Showing posts with label Trains Magazine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trains Magazine. Show all posts

Friday, May 31, 2024

The Union Pacific - Southern Pacific Merger of 1996

-- Don Phillips Foreshadows a Near-fatal Error by Union Pacific --

No one who was watching the western railroad mergers of the 1990s can escape two incontrovertible facts.

First fact: BNSF could have kept the still-immensely popular Warbonnet paint scheme. The cost of finding a UV-resistant red and yellow would have paid for itself in public relations and railfan revenue in months if not days

Second fact: the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific merger, while seemingly necessary, nearly destroyed the combined railroad

The first fact remains most vexing for railfans. Conversely, the second fact was more acutely felt and certainly was the most vexing problem for people dependent on the industry.

Don Phillips in 1995
circa 1995

The ingredients for the problem were evidential but not entirely foreseeable, as Don Phillips wrote about them almost a year before the merger. In Trains magazine dated November 1995, he forecast a pile of bodybags for San Francisco and Denver, among other places. He claimed that the time of the "mega-merger" was really a time of the mega-takeover and that we would have four or "perhaps only two" massive rail systems.

While I am relieved to say the big four remain, his warning about the need for bodybags proved true. He wrote,
UP has the management talent and strength to simply wipe out SP management if it wants to (which it probably does).

The newly combined UP-SP organization functioned for hours and that was all it took for problems to surface. Yards began to fill as dwell time increased. As weeks and months wore on, it only got worse Trains sat for days in sidings outside hubs with customers screaming for their goods that were so overdue, proverbially the ⌛ hourglass was supplanted by the 🗓️ calendar.

The cause of these delays was hinted at by Phillips in that same editorial. He wrote:

It has always been one of railroading's mysteries as to why SP has remained railroading's weak sister despite serving some of the country's most lucrative territory -- California and the chemical coast of Texas and Louisiana.
Incidentally, Phillips also mentions that it was a real question of what would happen to the Western Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Western routes. He added that BNSF would certainly want them either via trackage rights or outright acquisition. It may have turned out better for the Tennessee Pass if the latter had proved true. If only we could have seen a Conrail-like split out west!

In any event, I watched as it would take years for the UP merger takeover of SP to truly work out. In the simplest terms, it was a case of chemistry where Union Pacific's management crossed with Southern Pacific's infrastructure with explosive results.

More to the point, it was where a new owner took over old and different plant without truly understanding the differences of infrastructure. Like putting Windows on a Mac or Android on an iPhone, the system choked and failed to run. Worse, because the SP management was largely ushered out, there was no brain trust to help understand the how and why things were done before. Unfortunate, but it does hold value for those who want to learn their lessons from history and not necessarily from experience.

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Thoughts On Don Phillips' Loss of Mobility

image of the riverside in Pagosa Springs showing the town and the hillside above it, illustrating the juxtaposition of civic and rural sharing the same landscape
Pagosa Springs in October is pretty, but can you live there? // Milan Suvajac
For over 12 years now, I have been plowing my way through Trains Magazine's Complete Collection*, taking notes on American railroading from 1940 - 2010. I have made it all the way to 1993, reinforcing the old notions that slow and steady wins the race, and eating an elephant is accomplished one bite at a time. My collection of notes numbers in the thousands for this magazine's articles and advertisements alone. 

There, in July's issue, sandwiched between an ad for Erie Lackawanna VHS cassettes and an ad for FastTrack, a video magazine subscription that predated vlogging by a mere 20 years, was a column that could have been written yesterday. Don Phillips, for all his east coast swagger, nailed down a plight. This plight is both near to my heart and yet so far from a possible solution that will likely never see a resolution to my satisfaction. It is the plight of everyone who lives in Colorado's rural counties and towns. 

