Inside the OC&E. Christmas at the Colorado Model Railroad Museum

Transcription

1 December 2015 Volume 6 Issue 12 Inside the OC&E Christmas at the Colorado Model Railroad Museum The Colorado Model Railroad Museum will celebrate the holiday season with two weeks of special events; The Holiday Festival of Trains starts on Friday, December 18th. We kick off with the Night Trains event, an evening event where we operate the railroad in the dark, offer cookies, and hot apple cider, and play Christmas music. Santa is also available for photos. The museum will then be open for regular hours both Saturday the 19th, from 10 AM to 4 PM, and Sunday the 20th, from 1 PM to 4 PM. A special treat this year, the Museum will be open Monday through Wednesday, December On Monday, we will be opening at noon, and then Tuesday and Wednesday we will open at 10 AM and close each day at 4 PM. On Thursday, December 24, we will have Christmas Eve in the Morning. an event where we have Christmas crafts and help entertain the kids, by making little train scenes for their longest day of the year while they wait for Christmas Day. The hours will be 10 AM to 2 PM. We will be closed all day Christmas Day, December 25. Again, during the weekend after Christmas, the Museum will be open for regular hours, 10 AM to 4 PM, Saturday, and 1 PM to 4 PM, Sunday. Published by the Colorado Model Railroad Museum th Street Greeley, CO Clickety Clack is the name for the crafts we will have that day as the old year, 2015, goes Clickety -Clack Down the Track. We will be closed on New Years Day so you can stay home and watch your favorite football games, but we've saved the best for last. On Saturday, January 2nd, we will celebrate Literacy Day with our Harry Potter Event, and this year we have America's Academy of Wizardry, Avistrum Academy, from Denver coming for a live interactive theater in Harry Potter's world. For our volunteers, if you haven't had a chance to come by much this year, but have some time available; we would love to see you. These events will take a lot of effort by the Museum Staff, and we can use all the help we can get, whether you want to just run trains or help interact with our visitors. For the week after Christmas, the museum will again be open Monday through Wednesday from 10 AM (noon on Monday) to 4 PM. On Thursday, December 31, we will celebrate New Years Eve with Clickety-Clack Down the Track, from 10 AM to 2 PM. 1

2 CMRM Fields Popular Float at the Greeley Lights the Night Parade On November 28, 2015, the Greeley Lights the Night Parade ran along 9th Avenue, from 15th Street to 7th Street Downtown at Lincoln Park, starting at 5:30 PM. Even with the sub-freezing temperatures, the streets were lined with spectators, with the downtown blocks being packed elbow-to-elbow. Many positive comments were heard when the CMRM float went by featuring the Museum's replica of the D&RGW 315 locomotive with Santa Claus (Darrel Ellis) waving to the crowds, as the parade organizers had saved the best for last! wrapped with the Museum's logos. Randy and Steve walked beside the float as it headed down the street. Nobody imagined how popular Santa would be in this parade. Even while waiting for the parade to start, Santa posed for photos at least 25 times. During the parade he had to hang on to the trailer with one hand; he could only wave with one arm at a time and his arms still ached from the waving several It was a team effort to prepare the Colorado Model Railroad Museum's float for the parade. Darrel Ellis fitted the locomotive with lights and built the engine's special smoke effects controlled by a microprocessor (Arduino UNO). A gas-powered generator provided by All Purpose Rental supplied the electricity. Steve Palmer, who took Friday off from work, arranged for the trailer which was supplied by Weld County Garage, and loaded the engine on it. He and Randy Palmer made minor adjustments and got everything ready the day of the parade. During the parade, Bob Pilk drove the Greeley Mazda provided car that is days later. After the parade. everyone was back at the Museum bye 6:30 PM that night, but Randy and Steve showed up the next day to unload the locomotive (which it turned out, was no small feat!) And it was cold. But not too cold to do this again next year. A 19 second video of the float going down the street can be seen either on the Museum's Facebook page or the website at: 2

3 Greeley Passenger Trains in the Amtrak Era At Amtrak's start on May 1, 1971, Greeley should have been devoid of passenger train service. While Union Pacific had used this route for several passenger trains, including the Portland Rose and City of St. Louis/City of Portland, Amtrak's preference would be to use the Rio Grande route from Denver to Salt Lake City, Utah for it's Chicago, Illinois to San Francisco, California train. By Bill Kepner Plans suddenly changed for the national rail carrier right at the last minute, as the Rio Grande decided not to join Amtrak and to continue running their remnant of the California Zephyr, named the Rio Grande Zephyr. It was so sudden in fact, that Amtrak's first timetable showed the train traveling by way of the Rockies, not through Wyoming. Shortly after, the train via Wyoming would be called the San Francisco Zephyr that offered daylight service across Wyoming, much to Amtrak's chagrin, instead of the scenic Rocky Mountains. This would continue until April 24, 1983, when Rio Grande changed its Continued on Page 6 3 Top: For a short time after it s inception, Amtrak used equipment painted for its member railroads, such as this set of UP E8 s. In June 1973, the San Francisco Zephyr is stopped next to the future location of the Museum. Photo and permission granted by Jim Hinkhouse Left: By July 1976, Amtrak would be using new SDP40F units on their #5 train. Photo and permission granted by Doug Ellison

