Officer Special On the Joint Line

Prolific videographer Carlos Ferran, whose channel on YouTube, trainsruleandroll, is a shrine to all things Rio Grande, has yet another video (HD) that I can't pass up without passing along. He's got a good eye for railroad photography, and he keeps his finger on the pulse of the Joint Line.




I'll conclude this post by explaining what an officer special is and what the Joint Line is.

Denver Train Show In February 2011

The Great Train Expo makes its appearance again on February 26th and 27th at the National Western Complex at 4655 Humboldt Street in Denver.


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No More Google Ads, No More Ads Period

There is a change coming to corailroads.com within the next day or so. It's with a bit of relief that I'm taking the ads down. A for-profit site puts me in a different realm, legally, than I want to be. Most importantly, I've always loved railroads and no one has to pay me to do this. So, enjoy the ads while they last, if you really do appreciate ads in this era of media saturation. For the rest of us, the eyesores will soon depart.

As always, thanks for reading!

Cold Weather Can Cripple Railroads

With the temperature at 15 degrees below zero outside and the winds at 20 MPH, we had a wind chill near 42 below last week! It got me to thinking,  we all know how Colorado's snow can snarl a railroad, but what cold weather problems can railroaders face? Aside from the obvious frostbite, which can occur in as little as 5 minutes in these conditions, what else can extreme cold do to make work on a railroad even more difficult and strenuous?

Skitching In Silverton

So, it's the day after Christmas. The presents are all open and you're getting through the annual post-Christmas hangover. Depending on your weather, it could be 70 degrees and gorgeous or 20 below, gray and ugly! If that's your lot this Sunday, what to do? If you've got a model layout to work on and materials to use, you're all set. If modeling's not your thing, there's always DVDs and YouTube.

Rio Grande Reading For A Sunday Afternoon

For the folks that aren't able to make it to the train show this weekend, or who, like me, went but can't get enough of trains and railroads, I've found a couple of articles for interesting reading. Mark Oehlert is a painter, writer, and artist whose interest in the Rocky Mountains is more than a passing thing. He's put two articles up on Suite101.com that, if a bit romantic, still paint a good picture of the Rio Grande. His Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad History and Origin and Demise of a Railroad Legend: The California Zephyr might be enough to sate you, or they may just whet your appetite for more! Good Sunday afternoon reading, regardless!

Great Train Expo In Denver This Weekend

Due to a glitch, I just found out that the events calendar was missing a very important date. I fixed the glitch, but just in case you missed it, here's the announcement:

The Great Train Expo will be in Denver, Colorado this weekend. One of the larger train shows in the Rocky Mountain region, the expo will have vendors selling all things rail related, especially model railroads, as well as modular clubs in scales G, O, HO, N and Z, all showing their latest builds and acquisitions. Combine it with a trip to Caboose Hobbies, and you've got a high chance of getting what you're looking for.

New Mexico Antes Up For Lobato Repairs, Could Complete By Opening Day 2011

The Lobato Trestle on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, which burned in a fire in late June, could possibly be back in service by next season's opening day! Long time New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson directed the state's Department of Transportation to direct $1.2 Million in federal funds toward the trestle reconstruction.

Lobato Trestle Op-Ed in ABQ Journal

Bill Hume, board member of the C&TS Railroad Management Company wrote an Op-Ed piece for the Albuquerque Journal regarding the Lobato Trestle rebuild project. In it, he covers the history of the actions taken since the fire in June.  Of note:

Firemen School on the C&TS

The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad continues their school for different roles on steam operated freight trains. This week, they've got 6 firemen students training. The video is from Monday where they spent half the day in the classroom and half the day making up the train they planned to use on Tuesday.

Featured Photographer - Gary Morris

Aside from the photo aggregate sites like  railpictures.net and rrpicturearchives.net, it's hard to find photographers with high-quality railroad photographs of the 60s, 70s and 80s in Colorado. That's why I got a bit excited when I found Gary Morris' site and his section on the Rio Grande Railroad earlier this summer. He's got his collection organized in HTML by railroad, but you can still find a few BN and UP shots in Denver if you dig for them.

Fall Colors Approaching Their Peak In Southern Colorado

It's September, and that means the fall aspen colors are making their annual appearance in the high country. Usually they are in evidence the first week after Labor Day in the north of the state to as late as the first or second week of October in the far south near New Mexico. I say usually because there is no sure fire way to predict how the aspens will change. Sometimes they peak in color quickly, in what seems like a few days. Other times, the peak is more than a week in some areas. By peak, I mean that the traces of green in the leaves are almost totally gone but all or nearly all of the leaves are still on the trees. Some years, there isn't a peak, and that's depressing!