"What?" say the rural denizens of Colorado. "We're okay." Yeah? Hand me your drivers license. Still ok? No, and why not? Because your four wheels (or sometimes two) are your ticket to American freedom. If you handed over your precious Colorado drivers licenses, you would be cut off from work, from home, from your leisure activities and your grocery store, pharmacy and your doctor when you are sick. Any trip in America and especially Colorado nearly always begins with the private vehicles we own.

We own vehicles? Not all of us. But let's consider: Cars are the required luxury. The essential option. The one thing everyone is free to decline at the peril of losing everything. If you have made it past 60, you know that your insurance premiums are rising and will rise until you eventually cannot afford them or you voluntarily surrender your life on four wheels. You either die before you reach that age or you must surrender your freedom. Oh, that will never happen to you. 

Others have never driven a car, but most of us don't know them, couldn't relate to them, or actually ignore them. These are the people who know bus schedules, rely on programs and family members to care enough to meet their transportation needs. But try living near Springfield, Craig, Sterling, or Cortez without a license to live drive. What if next week or next year something happens and you're forced to join their ranks? You're just one heartbeat, one blackout, one prescription away, but best not to think about how thin your lifeline really is.


As we found out in 2020, being stuck at home is no fun. Telecommuting, even if you have great internet service, has its limitations. Even the American workplace, for good or for ill, is beginning to require attendance from their employees again. In fact, it's hardly a secret that most of rural America has been languishing since the 1950s. Even in periods of massive growth, such as the teens, multiple Colorado counties have experienced double-digit loss percentages. Why? I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that losing the local train has something to do with it.

The local train? Local train, as in not intercity, not hub-and-spoke, not long-distance. I won't re-say what Mr. Phillips skillfully wrote nearly 30 years ago now, but let me say that I sincerely believe he is right in this case. Please click or tap to view the article.

... but the automobile has made us more mobile. That's progress. -- Wrong. I have traveled a lot in rural America lately as part of a series on transportation in the sticks, and I can tell you that millions of people are truly isolated. The disabled, the elderly who can no longer drive, the poor who can't afford cars are part of an assemblage of Americans who are stuck. Literally.

... The Rush City police chief, Floyd Pinotti, is a fascinating character who told me of the problems created when the local grocery store moved a half mile away to a new "shopping center." The elderly in this little town, who once walked to the store, were forced to beg a ride or drive. Some of the older drivers created a twin problem: they became a traffic hazard, but if Pinotti pulled them over he had to be extremely careful not to frighten them for fear of causing medical problems. Their driver's license was their last link with true mobility. Loss of it would be the next worse thing to loss of life.  This drove home to me the thin thread of mobility. Move the grocery store back "downtown" and revive the Northern Pacific local, and they would not need a driver's license.

So, what do we do? Do we just click our tongues and click our mouses (or swipe or scroll) on to the next story? Or do we start thinking about the idea of making things local again? Do we make a point of shopping locally if we can. Heck, what about just trying to remember our neighbors' faces and names? What about remembering the checkout person at the store, or the cleaning person emptying the trash for us? Connecting locally can change everything, especially our living patterns.

I don't have an easy, ready-made solution in the offing for the small town shrink-down, but it all starts with a mindset. Just because it isn't "our problem" doesn't mean it's not worth our time and effort to fix. It needs our attention before the price of groceries goes any higher.  Or did you think these problems weren't linked to yours? ⚒


* The collection is now obsolete, superseded by a deluxe subscription to the magazine, which allows online access to the entire back catalog of the magazine including the last 12+ years. 

Friday, September 2, 2022

POTD - Floating a K-37 Over the Animas At Tacoma

Today's Photo of the Day is by Kevin Madore, who a year ago today captured Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad's oil-fired K-37 493 as it crossed the Rio de las Animas at the Tacoma bridge. The way Mr. Madore used his wide angle to shape the scene it makes the thousands of pounds of steam and steel seem to float, barely touching the bridge. I know that every bolt is feeling the the heaviest of the Rio Grande's narrow-gauge (actually a former standard-gauge!) engine as it rolls across it, but somehow the wide angle view and the elevation makes the engine seem to glide across! 

