08:34AM |
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Ted Miles |
February 26, 2007 10:26AM |
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Dietrich |
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Art Gibson |
February 26, 2007 02:03PM |
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Robert Herronen |
February 26, 2007 02:57PM |
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John McCutcheon |
February 26, 2007 03:59PM |
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Rod Jensen |
February 26, 2007 06:29PM |
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Glen Brewer |
February 28, 2007 10:47AM |
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Ted Wiese |
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Ted Miles |
March 01, 2007 10:02AM |
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Gordon Chappell |
March 06, 2007 01:22PM |
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Ted Miles |
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Gordon Chappell |
March 06, 2007 01:33PM |
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Robin Warren |
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Ron Rosenquist |
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Greg Scholl |
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Gordon Chappell |
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