Blessed Are the Patient

Do my eyes deceive me? Can it be? Is this really happening? Yes! Yes! YES!!!

Denver & Rio Grande Western's famed mikado, Mudhen 463, is under steam and testing! That is not a misprint. According to Nathan Holmes, webmaster at DRGW.net,

...not only does it steam, but it actually runs. They did a shakedown run with her today (4/9) from Antonito out to Lava and back. 

He linked to the Friends of the C&TS discussion board post by Rich Murray with two pictures by Craig McMullen.

Tim Tennant posted details today on the delayed, canceled, on-again, off-again-now-on-again charter that finally seems to be coming true. The release also has a picture of the engineunder steam at Lava.  The engine is sans number, but I can tell it's the real deal with a lot of shiny new parts. Make plans to visit the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad this summer to catch the oldest and smallest of the surviving steam engines of the Rio Grande!

Thanks to valued reader Rich Guggenheim for the tip.◊

New Sign Using LED Tech To Grace Colorado Highways

Photo: CTC, Inc.

Railway Age says that Colorado's Department of Transportation has purchased new LED-lit warning signs to call highway drivers' attention to railroad grade crossings. A CDOT spokesman is quoted in the article:

"Any tool that we can use to save lives is a welcome addition to our transportation tool kit," said CDOT Statewide Utilities Engineer Mat Flores. "The flashing lights disrupt a driver's expectations and should draw his or her attention to the crossing, resulting in a significant safety benefit."

CTC, Inc., based in Fort Worth, Texas, provides communication and signaling systems, products and services for the highway and rail, specializing in highway-rail grade crossings that are interconnected with traffic signals.

LED-lit signs do make it harder for drivers to ignore them, but I wonder whether this is just another sign (ha!) that our society is suffering from "warning fatigue."◊

Video: Triple Header On the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

I happened across this video some time ago and, unlike some web videos, this one seems to improve over time. I've watched it several times and I have to say it's one of my favorites.

Normally, I don't feature videos that have disabled embedding. I believe sharing is something that helps your public exposure if it's done with a watermark or title cards showing whose content it is. On the other hand, this video is just too good to pass up.

Former Rio Grande Mikado locomotives, numbers 489, 488, and 487, in that order, triple-head a photo freight over Cumbres Pass in the snow. The footage is HD, sharp focus and set up extremely well. Low angle passes with a wide lens and high angle shots work together like a cinematographer's dream. It should be on a DVD somewhere, but Zack Blea, God bless 'im, has put it on the web for us all to enjoy!

(Next time, Zack, please let me show the readers your awesomeness here!)◊

POTD - Classic Lines, Classic Grande

Three Grande tunnel motors are rolling into Grand Junction early on a June morning in 1980 with a short
eastbound. The 5347,5357 and 5387 are making easy work of this 35 car mix of coal and manifest traffic.
Photo and caption: Chuck Schwesinger

Classic lines of the track, ballast, locomotive roof line, and telegraph lines make for a classy perspective photo, but the kicker is the awesome Grande Gold coloring on the lead unit, an SD40T-2, with all the beauty (and grime) of Rio Grande's railroading on the western slope of the Centennial State. On a side note, I appreciate that Mr. Schwesinger took extensive notes when taking the photos or shortly thereafter, enabling him to write his own caption (saving me the trouble).◊

POTD - A Marred Subject Shown In a Positive Light

Christopher May's capture of an Amtrak locomotive at the temporary Amhut station in Denver
captures a beautiful lighting of the slightly marred Amtrak logo. Awesome work, Chris!

When Amtrak rebranded itself from the pointless arrow to the current logo, I could imagine a lot of folks trying to understand the cryptic three stripes. The creative use of negative space is a little symbolic of the way Amtrak has survived for 40+ years now. People keep trying to kill it, only to find  their actions could create a gap in the country's transportation network that would be untenable. ◊

POTD - Grande Retirement of a Tunnel Motor

Kevin Morgan, long a favorite, gets the POTD honor today, not just because of the unique perspective
of this shot, but because he remembered the detail of staying out of the reflection of Ogden, Utah.