Today's Photo of the Day by Kevin Madore makes the K-37 Mikado engine seem to float above the Animas River

In the right hands, photography is science and artistry coming together to create magic. Sometimes you can make the heaviest things float on air.⚒

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Jim Wrinn, Passionate Advocate and Colorado Railfan, 61

This is a post I'd rather not write. I will keep it brief. 

Perhaps one of the greatest friends to the railroads of Colorado, indeed certainly to live outside of the state and within the last 30 years, has passed on March 30, 2022. Jim Wrinn, for 17 years Editor of Trains Magazine, had a long battle with pancreatic cancer before it stole him from our midst. I wish I could say this is the only friend I've lost to the monster, but I can't. It has the highest mortality rate of all the cancers, with a 5-year survival rate of just 11%, or 9 out of 10 diagnosed die within 5 years

Yes we all die. Yes, I believe that something wondrous and glorious awaits only some of us. I believe I will see him again. That doesn't take away the pain of goodbye. And certainly not someone who was generous with his time and energy to someone like me. We weren't that close, but he made me feel a part of his world, and that counts for a lot for someone disabled.

Jim was no stranger to the Antonito, to Durango, to Denver, or many of the points around and between. He realized a hope at the Victorian Iron Horse Roundup (archive) by re-enacting a shot from Trains' long past covers only last year (above). Had COVID delayed it again, he wouldn't have lived to see it. I am personally gratified it did not and he did.

His obituary at Trains contains the following quote of Fred W. Frailey:

“Every writer wants an editor, a boss, who says yes, . . . Forget what ‘yes’ means — it can mean anything. Jim Wrinn always said ‘yes,’ even when it was no because he made it seem like yes. I love the guy.”

Adios, my friend. ⚒

Sunday, November 8, 2020

Class 1 Railroading in 1982

The illustrious David P. Morgan, longtime editor of Trains Magazine wrote towards the end of his time in 1982 about what constitutes a Class 1 Railroad in the United States. In 2020, we have just 5 railroads functioning in a semi-national capacity. In 1982, it was a much more interesting question. 

Column

His January 1982 column, "How Many Class 1s?" states, 

For all practical purposes, there are officially 39 railroads in the United States. . . .  [They] employ 92 per cent of American railroaders, operate 94 per cent of rail mileage, and handle 98 per cent of rail traffic. These 39 are the Class 1 (annual gross revenues of 50 million dollars or more) line-haul railroads

Of the roads he goes on to list, fully 7 of them were active in Colorado at the time of his writing: 

  • Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
  • Burlington Northern 
  • Colorado & Southern 
  • Denver & Rio Grande Western
  • Missouri Pacific (soon to merge with UP)
  • National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)
  • Union Pacific

Morgan continued his analysis, weeding out railroads like the C&S, which would be absorbed into BN later that year and concluded, "Now we have, in effect 17 Class 1's--less than half the number we started with..." Burlington Northern, Rio Grande, Santa Fe, Union Pacific were the Colorado railroads included. He reduced the number even further by saying "75 per cent of the Class 1 route-miles of the country are controlled, or predictably will be, by just seven camps:" ATSF, BN and UP were in Colorado at the time. He concludes, 

In sum, we have far fewer railroads in the U.S. than the number that appears at first blush, although in terms of the world (2 roads in Canada, 1 in Mexico, and of course 1 each in France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, U.K., etc.) we have a distance to go, particularly in view of the fact that 154 years after B&O's charter we still do not possess rails under one flag linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Well sir, if you're looking for a monolithic rail structure in America, it still hasn't arrived 38 years later, a whopping 192 years in total! Although, thanks to a round of mergers in the 1990s, we have today 2 Class 1 freight railroads in Colorado. Neither of which seem to have a vested interest in the state as the Rio Grande did back in 1982. ⚒

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Wrinn: Rio Grande Southern 20 and the Long Slow Road To Steam

Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains Magazine recently talked shop about Rio Grande Southern engine 20 and what the expectations are with the restoration. Let's face it: The engine has been in "restoration" since George W. Bush was in office. Will we see it in steam soon? It could happen next year. 

