Gaggle In Golden: At Last Minute, Knott's Not Coming

Rio Grande Southern Motor 3, the third Galloping Goose, will not be in attendance at Goosefest this weekend at the Colorado Railroad Museum. The third Goose would have completed the first-ever gathering of all RGS Gooses, a full gaggle, as it were. Unfortunately, the museum was informed by Goose 3's current owner, Knott's Berry Farm out in California, that they would not be coming on June 8, only a week before they were supposed to arrive.

Tickets For Goosefest Includes VIP Offer

photo by Matt Isaaks

As mentioned before, Goosefest on June 16 & 17 at the Colorado Railroad Museum is the first full Galloping Goose reunion. Tickets are $15, 5 & 10 for adults, children & seniors, or $30 for families. Additionally, there is are 40 VIP packages available for $250. CRM Executive Director, Donald Tallman, explains,

Video: Yesterday's Magic Rails To ... um, Yesterday

As the mercury slowly climbs out of winter and into our spring (hopefully), cabin fever has again sprung many images and ideas formerly locked in the human heart. Old tools and "new"Christmas gifts that have sat for some months find themselves wanted again by their owners. Whether you find yourself a veteran of the state's grand(e) scenery or a newly minted greenhorn, the Colorado high country is calling!

One reliable aspect of the Rocky Mountains is that they change very little in 50 years. For a prime example, look no further than below. If this featurette was made in our time, the travel to the Rockies would appear much different. Yet Durango and her sister city of Silverton would merely appear with newer automobiles and vivid color scenery, and maybe a few less period actors and staged gunfights.


Entire video link or skip to the good (Rio Grande) part

Films like the one above would appear before a movie--instead of gobs and gobs of previews--to entertain viewers and promote companies, concepts, and opportunities like travel by rail and tourism in remote western towns. The impact of such films on the subject, in conjunction with fictional movies using the local scenery likely can't be overstated, yet likely can't be calculated either beyond the common anecdotal evidence. Or, in plain english: this film contributed in a large way to preserving Colorado's steam tourism, but we'll never know how much.

Only 10 years later however, a trip completely by rail to Silverton would become impossible with both the abandonment of the WP portion of the California Zephyr and the abandonment of the Rio Grande narrow gauge from Antonito to Durango. Don't let those ideas die unless you have to! Next year, something or someone might not be there.

PS: Can't get enough old film? Check out The Royal Gorge.

Goosefest 2012: Rio Grande Southern Galloping Goose Full Reunion

Major Event

The news out of Golden couldn't be more significant. For the first time since the abandonment of the Rio Grande Southern, all seven Galloping Gooses will be on the same rails! Goose Fest is a two day event on June 16 and 17, 2012, at  the Colorado Railroad Museum. Donald Tallman, Executive Director of the Colorado Railroad Museum writes,

Having the seven Galloping Geese [sic] together and operating is an event of both National and International significance to the railfan community.  People from around the world have contacted the Museum and are planning to “flock” to this once-in-a-lifetime reunion! 

POTD - In the sticks for a winter special

Kevin Madore, whose photo of the E&P #4 was our POTD yesterday returns for a double today with a photo from earlier in 2011. Rockwood is becoming a popular haven for photographers of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in all seasons, not just summer. A quick hop down the rails got Mr. Madore this fine photo of what he calls "the chocolate plume from D&RGW 478." Couldn't have said it better.

Former D&RGW K-28 #478 rolls through the brush near Rockwood, Colorado on its way
home to Durango with a winter steam charter on February 21, 2011.
Photo: Kevin Madore 

POTD - Is it real, or is it a painting?

Kevin Madore of Massachusetts caught the Eureka & Palisade engine #4, the Eureka, on the bridge leaving Silverton one bright August afternoon during the D&S railfest last year. The photo is so ideal, it could pass for an oil-on-canvas original. It doesn't get much better!

Extra No 4 crosses the Rio de las Animas on its way out of Silverton for the return trip
to Durango with her diminutive train and a beautiful white crown of steam on August 20, 2011
Photo: Kevin Madore 

Knott's Celebrates 60 Years

Photo by Mark Rightmire,
The Orange County Register

Over 60 years ago, Walter Knott, an enterprising man with many years' experience in the growing tourism industry in California, had a vision. Built to give guests waiting to eat the famous chicken dinners made by his wife, his growing Ghost Town was attracting many visitors in its own right. Yet the Ghost Town didn't feel complete to Knott without a live steam locomotive.

POTD - Looking Down The Line Toward Christmas

The Polar Express is making runs three times an evening all this week from Durango to "the North Pole." It's approach toward the platform at the Durango station mirrors the approach of Christmas, now just a few days off. Rather than get caught up in the business and hassle of the season, it's my hope that you take a moment to step out on the platform with a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate) and gaze off down the track at the coming beauty and wonder of Christmas. It may not be convenient, or even on your schedule. Nevertheless, it may be necessary.

The Polar Express makes it's way past the back of the roundhouse on its way to
pick up scores of children and their parents in Durango on a frosty evening
Photo: DHLake

POTD - 50 Years Ago, Waiting In A Winter Wonderland

Well, it's been a while since I've posted any Photos of the Day, hasn't it? Too long, I know. Let's get back into it, shall we?


