Postmortem...

Great Sand Dunes Nation Park & Preserve - Southern Colorado

It has been a long time since writing here and a quick update is in order.

This year was a real disappointment for us.  We went to Chama with high hope of a really good season.  I had prepared trip mileage guides and had an abundant amount of pins on hand to to give our riders a pleasant and meaningful ride.  All came to naught as my assigned trips spread from once weekly to over 10 days in one instance.  Nearing the last of our time there we decided to leave early for home.  The pins will be distributed to family and friends and the mileage guides went to file 13. 

I was approached regarding the possibility of scheduling docents but in the end declined feeling they needed a younger person to do that job and I didn't need the stress.  We attempted the purchase of a small real-estate lot in Chama but that fell through.  In the postmortem G and I found it difficult to justify the time and expense associated with traveling to Chama for the paucity of time actually spent doing what we had planned for.

During this trip we did enjoy traveling to Silverton and several other places in Southern Colorado thus, we have re-oriented our travel plans accordingly.  Next year we will make several short trips west instead of a single long stay.  We will also be staying at a RV park near Antonito, Colorado instead of Chama.  Our time will be spent exploring places G and I have discussed for many years.  While focusing on Colorado we also hope to finally see the upper Hudson River Valley and Vermont next year.  As for the Cumbres and Toltec, well, if the opportunity to docent on a trip arises I will certainly take it however, based on this year that seems a remote possibility.

The research work for the Cumbres and Toltec is finished and now on the shelf gathering dust.  All in all it was fun for one year and not so much the next, time to move on.  I have cleaned work space in my little "office" to pick-up incomplete projects shelved back in 2015 which remained to this day buried under piles of research until revealed, exactly where I stopped.

I will continue to cover our travel's and my irrational rants on occasion but the site will look a bit different as you will notice.  

Things we accumulate...

Bridge on the Allegheny River - Clarion County, PA

With G gone for the next few weeks I have already fallen into a familiar evening routine acquired from her previous visits with her sister in Nevada.  A light meal paying bills a TV if anything seems interesting then study, or reading, followed by exercise and sleep.   It tends to develop introspection with often unexpected recollections.

Yesterday I wrote a Facebook post about a favorite old movie "Mystery Men" in it I mentioned the Mystery Men's sleek daily driver a well worn 1959 Rambler Rebel Station Wagon.  This humble vehicle reminded me of the long gone Studebaker's my Mother's family regularly drove.  I particularly remember several of them, Uncle Paul's 1953 Studebaker Starlight Coupe, Uncle Don's Model A touring car and Aunt Betty's 1950 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe.

Uncle Paul's cars were always perfectly maintained.  Neat, clean, not a scratch to be seen and in this piece of rolling perfection he would take us on a ride through the forests in the hills above the Allegheny River telling stories and scaring us with tales of the ferocious "Indians" hiding behind the trees.  It was all terribly frightening for youngsters and we would scream and laugh afterward.  And for Paul seeing the children have fun was far more important than his perfect automobile.

Uncle Don's Model A was a faded green with no top or windshield and torn upholstery.  The starter didn't work and he had to crank it to get the ruin running.  As with Paul the favorite activity was driving through the forest no, tearing through the forest, with the car full of siblings and cousins all jumping up and down in the back seat while Don drove like a mad man.  We would get back to the house in West Monterey exhausted and laughing.

Aunt Betty had the 1950 Studebaker.  It was a funky green coupe with a bullet nose and turret top.  Betty also drove like a nut through the countryside and her favorite habit was racing the trains from Parker to the family home in West Monterey.  The distance was around 5 miles at river level but 8 by road.  You could hear the whistles from the trains echoing up the Allegheny River in Parker when the trains were below West Monterey.   The back seat of her coupe was filled with happy screaming children as we knew what was coming on the final speedy plunge down Doc Walker Road into West Monterey.

The road wound through the forest bursting into the sun in the final quarter mile to the railroad crossing at Smith's General Store.  Imagine, if you will, the rush to the crossing only to see this...

speeding directly toward you a scant 100 yards away.  Was it imprudent?  Well, yes in our time but, in those carefree years we weren't in the shadows of later years.

The last memory of a speedy drive was a ride with my Mother in her Toyota Corolla - similar to the one in this picture.  Mother's cars were always a mess festooned with dents and filled with cigarette butts and trash.  She drove the 15 miles to the family home as the sun was setting.  Careening through the forest, cigarette in hand, she cackled while fumbling for the light switch, which she didn't find - it was terrifying.  But, this isn't my memory it is that of my children. 

My Mother met us in Emlenton when our family was returning home to Alton, IL from a visit in Connecticut.  Mother's home being on the way, G and I left the children with her for a short visit while we drove on home.  A few days later we drove back to Pennsylvania to bring our children home and that is when we heard the story of a mad drive in the dark.  This is the last memory of Mother, a few short years later she died.