The Colorado Railroad Museum is restoring a legendary Centennial State narrow gauge locomotive to operation. Rio Grande Southern No. 20, a 3-foot gauge 4-6-0 built in 1899 for the Florence & Cripple Creek and last run in 1951 when the RGS shut down, is nearing completion. Schenectady Locomotive Works built the engine, and the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club saved the engine. In 2006, the club transferred ownership to the museum, and a significant donation began a restoration the following year. For 12 years, the engine was under restoration at Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road, and it returned last June for final assembly. The $1.5 million restoration is one of the most remarkable in the annals of American railway preservation. We checked in with Colorado Railroad Museum Curator of Rolling Stock & Equipment Jeff Taylor earlier this week. Here’s our Q&A with Trains.

Jim's blog continues at Trains.⚒

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Wrinn: The End of the Beginning For UP 4014

Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains Magazine, puts a bow on the opening year of the UP Steam Big Boy era in his blog post. Despite the pains Precision Scheduled Railroading is causing UP, a public relations juggernaut in the shape of a 4-8-8-4 is affecting all who fall within its shadow. Who knows what the future holds for this mammoth goodwill ambassador? ⚒

Photo: BUFFIE



Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Denver & Rio Grande Engine 168 Fired and Steaming Up For a Big 2020 Celebration

For the first time since most of us were born, narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande steam engine 168 turned her wheels under steam. Trains Magazine reports,
On Friday night, 3-foot gauge Denver & Rio Grande 4-6-0 No. 168 ran for the first time in 70 years, following an extensive restoration at the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. Friday’s test run consisted of a brief trip around the Antonito yard. C&TS Assistant General Manager Stathi Pappas says the 136-year-old Baldwin locomotive was being fired up again on Monday for another test. 
“The test went great,” Pappas says of the locomotive’s first run since 1938.
Engine 168 in Black Canyon
 of the Gunnison in 1904
The engine will be matched with purpose-built replica passenger cars to roll behind her in what will likely be a very memorable 50 year-anniversary celebration of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. In 1970, the states of Colorado and New Mexico teamed together to purchase the narrow gauge segment of the San Juan Extension that runs between Antonito Colorado and Chama New Mexico when it appeared certain that the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad was abandoning the line. Since then, a six-member commission led by both states has supervised the investment in the C&TS, with an emphasis in history and preservation, something with which the restoration of engine 168 falls right in line. Having an active volunteer organization dedicated to assisting that mission with hands and feet, hearts and minds doesn't hurt, either.

Engine 168 is an important historic artifact to Colorado and to railroading. While it's a steam engine, something that last roamed the rails en masse 70 years ago, it's also narrow gauge, designed to run on rails 3 feet apart, rather than the standard 4 feet 8½ inches apart. There are dozens of these narrow gauge engines in the state of Colorado already, and they're all worthy of preservation. What makes 168 so unique is that it is one of two surviving class T-12 locomotives built in 1883 for General William Palmer's original vision of the D&RG connecting Denver with El Paso and Mexico City.

168 Awaiting President Taft in Montrose, 1909
The Rio Grande never reached further south than Santa Fe, but the engine would go on to haul passengers throughout the state and beyond. One of its more important roles was to carry then-President William Taft to the opening of the Gunnison Tunnel, a record-length water supply tunnel that turned the land around Montrose into a veritable garden beginning in 1909.

As railroads around the state prepare to rest or at least scale back activities for the winter, it's worth contemplating how many engines are now in steam that were dry and static several years ago. Certainly, such a recounting is worth its own post! ⚒

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Poem From the End of the Era of Steam

From David P. Morgan's Trains Magazine in February 1963, a poem from what was the already fading era of steam by William F. Bradbury, titled...