4 During an all-too-brief time in the early 90s, Amtrak spun off a daily segment of its California Zephyr and called it the Pioneer. Doomed from the start because of a lack of passenger equipment, the little train consisted of four Superliner cars: two coaches, a dome lounge featuring basic meals, and a sleeper tacked on the end. Even if the train sold out, which it almost never was, the ink on the bottom line would be red the day after. For Greeley residents, however, the service was quite a boon. Passengers could board the Pioneer in the late afternoon and have their little train connect with the Zephyr later in the evening for points eastbound, including Chicago. The northbound Zephyr was due in to Greeley at 10:30 in the morning for points leading out to the Pacific Northwest, including Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. In reality, the train seldom arrived in Greeley at the scheduled time, due to numerous delays. The Day Amtrak Got Turned Around in Greeley By David Trussell One major delay, on a brisk fall day in 1993, occurred right in Greeley close to the present location of the Colorado Model Railroad Museum. Motive power for that day was a pair of F40PH diesels numbers 356 in the lead and 324 trailing behind, facing its train. Normally, a single unit could handle a consist as small at this, but the national passenger train organization quickly learned the benefits of having a backup power unit on hand in case of emergencies, so an extra unit was always assigned each Pioneer train. That came into play on this day when the lead unit broke down coming into Greeley. The backup unit was still working, but the engine crew would have to sit backward, pushing the broken engine in front of it. Neither Amtrak nor Union Pacific, the host railroad, found that an acceptable solution; so it was decided by someone that the lead unit would be set out and retrieved at a later time to be ferried back to a repair facility. But this posed a problem. How do they get the trailing unit turned to face forward? UP's nearest wye track that would allow the unit to be turned, was about seven miles south, in La Salle. But Burlington Northern still had a wye in north Greeley that connected to the UP main line just north of 5th Street, but it was rarely used by this date. (Great Western would take over this trackage less than three years later and promptly remove the wye because they saw no reason to maintain an interchange with the UP in Greeley). Passengers cooled their heels in the lounge car for what was to be a two-hour delay while the brass hats attempted to slice up the red tape for an Amtrak movement over BN's trackage and its wye. Amtrak power switches over to an interchange track (now pulled up) and rolled back onto the north leg of the wye. The crew has now transferred to the 324, and it has become the lead unit. The photo below shows the spot where the broken 356 was cut off. All photos are facing northwest with highway 85 at the photographer s left and back. I was serving as publisher of the Greeley Tribune at the time and saw a small opportunity to provide a little diversion for the stranded passengers. I loaded up a bundle of the day's Greeley Tribune and handed it to the conductor to be distributed to his passengers. It was gladly received and the ensuing discussion alerted me to what the troubles were and the pending move by Amtrak to get its remaining locomotive facing the right way and back on the road, As it turned out, I had plenty of time to go back to the office, retrieve my camera and snap off some rare footage of Amtrak 4

5 rolling on the Greeley Branch's rails, albeit for an extremely short distance. After arriving in Greeley a full 90 minutes late, the re-established Pioneer finally headed out of town a mere three and a half hours off schedule and only 58 miles north of its starting point at Denver's Union Station. So don't let anyone tell you that Amtrak hasn't been on the Greeley branch of the Great Western. The original tracks are being replaced and a new wye is under construction. When finished it is reported to be capable, in theory, of handling all of UP's traffic originating in Windsor. Gone, also, is Amtrak. Having successfully negotiated the wye, a lonely 324 rolls north around its train to recouple onto the business end of its train. The remaining active unit crosses the highway on the track leading to Windsor, past the wye s switch. The unit has now been joined by a host of BN and UP personnel, along with one suit. The switch was thrown to the south leg of the wye and the unit rolls back somewhat unsteadily down the south leg of the wye to complete the turn around move. Note the number of railroad personnel required for this move. The Pioneer finally gets underway as the recalcitrant 356 looks forlornly on. 5