It's funny how objects bring back such powerful memories.  For me a this picture of a quirky Gremlin is a reminder of the joy and completeness of family - We brought home our first two children in a car very much like this.

Tonight I will continue my studies and perhaps find a good movie to watch along the way.  In the weeks that G is away I will again find items that spark memories - the things we accumulate along the way which fade as our visit to this place comes to an end.  

Winter on Cumbres Pass....

In response to a Facebook post regarding the situation on Cumbres Pass at this time of year, January 2017, a few pictures were passed back and forth.  A proper response has to deal with the "Devil" of the San Juan Extension, the snow problem.  I have written about the snow removal equipment previously and the difficulty of operating a "snow train."  Keep in mind the snow issue was a driving factor in operations of the extension over the portion from Antonito to Chama.  In all the effort ranged over 45 miles of the district and the worst of the problems wasn't at Cumbres it was at Windy Point just below the Pass to the west and at the most difficult through the Los Pinos Section below the Pass to the east.  By its nature the snow problem is a significant element of the interpretation during the six hours of the 64 mile journey on the Cumbres and Toltec.  - 44 of 64 miles -


Let's begin with a picture taken this morning from a highway camera of the Colorado Department of Transportation at Cumbres Pass.   This picture was taken after a storm deposited over 18" of snow through a 12 hour period.

Cumbres Pass 01-25-2017

The Cumbres Section House is just outside the frame of reference to the left in this picture.  Compare this picture to the following historic picture:

Cumbres Pass - unknown date prior to 1965

The snow in this picture is well in excess of 6' in depth and has been clearly cut.  Note the man standing on top of the impacted snow and the level of the snow at the Section House.

Steam Powered Rotary Snow Plow stalled in drifting snow

 Snow depths through the drifts range up to 20' in places.
 The railroad built 13,000' of snow sheds between Coxo Curve below Cumbres (MP 332.20) and Cascade Trestle (MP 319.95) to combat the snow problem.  The snow sheds proved ineffective and by the 1920's all had been remove intentionally or by fire.  The introduction of higher powered locomotives changed the game and the railroad resorted to the power of steam driven rotary snow plows and other equipment such as pilot snow plows, still seen mounted on various K36's, or flangers.

C&TS Steam Powered Rotary Snow Plow "OY" below Windy Point

The problem at Los Pinos is related to the geography of the place.

Los Pinos Reverse Curve

Los pinos lies in general North/South direction in a long shallow valley created by glacial action.  At the lower end of the valley the track curves east and in the particular area where the tracks turn east the snow problem became worse.  The prevailing winds come over the ridge to the north and west.  The blowing snow drifts in sheltered areas such as the lee side of the slopes.  Even at the Los Pinos Tank (Red Circle), which is in a relatively open area, snow conditions were difficult.

Los Pinos Tank in Winter

From Lava Tank (MP 291.55) through Big Horn Wye (MP 299.4), Sublette (MP 306.06), Osier (MP 318.40) Los Pinos (MP 325), Cumbres (MP 330.60) and finally to Coxo (MP 332.30) snow was continually battled in the winter. 


Other Colorado Narrow Gauge railroads had snow problems of often "biblical" proportion, such as the Alpine Tunnel, or the Rio Grande Southern.

Rio Grand Southern above Rico

Arguably the most organized and successful effort at fighting the "Devil" had to be the San Juan Extension. Snow sheds, snow plows, drifts, closures, train wrecks, damaged rail they are all part of the history and fabric of the San Juan Extension and they make for the telling of a great story.

This is Los Pinos in August, 2016:

Los Pinos 2016 - From "Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum"

 
 

Not this again....

Oh just marvelous, six months to go and I will be riding the rails - AND I WILL HAVE TO TALK TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE!  This is worse than last July.  This time they expect me to know something - now the crunch begins, I can't fake it any longer.

Wait, wait, five months to go and I will be in self imposed training.  This time on-board the "Geology Train."  I have to remember 10 hours of lecture about rocks, dirt and stuff - NO WAY!






 

No, that isn't right!  Four months to go and the first docent meeting will take place in Chama around Memorial Day.  Maybe I can hide in the corner and be real quiet that way no one will notice me.  I will hide in plain sight.

No! It's not this bad.

So last night I dug through all my research material just trying to find a reference to the use of Mormons during construction of the San Juan Extension.  Have you ever tried to find a single reference to one word in hundreds, nay Thousands, of pages of reference material.  Three hours later, no luck - this is an inauspicious start.  I have a raging case of worry as usual - fantastic.




I stopped for a while to spend some quality time watching a classic flik - "Mystery Men".  I felt like an unfortunate mirror of "Mr. Furious" - Frustration building, unease building, worry building, anxiety building, PANIC! 

I am certain everything will work out o.k. in the end and then I will be at peace - maybe...