The Express Passes



The original as it appeared in Trains
Dim in the distance a waver of light,
A murmur, a hum, a confusion of sound,
The shriek of a whistle far-piercing the night,
An electrical throbbing and thrill in the ground;

A widening glare o'er the glittering snow,
The fire from a flaming red orb of an eye,
A roaring and rumbling that gather and grow,
A vomit of rolling black smoke to the sky;

A singing of steel, and a crashing of crank,
A hissing of steam shot out in a blast,
A whistle's hoarse scream, and the iron's harsh clank,
And the huge, swaying monster goes thundering past!

A swirling of snow in a fine, stinging spray,
A buzzing of rails, growing fainter -- now gone,
The clang of a bell dying quickly away
A glimmer of light, and the train rushes on.

                                              -- William F. Bradbury

What a vivid picture! Whether through the mountains or rolling out on the plains, this prose is a clear reminder that such beasts roamed the rails of Colorado and the nation in ages past.⚒

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

App Review: Kalmbach's Colorado Railroads

Inside the app, a listing for
the fabled Big Ten Curve
Kalmbach Publications, the folks responsible for Trains magazine, Model Railroader, Classic Trains, Classic Toy Trains, and Drone 360 published a special issue, a DVD and a mobile application, all with the theme of Colorado railroads. The more astute of us probably noticed a similarity in title to this site. Without getting into a long story, just know that they have my permission. Or maybe I have theirs?

Regardless, the special juxtaposition of railroads in Colorado hasn't escaped Jim Wrinn and the editors of Trains. Mr. Wrinn in particular is a notable fan of the narrow gauge! With regard to the app, he has said,
The Colorado Railroads mobile app enables you to search by attractions near you, to find them on a map, and to mark your favorites. You can plan a trip to Colorado, or let this app take you to new places if you’re in the field.
And he's right. If I had unlimited resources and abilities to design a mobile app for Colorado's railroads, I would have a hard time outdoing this one.

The opening splash is the same as the cover for the special issue and DVD, the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Mikado #473 crossing the Las Animas river outside Silverton.

The main screen is set in portrait mode and it doesn't switch to a landscape format. This can be limiting for some users, especially if they have accessibility requirements, but I found I could work around it.

The home screen is the main menu and all the options are duplicated in a pull-down on the left hand side. Giving a user more than one way to reach something and also using a menu to preserve your options are marks of a good app.

The home screen allows you to access the attractions, sign up for the Trains weekly e-newsletter by e-mail, purchase the special issue or DVD, subscribe to Trains magazine, or provide feedback to Kalmbach.

Like a lot of free apps, this one facilitates selling items of interest and opening new lines of revenue for the publisher. That's okay, but to make this app useful, the attractions listed need to be better than a quick Google search for "railroads in Colorado." Are they? In a word, Yes!

First of all, every entry is researched by Trains staff. Second, I personally asked Mr. Wrinn directly, "When will you stop updating these listings?" He said, point blank, "We won't." So if an entry is out of date, use that feedback feature! Be nice though.

This screen cap shows the application's map interface zoomed in to view Denver. The bulk of the locations shown correspond to RTD's transit stations along their active light rail lines. Other locations include the Forney Transportation Museum and the Colorado Railroad Museum (at far left) in Golden. A tap on any one of these red markers will pull up a balloon with the listing and a further tap for details pulls up the full listing (see below).
Colorado RR MuseumDetail listing


Features

The first and by far the best feature is filtering. No one likes to be overwhelmed with tons of information when only a few entries are needed. Here are the present Attraction Types you can filter by:
A trail listing for Phantom Canyon
south of Cripple Creek
  • Amtrak Stations
  • Buildings
  • Hobby Shops
  • Mainlines
  • Museums
  • Restaurants
  • Short Lines
  • Steam Locomotives
  • Tourist Railroads
  • Trails
  • Transit Stations

      Other filters are for distance and ZIP code and you can sort by distance as well. A test sort produced the 3 nearest hobby stores to me followed by the local railroad preservation group.

