2013 – Colorado Railroad Museum – Open Car Day

Today, the CRRM had its first of several up and coming “Open Car” Days where visitors get a chance to go inside cars not often open to pubic viewing.  Open Car Day #1 featured the following cars…

CMR Observation Car No. 111

RGS Business Car Rico No. 21

D&RGW RPO No. 60

UP Coach No. 5442

CB&Q Business Car No. 96

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2012 – A Lyons Catch

On November 4th, we decided to head up to Estes Park for do a little shopping and have lunch at one of our favorite local restaurants.  After lunch we headed up into Rocky Mountain Nation Park as a nice afternoon drive.  We stopped at the Visitor Center to pick up some information for next year…

I would also stop to take a photo of the memorial to Ranger Jeff Christensen who was killed in a fall on the Mummy Range here in the park

As we head back for home I will catch three (3) Railroad Cars in Lyons, Colorado.  All three are now static displays that are on private property and one of them (BN Caboose) is currently “For Rent” for a very small business along the highway.  All three could sure use some TLC if they are survive as historical cars…

40.224972° N 105.272095° W

40.216458° N 105.257742° W

40.212708° N 105.249994° W

 

2012 – Goose Fest – Day #3

We are invited to an early (4:45A) opening to catch the Geese at sunrise; let’s say I didn’t make it but I was in at 6:45A to take a few more shots of the group as well as individual shots of each.  Here is my pick for this final blog entry of the Colorado Railroad Museum Goose Fest 2012…

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Don will also treat us to a private inside showing of two other special cars here at the museum.  Video camera rolling as I walk through these two cars.  Here is the outside and you will have to wait for the Youtube video to come out to see the inside…

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Again, I want to thank Don and the Colorado Railroad Museum for hosting this event along with the other organizations that contributed.  And for Knot’s Berry Farm – SHAME ON YOU! for not allowing RGS #3 to come to this extremely important historical event.  Maybe next time you will step up and help make history happen…

For all you folks that attended and stood in those long lines, this VIP pass was worth every penny…

 

2012 – Goose Fest – Day #1

For the past three days as part of a VIP package I have been at the Colorado Railroad Museum for a special fund-raising event know as Goose Fest which highlights the Rio Grande Southern (RGS) Galloping Geese.  On Day #1 (Friday) I took advantage of not only coming to see the famous engines together for the first time but to also take in the museum as a whole.

Here is just a tiny example of the type of equipment that call the CRRM home…

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There is also a wonderful Library here and if you need information on Narrow Gauge railroads this is the primary facility to come to.  As I get closers to retirement I too hope to help work here at the library helping to bring it into the digital age.

I will also take photographs & video of the Galloping Geese getting setup in fount of the Roundhouse / Restoration facility.  The original plan for Goose Fest 2012 was to have all seven (7) of the RGS Engines together for the first time but at the 11th hour Knott’s Berry Farm pulled RGS #3 from this historic event.  Here is a shot of six (6) of the seven (7) all lined up in order in numerical order…

After a wonderful day, and the museum now closed to the public, the Colorado Railroad Museum treated the VIP’s to an informal dinner in the museum giving us a chance to get to know each other.  We are also treated with a showing of TIN FEATHERS, GASOLINE, AND FUMES about these historic engines.

With dinner ate, we head back outside to a Night Photo session of the RGS Engine in front of the Roundhouse.  My simple Point-n-Shot was not meant for this type of photography but I will run the video camera at the same time to catch this unique experience.  Those with better 35mm / Digital cameras I’m sure got some wonderful shots with the help of strobe lights that were setup for this photography special.

Time to go home after spending nearly 14 hours at the CRRM and download Day #1’s images and videos and get ready to get up early for Day #2.  I will give more history about the engines in the next blog entry…

 

2010: Railfanning East of Town; Day#06

On this day, we strike out easterly from Kansas City. We take a short drive along Cliff Drive Missouri State Scenic Byway for both the scenic drive and was also told there are good photograph points over the yard. Found lots of trees and the few place I saw the yard it wasn’t worth taking any shots.

We then head for Independence, MO to visit the National Frontier Trails Museum and Lisa and I both had family that traveled west by wagon train.

Next door to the museum is the Chicago & Alton Railroad Depot that also has a second floor where the Station Master family lived. Got a great tour by the caretakers!!! Also here in town is the MoPac Depot that today is the Amtrak Station (a.k.a. Truman Depot) and they have a MoPac Caboose sitting outside.

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After taking in lunch, we head for Buckner, MO. Here we track down the MoPac Combination Depot. To our surprise we also find a MoPac Caboose sitting with it…

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It’s marked “Sedalia Yards Only” as in Sadalia, MO so it’s a few miles from home.

Our last destination of the day is Lexington, MO where we first visit the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site (Civil War).

We also track down the “Madonna of the Trail” for Missouri that is related to wagon trail history.

We have to take an interesting back road to get to the CB&Q Combination Depot put we found it as well.

Back to Kansas City and to our hotel in Overland Park. We will need our rest before taking on Day #07…

 

2008: Escape of the DNC; Day#2b

We continued our day and switched Fallen Flags; now the Denver & Rio Grande Western.

But first, before we leave Buena Vista I wanted to share a smile. Beside the Depot is a Caboose listed as Colorado Midland #425 but don’t be fouled, it’s really CB&Q #14364. It fact, they have not yet painted the backside of the display where it still sports it RED color, logo, and road number. When I do my complete RRAdventues story I will share those backside images too.

From here we turned north to Leadville along track that we understand UP might soon abandon. So, we took some time to stop a take a few shots to log certain pieces along the route.

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We reached Leadville and took a few shots of the depot before we continued our drive north.

We continue north over Tennessee Pass and stopped at a WWII Memorial that is very important to Colorado and the Ski Industry.

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This next shot I think my friend  HEMI will enjoy!

We continued over the pass to Camp Hale for a few shots there.

Then onto Minturn to catch a D&RGW Depot there as well.

We turn back to Leadville and stopped at Climax Mines that is in the process of reopenning which will be huge for the local economy in this part of the state. There is a nice static display along the highway including mining train equipment.

We return to Leadville for the night to stay at the old Delaware Hotel. Talk about sleeping in an antique store, your room is shown off like a museum piece during the day and you sleep in at night. Nearly all the pieces are also for sale so it’s weird to stay there…

 

2008: Static Display (Nederland, CO)

As we passed through Nederland we came across three RR cars that have been joined together to make into a business. The main car of this configuration is a passenger coach that says Burlington across the top and C&S #544 on the side. These cars were once part of the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Pioneer Exhibition Train.