Since it's retirement in 2008, Rio Grande SD40T-2 #5371, the only Rio Grande diesel to retire without being re-numbered or sold off, has been joined at the old loco's home by SD40T-2 #5401, which saw brief service as patched Union Pacific 9871. Though they haven't relocated the engine to the property, it's good to know that such vital pieces of contemporary railroading is going to survive in the both of the states the Rio Grande called home.◊

Museums: Inspiration Strikes Closer Than You Might Think

Photo courtesy Colorado Railroad Museum

The days are slowly getting longer and the mid-winter doldrums are nearing. Are you looking to get the creative juices flowing? Inspiration may be as close as your nearest museum. While some museums board up for the winter, the colder months still tend to be slower at the others, making for staff with the time and ability to direct you where your interests might dictate.

For model railroaders, the connection is obvious. Painters and photographers can develop a great deal of closeup work with the various textures and flavors. Historians can definitely find a new project or two. Volunteers could do with an application for work and then an application of their skills. Sometimes any unrelated field might benefit from time spent there. You just never know where lightning will strike.

Here's a short list (and a map) of year-round museums you can try:

• Colorado Railroad Museum, Denver
• Forney Transportation Museum, Denver
• Pikes Peak Historic Street Railway, Colorado Springs
• Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Museums, Durango
• Pueblo Railway Museum
• Greeley Freight Station Museum
• Glenwood Railroad Museum, Glenwood Springs (4 days/wk)
• Ridgway Railroad Museum (free)
• San Luis Valley Museum, Alamosa (railroad memorabilia)

Map: Year Round Railroad Museums in Colorado

View Year Round Railroad Museums in Colorado 2013 in a larger map

or take it with you on your phone! 

Happy hunting! ◊

Three Future Thoughts

The future isn't unknown, but how fast and well-lit
your way is will determine the surprises.

On this inaugural week, a lot of folks might wonder what the future holds. Personally, I feel that Optimism and Obama are two words that begin with O, have an M in the middle, and that's where the similarities end. On the other hand, as an unpaid outsider with a somewhat obsessive interest, if I were to look into the future of railroading in the USA, particularly the west, I'd say that:

• Fuel and consumption will continue to impact other modes of transportation far more than railroads and, as a result, fuel prices will push greater demand toward the railroads, including shortlines, in a drive to control costs. The demand may exceed pre-Great Recession levels
• Locomotive design will not focus on doing more with less so much as it will focus on doing the same with reliability, especially with Tier 4 approaching
• Freight cars will continue to stretch as much as they can to haul as much as possible without snapping in two. Innovations such as the Trough Train weren't so misguided as they were mis-applied. A single, articulated car with two or three bogies in the middle could find a place in unit coal train use because it's principle of reducing tare weight and initial investment. Proving its reliability would be critical to its acceptance

Fortune cookie, anyone?◊

Join a Model Railroad Club By Attending An Expo

Photo of UP Heritage unit MTH model
by James Griffin, actionroad.net

If you're looking to connect with like-minded railfans and, in particular, model railroaders, a train expo or meet is ideal, like TECO (Train Expo Colorado). Where else can you visit with guys (and potentially gals) who love railroads and trains so much that they spend great deals of money and free time to emulate them in scale? The expo allows you to "shop" prospective clubs or groups you might join. Practical questions to be resolved might include:

Proximity To Base Of Operations 

If you have to drive 40 miles or more to get to the group's meetings, is it really feasible in the era of the $4 gallon of gas to expect that you'll make more than one or two trips in a year? Bloom where you're planted and find one convenient to you. If there isn't one, maybe you might consider starting one.

Track Record 

How long have they been around? Who are their long-time members? Joining a group with a past means they're more likely to have a future.

Athearn SD40T-2 D&RGW 5342
Ready-to-Roll lets the Grande live on

Scale 

Codified and expanded by the NMRA since the 1940s, scale is the ratio of size reduction between the real-life prototype and the model. The two most popular modular layout scales are HO (half-O scale) and N, which are also the two most popular scales people use for their home layouts. If you have tools and rolling stock in one of those two scales, you will have a few different clubs to choose from. If you have no equipment to speak of, or you are willing to start over, scale pretty much comes down to that to which you feel drawn. The larger the scale, the more detail is shown in the models. The smaller the scale, the easier it is to fit within the ever-present constraint of space.