      One final feature is a Favorite List. While browsing in the app, you can choose to favorite specific attractions and then view them in a favorites list. Choosing stuff for your bucket list is that easy.

      Final Thoughts

      Kalmbach's Colorado Railroads app fills a need for folks who would like to discover railroad-related attractions anywhere in Colorado and appreciate a curated list to choose from. Are you looking for a way to spend an afternoon, a weekend or an entire vacation? This is the app to help you plan it! 🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

      The application is available for Android and iPhone users absolutely free. While it would be nice to see a broader distribution (Kindle, etc.) it's understandable that only the top two phone OS providers are used.⚒

      Friday, February 24, 2017

      First Advertisements Of the Colorado Railroad Museum

      As near as I can figure, I think I have found the first ad ever placed with Trains magazine by the Colorado Railroad Museum, all the way back in June 1959! Robert W. Richardson and Cornelius W. Hauck were fans before the end of the Rio Grande Southern broke the thousand-mile Narrow Gauge Circle, and they kept lit the flame of Colorado's railroad history even before they opened the museum that year.

      They first had a go of it years before near Alamosa, operating the Narrow Gauge Motel, complete with steam engine and station. Often using their own funds, they worked to preserve railroad history without much else. They fought tooth and nail for artifacts and records from railroads and operators who couldn't understand why old forms and paperwork wouldn't just as well be burned with yesterday's trash.

      This ad followed the next year in 1960.
      I'm pretty sure the offer has expired!
      Thanks to the work of these "rabid" fans, the details and means by which a lot of these railroads operated hasn't been lost to time. Most importantly, their efforts to build a place for future generations of railfans sits nestled between the table mesas of Golden as a Colorado railfan's paradise. It's here in the western reaches of metropolitan Denver that some of the next generation of railfans discover the mystique of faraway places like Marshall Pass, Cerro Summit, Ridgway, Rico, Pandora, Dolores, Mears Junction, and so many more. These aren't just places on a map; they're gateways to a time when the clang of a bell and the wail of a whistle echoed beckoning the willing to follow where the rails would lead.

      In July 1960, barely a year after the ad, Trains published Cornelius Hauck's photo of the museum's modest beginnings in Golden. Sharp eyes will spot several "original" pieces still at the museum 57 years later.
      Photo used with permission from Trains magazine.

      What I appreciate about Richardson, Hauck and many others is that they didn't wait for someone to give them permission or a commission to go out and save the narrow gauge. They saw a need, looked around and then stepped forward to help. Common men doing uncommon things. ⚒

      Monday, September 29, 2014

      Drone Video For Railfans Raises Artform To Cinematographic Heights

      Is it November already? No, but if you live on periodical publishing time like Trains magazine, it's close. November 2014 is Trains' technology issue, and they've reported on something I posited here last December: Photo/video shot via drone (page 7). Since then, I've seen them numerous times on geek blogs like Tested, but no one, to my knowledge, has sunk the money into the hobby and actually risked their robotic pride for elevation and for glory.

      No one, except midwest-based Delay In Block productions and Evan Lofback of Knoxville, Tennessee, Trains reports. Rather than talk about how I envisioned the use of drones in railfan videos, I'd rather let Mr. Lofback show you exactly how good it can be. I've watched this quite a few times already and it's not getting old, even with diesels and eastern railroads!



      So, now does it make sense?

      If you're itching to try it, I can tell you that the first one to upload on YouTube a Colorado railroad video using a drone and notifies me or leaves the link in a comment on this post will have it appear as the first video highlighted on the sidebar on Colorado Railroads.* It will be up for at least a month. That's exposure! A narrow gauge and/or steam train video by drone would last longer, given the scenic and aesthetic value.

