Railroad Glory Days Social Media


Quick Table of Contents

The formative years

Villa Park, my home town

Doctor Geno E. Beery,Villa Park's pioneering woman physician

How I became a lifelong railfan

Father was a man of the automobile age

Grandfather's Watch

Railroad Time

Remembering the Chicago Great Western

Remembering the 'Ror'n' Elgin

Wabash Philo Station Destroyed


Pursuing Remains of the Glory Days

Riding the Electroliner

My first fan-trip

To a locomotive in winter

The boy who would buy a steam locomotive

In search of the eponymous Brewer, Illinois

The last all steam powered mixed train in America

Iron horses put out to pasture

Some thoughts on public travel then and now


Narrow Gauge Mania

D&RGW narrow gauge in the twilight years -- Part I

D&RGW narrow gauge in the twilight years -- Part II

Steam up the Rotary!

A rotary under the sun

Bob Richardson and the founding of the Colorado Railroad Museum

Is this any way to run a railroad museum? Part 1
Colorado Railroad Museum

Is this any way to run a railroad museum? Part 2
Colorado Railroad Museum

The Return of Colorado & Southern Number 9

Was the Georgetown Loop a poor design?

Riding the Sumpter Valley
Three-foot gauge steam in Eastern Oregon

Gold Rush Narrow Gauge
White Pass & Yukon Route

Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge
The spirit of this much loved, southwestern Colorado railway isn't dead, it just retired and moved to Southern California

Steaming Up
Looking on as Denver & Rio Grande Western Number 491 is readied for an evening on the Polar Express.


Narrow Gauge Steam Railways in the Land of their Origin

The Welsh Connection
The Ffestiniog Railway, Robert Fairlie and the origins of narrow gauge railroading in America

The Welsh Highland Railway
The newest and longest narrow gauge in Wales

The Talyllyn Railway
The world's first "preserved railway"

Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway


Standard Gauge Diversions

Royal Gorge Route

Steam Conquers La Veta Pass

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad


Fun while they lasted

Boxcar Camping -- Wilderness Stay by Steam Train

End of an Eastside tradition
Spirit of Washington dinner train

The Engine is Royal; the Scenery is Magnificent
The Royal Hudson and the Caraboo Prospector


Archeology

Corkscrew Gulch Turntable

The curse of Alpine


Guest Stories

The Significance of the Railroads

Locomotive Restoration


Thoughts on the Glory Days of architecture and interior design

Denver's Ghost Buildings

Denver Union Station Renovation

Who were those nabobs, the ones San Francisco's Nob Hill was named for?

Is there grammar to interior design?






A rotary under the sun

A weekend of C&TS snow fighting demonstrations

Story and photos © Glen Brewer


The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad was fortunate to inherit not just one, but two of the D&RGW's four narrow gauge steam rotary snow plows. Two years after the OM'76 event (see Steam up the rotary!), the C&TS offered another snow fighting demonstration. This time OY would be the star attraction with additional snow fighting demonstrations using Jordan Spreader OU.


Weather-wise, things were completely different in 1978. Saturday, February 4th was a bright, warm, spring like day contrasting with the very cold, snowy day two years before - no fear of frostbite this trip.


OY is the newer of the C&TS rotarys, built by Alco in 1923. Unlike the OM, the OY is superheated.



Apparently this was a two day event. I attended on Saturday, but I no longer remember why I did not stay over for Sunday.



The actual trip aboard the train was a short one.



Undoubtedly the photgraphic highlight of the day was just east of the Chama River bridge where we stopped for a photo run-by.


Events for the day consisted of riding behind Rotary OY and engine 487 with a short train. There were several photo opportunities, of course. Trudging ahead to set up for photography was not nearly as difficult as it was for the 1976 event, but then, we never went up the line to the deeper snow. After a disappointingly short outing, we backed into Chama where the rotary was left and Jordan Spreader OU was added to the consist.



On this trip I was traveling from Dallas with a friend who had a girlfriend in Denver. He picked her up to join us in Chama. They didn't ride the train apparently having other interests to keep them busy. On our back up move to Chama, I was riding on the rear platform of the caboose when I saw my friend easily pacing the train on foot. He reached out and handed up a brown paper bag. Inside was a nice sandwich and a few other items for my lunch. Of course, minutes later we arrived back in town, but it was a thoughtful gesture nonetheless.



Steam, both a locomotives and a rotary plus a rare look at a spreader in action -- it all added up to be a great Saturday event. I'm still wondering how or why I missed what happened on Sunday.



Part one of my rotary adventures
Steam up the rotary!