Gauge

Sometimes mistaken for scale, gauge refers to the width in scale feet/inches between the rails.  Typically, it's standard gauge, but narrow gauge has a special place in the heart of Colorado's railroading past. HO scale can be adapted to HOn3 (n for narrow, and 3 for scale feet between the rails) or N scale to Nn3. Rolling stock, such as locomotives, cars, cabooses and even maintenance of way vehicles are built to a scale and the axles can only fit one gauge. Oddly, a boxcar built in On30 has axles that can run on HO track, but its scale is twice the size of HO rolling stock and structures.

Layouts

The club likely will be exhibiting their mobile, modular layout at the expo, which is a collection of modules built to pre-determined measurements to fit together, corner to corner, track with track so that they can be connected in a line or loop. This may be their only layout or one of two or three layouts based on scale, specifications or portability.

Activity

Is the club formalized with officers and official meetings, build nights and running nights? Or is it more of an ad-hoc group that gets together whenever they feel like it. You may hate one style of operation or thrive on it, but knowing what you prefer will help when deciding on a club. 

You

Your level of commitment and what you can offer can affect the club as well. Do you have skills such as electronics, painting, or decorating? What about friends of yours who are into railroading that your joining could present opportunities to the club? Do you have real life experience or knowledge that could be helpful? What a person brings to a club can often be what is least considered when they are joining.

Personal Note: This is post is train number 600 for Colorado Railroads.

Useful Links

Model Railroad Hobbyist - A free, model railroading magazine
Model Railroader - sister to Trains Magazine
Railroad Model Craftsman - sister to Railfan & Railroad
Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette
N Scale Magazine
Building Your Model Railroad
Model Railroad Scale Converter ◊

2012 Christmas Trains

It's Thanksgiving, and the traditional opening of the Christmas season. Since trains and Christmas have a special relationship that's deeply ingrained in American culture, it's only natural that heritage and tourist railroads run special extras during this special time of the year. Demand is often so high that some trains sell out weeks in advance, so book your tickets without delay. Here is a list and a map of the trains that are scheduled to run in 2012:

Alamosa and the San Luis Valley

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad 
Excursion: North Pole Express on Friday and Saturday nights until December 22, 2012. Train departs at 6:00 p.m. from the Alamosa depot. Tickets are $15 for coach or upgrade to Club for $15 more per ticket. Children are encouraged to wear their pajamas for a true North Pole Express experience

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad 
Although there were preliminary plans for the railroad to run a Christmas train, the management change late this year has prevented the formation of any concrete plans. As of now, no Christmas trains for the C&TS. Maybe next year?

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Canon City

Royal Gorge Route Railroad
Excursion: Santa Express Train departing Canon City every Friday, Saturday & Sunday at 6 pm November 16-30, then every evening at 6 pm December 1 & 2, 6-9, 13-26. There will also be special daily departures at noon on Dec 1 & 2, 8 & 9, 15-24. No trains on Christmas day. Tickets start at $22 per child and $32 per adult with upgrades to dome class and first class available for the 90 minute round trip. Also, the Canon City and Royal Gorge is offering a New Year's Eve Dinner Train.

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Colorado Springs

Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway
Excursion: Santa Claus Special
Reservations by phone at (719) 685-5401 with a credit card. Saturdays and Sundays, . Times vary but generally 9:30, 10:30 AM, 1:00 and 2:00 PM. Visit site to check specific dates and times as well as status. Several trains are already sold out. Make sure that your selection says Santa Claus Special, because regular trains will also be running on these days.

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Denver

Colorado Railroad Museum
Event: Santa Claus Special – Steam-Up Event on December 8, 15, 16 & 22, 2012 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The train runs every 30 minutes between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. with Colorado Railroad Museum’s locomotive and a team of historic passenger cars all decked out for the holidays. The Depot General Store will offer hot chocolate, and you can mail your letter to Santa at the RPO car.

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Durango

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
Excursion: North Pole Express, see featured video, Friday, Saturday and Sundays at 5:15 and 6:50 PM through December 11, and daily December 13 - 28, 2012. An additional 8:25 PM departure is available Saturdays and then daily December 14 - 23, 2012. No trains run on Christmas Day. Tickets start at $28 per child and $38 per adult.