      Evan Lofback has quite a few drone videos on his channel worth your time if you're interested.◊


      * - content must meet basic standards. No bonus, bounty, payment, or other benefit (expressed or implied) will be given. No links to non-railroad related sites.

      Friday, September 19, 2014

      POTD: Brawny Muscle At Mitchell On Tennessee Pass

      Perhaps nowhere--at least not in the last 40 years--is the idea of railroading in Colorado more realized than Tennessee Pass. A former narrow gauge route surveyed as a way to reach the riches of Leadville's mines and supply them, punched through the summit with a tunnel bore and classic lopsided profile of 1.7% grade on one side and 3% on the other, Tennessee Pass runs right through the heart of the state and until the Union Pacific merger in 1996, served with distinction as the highest mainline in the nation.

      Tennessee Pass at SP’s best
      Photo of the Day: Mike Danneman
      A whopping ten units on Tennessee Pass pull and shove their coal train up 3% grade at Mitchell, Colorado, September 5, 1995. With new AC4400CW and two manned helper sets, Mr. Danneman says, "This was Tennessee Pass at SP’s best!" It's hard to disagree, Mike.◊

      PS: For those interested, Fred Frailey (one of the best) writes about the Long Autumn of Tennessee Pass in his blog at Trains magazine (2012).

      Friday, August 15, 2014

      Jim Wrinn: Ten Myths About Visiting the Colorado Narrow Gauge

      Jim Wrinn is the Editor of Trains magazine, and a consummate professional. He's also a very big fan of Colorado's Narrow Gauge. He recently blogged about it on Train of Thought, the magazine's very active blog. It's called 10 Myths About Visiting the Colorado Narrow Gauge. Here's a sample, with the myth stated first in "double italics" and the response in italics.
      4. You should ride the C&TS from Antonito. Wrong. You can ride out of Antonito, but if you really want to experience a hard working locomotive on a 4 percent grade, schedule your trip starting in Chama so you can truly experience the drama of a train on Cumbres Pass.
      How often have I seen Antonito like this in the
      morning? More often than Chama for certain!
      Photo: John Hill, contributing photographer
      Jim, while I enjoyed the whole post, I want to disprove this particular myth so much that it is on my bucket list! I've always ridden the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic from Antonito, Colorado and never from Chama. Last year, I promised myself that the next time I ride, it's going to be behind a Rio Grande 2-8-2 barking steam and coal smoke out it's stack as it climbs into Colorado over Cumbres Pass and idles down Tanglefoot Curve. My very first time seeing the narrow gauge C&TS was watching a train come down through that beautiful little bit of engineering. It's going to be special!
      8. They’re not worth visiting except in September when the Aspens turn yellow. Not true. You’ll see great scenery any time of the year. Yes, the Aspens are spectacular with their translucent yellow leaves, but anytime is a good time to enjoy the narrow gauge.
      Anytime, indeed! While aspen gold makes a beautiful contrast with the evergreens and the darker-blue-than-at-sea-level sky, it's not the only color that Colorado has to show. The subtle shades of spring and summer, the regal robes of winter in Cascade Canyon and all over Pikes Peak for most of the year.* Think of your own home or neighborhood or park. Is fall when it's the most beautiful? Maybe. Do other seasons give autumn a run for the money? Most likely!

      There's more, lots more. Wrinn writes only what a veteran of riding all the Colorado Narrow Gauge Railroads knows. He finds himself in good company, as his closing quote of David P. Morgan proves.◊

      Narrow (gauge) Minded Folks

      More Narrow Gauge Folks


      * - Ok, the Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway is not narrow gauge, but it is a cog railway, which is as much different from standard gauge as narrow is. Just look at how the switches are run.