6 Greeley Passenger Trains Continued from Page 3 position and allowed the Amtrak train on its railroad, spelling the end for the Rio Grande Zephyr. Amtrak would then rename their train the California Zephyr, and the former route would lose service. The Greeley Depot then faced a period of neglect, and at one point was slated to be sold as a restaurant property. Amtrak had been running the Pioneer, between Seattle, Washington and Salt Lake City, combining it and the Desert Wind with the California Zephyr for the trip east from Salt Lake City. But made for a long train, so starting June 17, 1991, the Pioneer and California Zephyr would be combined (and split) in Denver, allowing the Pioneer to use the Greeley Subdivision and UP's mainline across Wyoming. Greeley would again have daily passenger train service. With the promise of long distance passenger service sticking around for a while, the City of Greeley purchased the passenger depot from the Union Pacific in 1992, Besides being able to manage the appearance of this gateway to the city, it would also be a convenient location for holding a farmer's market on Saturdays. This has proved to be very popular, and the covered structure in the parking lot was added in Nobody thought the Pioneer could be profitable, but as long Top: During Amtrak s early years, the Greeley Depot was still owned by UP and was kept in reasonable condition. Photo by Doug Ellison Middle: There weree trees by the platform when Jim Hinkhouse took this photo in December Bottom: But by the time the Pioneer started running in 1991, the place looked pretty barren. Photo by Bill Kepner 6

7 Inside the OC&E Decemberr 2015 as Amtrak could justify serving the cities along its route, it served a purpose. That all changed when the U.S. Congress wanted to cut Amtrak's losses, so at one point Amtrak proposed turning the train into a long mail and express train that would run directly to Chicago from Cheyenne. Union Pacific didn't think that was a good idea since the last thing they wanted was a scheduled passenger train on the busiest part of the UP system, and effectively squashed that idea. The only alternative was to have the states the train ran through pay for the service. That wasn't going to happen, so the Pioneer's last run was on May 10, With no Amtrak service, passengers can no longer board a scheduled train at the nicely restored Greeley Depot. The Frontier Days train does occasionally stop, but passengers aren't allowed to get off the train. That might be the last sighting of an Amtrak train in Greeley, except that the ex-rio Grande route, through the Rockies often suffers from blockages due to bad weather, extended maintenance, or an occasional derailment. In those instances, Amtrak doesn't hesitate to run the train on the old San Francisco Zephyr route across Wyoming. When they do, the trains usually arrive hours early at either Denver or Salt Lake City. The UP route via Wyoming has always been much quicker than going through the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Above: On May 19, 2012, Amtrak s train #6, the California Zephyr is passing through Greeley because UP has the Rio Grande route shut down for maintenance. Photo by Bill Kepner Below: The depot was still well maintained in the 1970 s. Photo by Doug Ellison Could Greeley ever experience passenger train service again? With the current political climate in Washington, it is likely we won't see an expansion of the national system any time soon. At times there are discussions for running a multi-state funded service between Cheyenne, Wyoming and maybe Albuquerque, New Mexico, but that's a long way to go without a lot of population over much of the distance. Maybe some day there would be an extension of Denver's RTD system when highway 85 becomes congested with Denver-bound commuters that can only afford to live a long way from the city, in small towns like Carr or Nunn. Above: The Greeley Depot has some nice details, such as this logo above the main doorways. Right: Several days before regular service of the new Pioneer train started, Amtrak ran a promotional train along the route. Here it is 7 crossing under Highway 85, just north of Nunn. Photos by Bill Kepner

8 David Trussell Visits His Past in Cheyenne By Wayne Hansen Thirty-two years after he began construction, David Trussell, CMRM founder, Empire Builder, and current CMRM Board President, visited the reincarnated Denver, Greeley and Tahoe Railway at its new home in Cheyenne, Wyoming in November. David Trussell's reaction: I can't believe how well the Sherman Hill folks have adapted the old modules to fit the new space and functional needs for mall operation. Additionally, club members installed backdrops to hide a new staging yard, added new structures to replace those that were used on the OC&E layout at the Greeley Museum, and have been eager to operate on this first-class layout. The Club continues to display its mobile layout in six venues per year. The new fixed layout inspires new members to join and has been a huge plus for the Club's public profile in Cheyenne. Since opening to the public in September, over 7,000 weekend visitors have experienced a successful reincarnation and preservation of David Trussell's creativity. Interested in visiting? We are open Saturdays: 10 AM to 5 PM; Sundays: Noon to 4 PM, with expanded hours during the holidays. The location is at Cheyenne's Frontier Mall, 1400 Dell Range Bvld, Cheyenne, Wyoming. The admission is FREE. For more info about the Sherman Hill Model Railroad Club: 8 Above: SHMRRC President, Jim Leonard and David Trussell discuss the Club s conversion of a 4,100 square foot mobile layout into a 2,200 square foot fixed layout and reincarnated as the Cheyenne and Green River Railway. Left: David Trussell examines his handiwork that won NMRA Best of Show in Seattle in The layout was then stored for 13 years until last September. For more information on the DG&T model railroad and how it influenced the development of the Colorado Model Railroad Museum, see articles in the July and August 2014 issues of Inside the OC&E, available on the Museum s website:

9 Club members upgraded the formerly DC layout to DCC, added numerous crossovers to link the two independent loops, and soldered all rail joints. Sherman Hill member and CMRM volunteer Dave Cimbura installs a new roof on a huge warehouse. Above: A commemorative plaque highlighting the 32-year DG&T history remains on the fascia. Right: Sherman Hill member Sandy Hozian spruces up the updated drive-in movie facility. 9

10 A national railroad powerhouse procured the former Greeley Tribune facility on the layout. Admission is free, so donations and sponsorships help pay the rent. Holiday Festival of Trains Colorado Model Railroad Museum December 18th, January 3rd, 2016 Special Holiday Events: Night Trains with Santa - Friday, December 18th, 5-8pm Christmas Eve in the Morning - Christmas Eve 10am-2pm Clickety-Clack Down the Track - New Years Eve 10am-2pm Literacy Day - Featuring Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express - Saturday, January 2nd th Street, Greeley

11 A Story about the Coos Bay Drawbridge Over the last two newsletter issues, we've given you a tour of the Coos Bay line. But one of the more interesting events that happened during this trip, occurred as we approached the last drawbridge that we came to. There are three drawbridges along the route. The last (southern most) drawbridge is the 460-foot span at Coos Bay, one of the largest in the world. The first two bridges were aligned for rail traffic before we approached them. When we got to Coos Bay, the drawbridge was wide open. So all participants had time to get out of their motorcars and take pictures. Nice. But we waited and waited. Then we saw the bridge turning ever so slowly. After what seemed like a very long time I walked all the way to the front, where the railroad pilot vehicle was leading the motorcars. How long does it take to close the bridge? I asked. Today? At least 30 minutes I suppose. Does it always take that long? I ask. Nope. About a month ago a ship went by dragging its anchor and pulled out our electrical lines. We are running on temporary power today. We had to send someone out to the island in a boat, and he had to fire up a 5 horsepower generator. Normally it moves 4 times faster. A couple weeks ago we had such a strong wind it wouldn't move with the limited power. We Article and Photos by John Erdkamp Top: The Coos Bay Drawbridge (Actually located at North Bend) milepost is reported to be the longest operational drawbridge in North America. The length of the entire bridge is 3100 feet. The swing span is 460 feet long. Right: The Red Lion Hotel provided our hot meals and lodging while we were there. The local chapter of NARCOA is called Pacific Railcar Operators. Q had to tie two tugboats to it; one to drag it and one to stop it, in order to get it closed. And that my fellow readers is a true story. I would like to thank the railroad workers for their extensive efforts to close the Largest Swing Span Railroad Bridge in North America for a bunch of rail fans in private speeders on a sight seeing tour. While we paid them a modest fee, I bet they barely broke even. It would have been easy for them to say the final bridge was out of service, and we could have tied-up our motorcars on the north side of the bay and taken a bus over the Highway 101 bridge to our hotel, and we would have understood and not complained. But instead they manually closed the bridge for us (then reopened it for ship traffic... twice, once Friday and again Sunday) allowing us to speeder right to our hotel, and they even rolled out the Red Carpet. This was very fine group of folks at Coos Bay Rail Link.

12 Top left: In Coos Bay there are several forest product industries, including this pile of logs at Milepost Top right: They really rolled out the Red Carpet for us at Coos Bay! Left: The speeders tied up at the railroad s Coos Bay Yard & Terminal at Milepost Below: A view of Coos Bay at Milepost W

13 November Visitor Counts Week Week Week Week Week Totals Average YTD Inside the OC&E Inside the OC&E is the official newsletter of the Colorado Model Railroad Museum. Its purpose is to communicate news and information to museum volunteers and others interested in the museum. The January issue PUBLICATION DEADLINE: Tuesday, January 5, at 5:00 PM. Send submissions to drgw0579@ comcast.net. Bill Kepner, Editor. Ed Hurtubis and Bob Owens, Associate Editors The OC&E at Night With the house lights turned down (and the blue lights turned up), the Museum s OC&E model railroad takes on an entirely different look. Come visit us on Friday night, December 18th for this rare opportunity to see the railroad in a different light! Photos by Bill Kepner E