John West is a favorite photographer of mine, and it's not just because he had the good sense to be in Colorado photographing Rio Grande narrow gauge in the 1960s. It's because he didn't have any common sense standing out there in the cold snow waiting for two Rio Grande locomotives to chatter past with a load of Gramps Oil cars headed for Cumbres Pass and the oil fields beyond. Remember, pain is temporary, but film is forever. Thanks, Mr. West!

A double-headed narrow gauge freight headed by K-36 No. 480 puts on a wintry show
as it charges across the San Luis Valley tangent track 50 years ago this month
Photo: John West

Durango & Silverton Hosts the Polar Express 2011

The Polar Express, of book and movie fame, is coming to Durango for this Christmas season. Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad put this video together promoting it. It's worth watching, even if you're a little cynical about how much fun a train full of kids can be.



For under 5 minutes, this is one of the best promotional spots I've seen in years. It's very true to the spirit of the book and I hope the same holds true of the ride. Highball, Polar Express!

Mudhen 463 Frame Mated To Boiler In Mammoth Crane Event

Some great news has come out of Monte Vista this month! Denver & Rio Grande Western steam engine 463 has taken a major step in her return to steam. The frame and boiler were finally mated back together at last. Everything appears to be on schedule for the K-27 class Mudhen to return to steam at the beginning of the 2012 Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad summer season.

POTD - D&RGW 315 Leads the Parade of Trains

Denver & Rio Grande Western Consolidation 2-8-0 pulls the first of several
trains into the depot at Durango during Railfest on August 21, 2010
Photo: Kevin Madore

POTD - D&RGW 315 Crossing the Animas River

John West is an accomplished photographer with many years of experience and hundreds of publishable and historic photographs under his belt, 13 of which are available for purchase. His pictures bring narrow gauge enthusiasts immeasurable joy and pleasure.

Originally Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad engine 3, the Denver & Rio Grande numbered it 424 before the Denver & Rio Grande Western numbered it 315.  Durango Railroad Historical Society restored the engine from March 2001 until she moved under her own steam in August 2007.

On August 23, 2010, during last year's Railfest, Mr. West captured #315, a former Denver & Rio Grande Western 2-8-0 steam locomotive as it crossed the Animas River near Tacoma, Colorado, on former Denver & Rio Grande Western rails, now operated by Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which will host its 13th annual Railfest later this month.

D&RGW Consolidation 2-8-0 #315 leads a photo freight over the Animas near
Tacoma on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad August 23, 2010
Photo: John West

 

POTD - Maintenence

I said on Wednesday that it was a two-parter and this being Friday, I'm sure you're expecting something different. It is something different ...sort of. Actually, it's the same photographer, and the same subject, a steam engine, is involved, but that's where the similarities end.

Christopher May got my attention with this black-and-white image of two volunteers at the Colorado Railroad Museum during Shay Days. It is titled very simply, Maintenance, and it highlights a fundamental truth that it is not just a steam engine that works to keep the steel wheels in motion over steel rails. Each iron beast, steam or diesel, standard gauge or narrow, represents many, many man-hours of hard work, heat, pressure, oil and tools exhausted in keeping the rails plied with people, consumables and goods. Sometimes it's a gantry crane lifting a multi-ton assembly for a 2-dollar part replacement that gets focused attention. Today, it was near a cylinder on the geared drivetrain of a Shay locomotive at a narrow-gauge haven in Golden.

Incidentally, there are times when a photograph invites a black-and-white shot treatment, but this one fairly stands up and demands it. Great work, Chris!

West Side Lumber Shay engine #12 gets a hand or two during some Maintenance at
Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO on May 14, 2011 during "Shay Days."
Photo: Christopher May/GhoSStrider

Steam-to-steam Transfers On Wednesdays Until August 17th

Here's a video from 2008 when the steam-to-steam transfer at Antonito was quietly tried out using a caboose to take riders into Alamosa.

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!

Highball! First Run of Passengers Over Lobato Trestle From Chama To Osier

It is all over the narrow gauge world out there this morning that Lobato Trestle on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic is finally back in service! While there were photos and videos of the trestle with the C&TS diesel switcher and a MOW car with ballast for the abutments, there was no official word when the trestle will be ready for daily service with the two regular trains ...until suddenly yesterday morning when a train loaded up and quietly left Chama, full of passengers.

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!

Lobato Trestle Nearly Complete - Planned Opening Prior To Season Start

Important: See update at end of post

Chama is back!

The Lobato trestle is nearly completed and is projected to open mid-week, only days before opening weekend. Once in place, trains will once again roll from Antonito to Chama and back again, without having to halt progress at Cumbres Pass.

Volunteers Needed This Weekend

Colorado Railroads just received an urgent appeal for volunteers this Saturday for a steam-up at the Colorado Railroad Museum. Here it is:

Looking for volunteers to help with parking for our "Bunny Express" Saturday. We are anticipating need for overflow parking for this annual and very popular event at the Colorado Railroad Museum. Help!!!!

Donald Tallman
Executive Director

If you're in the Denver area on Saturday and need an excuse to go to the Colorado Railroad Museum for the day, this is about as good as they get. Giving time to the museum is an easy and cheap way to show your support for Colorado's railroad history. Contact Donald Tallman via Facebook, or contact the museum directly at 303-279-4591 or 800-365-6263.