      Monday, July 22, 2013

      September Issue of Trains Has Rare Narrow Gauge Colorado Tale

      Current subscribers to Trains Magazine will be pleased to know that the issue for September 2013 contains a four page article about Martin E. Hansen and his railroading connection to his great-grandfather Walter Joseph Hannan. Hannan was an engineer for the Colorado & Northwestern Railway, who died at the throttle while bucking snow to reach Ward, Colorado in April 1901.

      The Colorado & Northwestern Railway was a narrow gauge affair that connected Boulder, Colorado and the aforementioned town of Ward with a spur to Eldora. It is a line seldom talked or read about, essentially a lost road. Begun late (1897) and pulled up in less than 25 years, the C&NW ventured west of Boulder to places like Gold Hill and Glacier Lake with 48.1 miles of 3-foot gauge rails. The railroad changed to the Denver, Boulder & Western in 1909 and was abandoned in 1919. Tivis Wilkins notes,
      In July 1920, after most of the line had been dismantled, the Colorado Supreme Court reversed the decision of the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) and ordered operations to be resumed. The order was never carried out.1
      The railway's engine #30, which survived for a while as C&S 74 and RGS 74 before retiring to a Boulder park and then the Colorado Railroad Museum, was the same engine that Hannan rode to his fate as the town of Ward watched in horror.

      Suffice to say it's a great story, one worth the price of the magazine. Watch for it at the end of July in your mailbox. Look for it on pages 40 - 43 under the title Landslide of Emotion. Enjoy!◊

      Wednesday, August 31, 2011

      Trainstar: Review of Unstoppable

      Trainstar, says that Unstoppable is "great train porn." While I may not agree with her wording, it's a great way to sum it up. Check out her review. With two of my own favorite actors, Denzel Washington and Chris Pine (Sgt. Getraer's son, Captain Kirk) in the lead, I realize it's about time that I check it out.

      Sunday, August 7, 2011

      Railroad Yards Contain Locomotives, Rolling Stock, and Danger

      BNSF Police
      shoulder patch
      As a railfan just 15 years ago, it was hard for me to appreciate the railroads' point of view when it came to allowing access to their yard. I can remember at least one encounter when, looking into a railroad policeman's eyes, I could tell what frustration and anger my "idiocy" had caused. Moments before, I felt I was safe because it was a hot summer day and no one was out there making any moves. No one except the police man, I found out. His face reminded me of how my father's looked when I had one time wandered into danger. I didn't enjoy either experience.

      Sunday, June 26, 2011

      Cumbres & Toltec Serving Up A Hot Fourth of July

      If you have not made any solid plans for next weekend's Fourth of July festivities, consider heading down to the Cumbres & Toltec for a weekend that promises to be unforgettable. They have a full plate of Independence Day activities. A photo from last year's celebration found itself on the back inside cover of Trains Magazine. If you need any more encouragement to go, read on!

      Monday, May 23, 2011

      Durango Looks Great This Summer

      Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, headquartered in Durango, Colorado, is offering a rare deal for vacationers this summer and has several events planned. Durango, a town that's never really shed it's wild west image, is an amazing place to fall in love with narrow gauge, steam railroading. It's worth the travel time to get there, and if you're really brave, you'll bring your camera but leave your laptop and smartphone charging at home. Unplugging with only a hotel phone for emergencies may be the 2011 way of "roughing it," for some folks. I know that for me, doing so would certainly add to the old west, frontier feel!

      Friday, August 27, 2010

      Trains Magazine Features Colorado's Distributed Power

      I got my October issue of Trains on Saturday. Did you?

      Trains Sept 2010
      The September 2010 issue of Trains Magazine features diesel engines using distributed power in Colorado. The cover  boasts, "Ultimate Motive Power, 6 Locomotives [under] 1 Engineer, How distributed power changed the way railroads run big trains." The main article by David Lustig features a double page spread of the Moffat Route through Little Gore Canyon to start the article, another from the Front Range sub north of Palmer Lake, and yet another from the west of Denver above the Big Ten Curve west of Clay, Colorado, which is also where the cover was shot (see at left).