Great Western #60 - Early Photo Request?

Mgoldman · **Posted:** Sun Apr 21, 2013 12:50 am

A search on the Internet yields very few photos specifically of #60.

Does any one have some images or links they can provide?

For your enjoyment, here are some pics of Great Western engines, including
still surviving - and all serviceable if not already running:

(GW #75 is at Heber, GW #90 is at Strasburg and GW #60 is at the Black River and Western in New Jersey - are there other survivors? - edit, anyone know the story of GW #51?)

GW #60 http://www.steamlocomotive.info/valbum.cfm?display=857
GW #90 http://www.steamlocomotive.info/valbum.cfm?display=1112
GW #75 http://www.steamlocomotive.info/valbum.cfm?display=275

GW #51 http://bobsobol.smugmug.com/Trains/Prot ... P&lb=1&s=A
and here: http://birmingham.zenfolio.com/no51/h17220fed#h17220fed

A superb collection of GW images:
http://www.westernrailimages.com/Great- ... &k=crkkR3Q and here: http://www.bcrhs.org/Boulderrail/histor ... tives.html

An interesting history by Ken Jessen:
http://cozine.com/2008-february/the-gre ... en-jessen/

Back to #60 - pics and /or links pre-Black River and Western much appreciated!
Specifically with the diamond on the cab (with either "60" or "GW") and what appears to be "Great Western Railway" on the tender vs simply "Great Western".

I believe there is a book with lots of great images: "Sugar Tramp", on order - but maybe someone has a photo they can share now?

Thanks!

/Mitch

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

Hi Mitch,

Last I heard #51 was back in Colorado under private ownership. There was buzz about her returning to steam a few years back, but haven't heard much lately. Any RYPNers have details?

Rob

Mobil1fan · **Joined:** Sat Nov 13, 2010 2:28 pm **Posts:** 21

robertjohndavis wrote:

Hi Mitch,

Last I heard #51 was back in Colorado under private ownership. There was buzz about her returning to steam a few years back, but haven't heard much lately. Any RYPNers have details?

Rob

Funny you should mention that, the folks from the Midwest Railway Preservation Society out of Cleveland were actually out there yesterday, per Facebook:
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 0324_o.jpg
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 6877_n.jpg

Rob Gardner · **Joined:** Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:50 pm **Posts:** 576

GW #51 has long been owned by one John Birmingham since it left the GWRR. John has a small private facility in Hudson, CO. #51 I believe now has a legal FRA-certified boiler and runs on occasion.

51 has had a long and storied movie career. Hope to see her start in a few more in the years to come.

Rob Gardner

car57 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 21, 2013 7:33 pm

Does anyone know what the passenger car is in background ?

Thanks

Mike Pannell

Jason Midyette · **Posted:** Sun Apr 21, 2013 8:24 pm

The passenger car behind 51 in the photo is a wooden ex UP (possibly former Kansas Pacific) business car. It was retired in the 1920's and built into a building in Denver Colorado. In 1964 it was removed from the building and rebuilt (using trucks, couplers, brake system and other parts) from a Colorado & Southern coach that was being scrapped in Denver. Work was done by the C&S. The rebuilt car was used in the movie Cat Ballou and then on other excursions behind GW 51 in the 1960's and 1970's. The car was also used in Breakheart Pass. At some point the car was sold to a real estate agent in Boulder Colorado who moved to a house in the mountains west of Boulder Colorado and used it as a guest house. In 2005, John Birmingham repurchased the car (he was one of the original owners who had the car rebuilt for Cat Ballou) and moved to Hudson. The car is amazingly intact and original.

As a side note were the Cleveland folks there to look at 51 or some of the other passenger cars?

Jason Midyette

Mgoldman · **Posted:** Sun Apr 21, 2013 8:51 pm

Found a site with some great shots of #60, but not with the diamond on the cab, nor the name spelled out large across the length of the tender:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/se ... osuppress/

Still looking!

/Mitch

Jason Midyette · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:16 pm

Returning to the original request, here are the photos that I have of #60 on the GW;

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Loveland Engine House 1956

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Stored in Loveland circa 1960

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November 1939, Loveland

Jason Midyette

Jason Midyette · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:20 pm

The last three (in color now)........

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Switching cars in Longmont, circa 1950

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View from the fireman's side of the cab. Longmont, circa 1950

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Taking water on Longmont, circa 1950

Jason Midyette

Mgoldman · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:17 pm

Thanks Jason!!

Those photos are amazing - it's really wid to see #60 not as a tourist engine in NJ but instead doing what she was meant to do. Doesn't look touristy at all. Thanks very much for the images.

We (Lerro Productions) will be doing a charter with #60 in mid-May. The style we chose was the latest scheme to match how #90 was done on our last charter. Photos with that scheme - a diamond on the cab, for instance are hard to come by but we found some in the books mentioned initially.

I suppose the diamond logo will be easy to find after the charter, though maybe with enough demand we'll be back for a second charter with the engine as seen in your series of photos.

Now - can someone tell me where to get a couple thousand sugar beats at a good price?

/Mitch

Jason Midyette · **Posted:** Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:16 pm

Can't wait to see some photos of the charter. For what ever reason, it seems that 60 got the GW Diamond later than some of the other GW locomotives.

Jason Midyette

Miketherailfan · **Posted:** Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:42 am

Well, I guess I'll get a 3rd crack at perfecting my whitewalling skills... :D

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:25 am

Mgoldman wrote:

Now - can someone tell me where to get a couple thousand sugar beats at a good price?

The hoppers will be harder to come by than the sugar beets.