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Georgetown

Georgetown Loop Railroad
Excursion: Santa's North Pole Adventure, Saturdays and Sundays first three weeks of December, then December 17 - 24, 26 - 30, 2012 with departures at 10:00 & 11:15 AM, 12:30, 2:00, & 3:15 PM. Tickets start at $28.50 adults and $18.50 ages 3-15 for a one-hour round-trip train ride with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Enjoy complimentary hot chocolate, cookies, and candy canes, and the kids all take home a jingle bell ornament.
Excursion: Holiday Lights Train 4:30 PM on the same days as Santa's North Pole Adventure as well as Friday evenings. Tickets are $29.50 for adults and $20.50 ages 3-15. Santa and Mrs. Claus do not ride this train
Excursion: First Class Holiday Cheer Train First three Fridays & Saturdays in December Tickets are $36.50 per person for 5:45 and 7:00 departures with heavy appetizers and hot drinks.
All departures weather permitting. Complimentary hot chocolate at the Ticket Window

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Use the map below for locations and directions

MAP: Colorado's Christmas Trains 2012

View Colorado Railroads Christmas Trains 2012 in a larger map
What is it that attracts us to Christmas trains?

I've asked myself many times why I am a railfan, and my only real conclusion is that people (men in particular) like big, noisy things that go fast. Something about all that mass and energy under control and guided by two lines of steel spiked down to the ground just holds my attention. It's the soot, steam and heat of a steam locomotive that provokes a certain sensory overload for me. The thrumming of a diesel as it works its way up a grade thrills me with a sense of awe and wonder. I even thrill to the sight of a caboose. I get very excited at the thought of riding a train ...any train.

That still doesn't explain why Christmas trains are so popular. Perhaps it's because Christmas was one time that taking a train meant something good, like going "Home For the Holidays." Maybe it's the compound wonder of children for two very exciting things. Could it be something else? Comment in with your thoughts on why folks are attracted to Christmas trains!◊

Force Of Nature: CDOT Films Georgetown, Silver Plume and The Far-famed Loop

When I was a teen, climbing 14ers was a scary but fun summer pastime. By scary, I mean that I can't recall an ascent where my life wasn't threatened in some way. On my first attempted ascent of Grays Peak, I can remember how my dad had told me that Grays was one of the easiest climbs within a few hours of Denver. A Climbing Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners by Lampert & Borneman said so. I remembered that while jammed inside the cleft of a large rock, 50 feet off the trail, wrapped in a heat reflective blanket, wondering if I'd see my dad again.

What does that have to do with the film below titled Force of Nature? Everything. On my way to our climb, the last towns I passed through were Georgetown and Silver Plume. G-town was where they'd likely bring our bodies, I reasoned. I breathed out curses on guidebook writers and, in the very next breath, prayed that lightning avoided men on the exposed sides of mountains and boys stuffed into rocks beneath them with equal disdain. It was only a couple of years after they had rebuilt the Loop in the valleys below my misadventure. Colorado's Department of Highways, a predecessor of CDOT, was consistently being dealt black eyes for it's handling of rock falls onto its roads. Rock slide mitigation is an inexact science with very real consequences for failure.

In 2012, rock slide mitigation is getting (significantly) better. Walter Borneman survived my curses to pen a 20th anniversary edition of the guide and appear in the film below. My dad came down off the mountain having tasted electricity and felt lightning in his fingers, surviving only to drag me up many more (with alarmingly variable results), and then safely retire last year, giving his last Jeep to my brother. You might even catch his own guide book out there. It probably doesn't mention his stuffing his son in a crevice under a rock ...but it should. After all, it taught his son to pray.



Few today seriously understand how unwilling highway designers were to give up their precious right of way to a railroad that no longer existed! This film is just a small token of appreciation for James Grafton Rogers, a preservationist, a lawyer, and a veteran on this Veterans Day 2012.

And Walt, sorry. Your advice was good. No hard feelings!◊

UP 844 and SLRG 18 Met In Walsenburg

Union Pacific 844 and San Luis & Rio Grande 18 had an unannounced meet in Walsenburg, a town that's served as the long-time junction of the Denver & Rio Grande's La Veta Pass route that links Alamosa and the large San Luis Valley with the southern end of Colorado's Front Range. The SL&RG extra with three Rio Grande Scenic cars traveled for the first time into Walsenburg under its own steam. It's likely the first time since the 1950s that two steam engines had met in this southern Colorado town. YouTube user JointLineRailfan captured the late evening-lit meet of the two oil burners on Sunday, November 4th.



Great catch, even if it was in the dark! ◊