A fine tale, Mr. Risely. Merry Christmas!

Way back in the Good Old Days at Georgetown Loop, we were instructed to keep a Shay ready to run after the operating season shut down for a special charter........two bus loads. One was a needlepoint and quilting society, or some such, and the other was a group of British railfans making the Colorado pilgrimage.

Mid September can be tricky weather in the mountains........and it was that year. We had maybe 6-8 inches of snow fall overnight before the charter. The plows had clleared I-70 so we fired up and dug out the open cars and depot platform.

We were predicting a PR disaster based on a busload of little old lady quilters riding open cars in freezing weather, but at the time had no closed car alternative.

The train returned from an uneventful trip with the LOLs sharing thermos flasks of hot tea with the Brits and a fine time having been had all around. No complaints....just a lot of happy faces on the people boarding the busses. I always thought we should make it an annual event, but the front office prevailed. Of course, we also should have sold tickets for the spring plow-out and boulder removal, but that's another thread.

dave

Great pictures! Any of the plow clearing the line? Attendance, prototypical activities, and snow. The perfect trifecta!

Happy Holidays to all!

Ted.

Jimmy Buffet is trying to buy a casino, but Warren Buffet bought BNSF.

30-miles west of Strasburg the M&H ran all trips on Saturday. Albeit, diesel powered. I was conductor that day. All volunteers showed up and Santa of course being magical could be at all the railroads running that day. We ran 3 trips and even did a 4:30 p.m. run to the North Pole during the height of the storm. We also had reserved pre-sold tickets. That North Pole train had pre-sold 3 cars but we ran with a little less than a car full on that trip. Some hardy folk came from Scranton, Baltimore, and Washiington DC areas. They enjoyed the train ride in the snow. But I couldn't believe they would travel with little kids. I wasn't there Sunday but presume they ran OK then since the snow stopped and the roads were better. Merry Christmas.

Congratulations to those roads that ran their trains during and after the storm. That is called serving your customer and they got it right.

John Bohon

Based on Saturday morning New York weather forecasts and reports form members arriving from the South, Branford (Conn.) Electric Rwy. canceled Saturday night and Sunday day and night operations. The snow started there about 9:00 p.m., 3 hours late, and was over by Sunday morning, about 2 hours early. The line was plowed by 10:00 a.m., by members who spent the night in a warm part of the shop. Local streets were starting to get plowed. Based on the earlier forecast, the parking lot had not been ordered cleared for the last day of the regular operating season.
1 person showed up for the Saturday evening rides, a photographer on a magazine assignment. No one showed up Sunday morning, but there were 3 phone calls to the office between 10 a.m. and noon. Others may have reached the recorded announcement.

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"The stew is getting hot."

So, what did you make? Authentic "caboose cuisine"?

Sort of. I was a little busy to put on the whole dog - so to speak - so it was a combination of prepared and fresh items: a beef stew.

Stews work better in the plow than a soup. I remember Linn had prepared a soup once for the plow. That was the day in '78 that we used No. 31 and it got to a high of 9 F, and the steam gauge froze, but that's another story ... Anyway, the soup sloshed as the plow went about its business, frosting the windows with steam so that visibility was limited. A stew basically stays put.

I have a tech question: Is the front snow blade able to raise and lower? How? I looked at the snow plow at Steamtown and it has a blade underneath that can be moved. Thanks.

Steve

If you mean the steel plow at Steamtown, that's the DL's and the blade does raise and lower, it's operated by air. When fully lowered it almost "skims" the top of the rails. We even have a note in our timetable not to move the plow without putting air to it as someone took out a wooden walkway at Steamtown with it once, when the blade was down all the way. From what I hear it was spectacular!

Be Safe

Dave

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Too bad, it would be much more entertaining if Jimmy had bought it! Can you imagine the new paint scheme? Parrot feathers maybe?

Rebuild the line to Key West?

dave