THE RAILHEAD
NEWSLETTER OF THE PIKES PEAK "N"GINEERS MODEL RAILROAD CLUB

October 2008 RAILROADING SINCE OCTOBER 13, 1989

Calendar of events 2008
October
Oct 4 & 5: Depot Days Pueblo Railroad Museum – go on your own
Oct 6: Board Meeting – Maggie Mae's – dinner at 6:30 pm – meeting at 7:30 pm
Oct 3, 10, 24 & 31: Friday work session – 7 to 9 pm
Oct 4, 18 & 25: Saturday work session or run trains 9 to 11 am
Oct 7, 14, 21 & 28: Tuesday work sessions – 7 to 9 pm
Oct 11: Club Anniversary Pot luck at the Peck's – see story below

November
Nov 3: Board Meeting – Maggie Mae's – dinner at 6:30 pm – meeting at 7:30 pm
Nov 1, 15 & 22: Saturday work session or run trains 9 to 11 am
Nov 4, 11, 18 & 25: Tuesday work sessions – 7 to 9 pm
Nov 7: Load MTL around noon and head to Denver for setup
Nov 8 & 9: GTE show in Denver – 9 am to 4 pm both days
Nov 14 & 28: Friday work session – 7 to 9 pm
Nov 28: Setup for club show after 5 pm
Nov 29: Club train show & swap meet – show time 10 am to 4 pm – then tear down & clean up.
December
Dec 1: Board Meeting – Maggie Mae's – dinner at 6:30 pm – meeting at 7:30 pm
Dec 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30: Tuesday work sessions – 7 to 9 pm
Dec 5, 12, 26: Friday work session – 7 to 9 pm
Dec 6, 13, 20 & 27: Saturday work session or run trains 9 to 11 am
Dec 19: Corporate Meeting & Election of Officers
Club Anniversary Party
I got in such a hurry to get the September Railhead out I forgot to put this article in. Well here goes, Mary decided on doing a baked ham for the entre. Everyone else will need to bring side dishes, salads, desserts and hors d'oeuvres (horse's ovaries) and drinks. We'll have coffee and iced tea available.
A.R.M. Conference
We met at the storage unit around 2 pm and loaded the MTL and headed for the Crown Plaza Hotel. Once we found where we were to setup we found that we had to share the space with a band. After some discussion we went with the 14'X14' configuration. It turned out for the best as conference people were able to put some other vendors next to us for the rest of the week. Wednesday evening and Saturday morning we had the most people the rest of the time we had 4 or 5 to run trains daily. It was kind of nice to have a show with such weird hours that fit our member's schedules so they could run trains. Members that were able to participate were Lester, Rick, John, Steve B, Terry, Paul, Chris, Steve T, Mike & Mary. There were several other conferences going on at the same time and several of them would walk by, see the trains and come in and watch. We had a few Marines and Air Force personnel come in and chat.

Cumbres & Toltec Excursion
The only organized part of this trip was the tickets and hotel rooms, everything else just happened. Steve and his nephew Dan left sometime around 10 am. I picked up my brother at 10 am met Rick at the house and we dropped off Sally and were headed out of town at 12:15. We took our time and didn't get into Chama till sometime after 8 pm. Rick & I did get some night shots. We got up early and went next door to eat and I went to the depot at 8 to get our tickets. We boarded the bus for Antonito. We arrived in plenty of time to shop and walk around a little. The train crew was waiting for the train from Alamosa to arrive with other passengers. We left a little late.
488 Friday night 463 the loco Gene Autry donated in for repairs
Rick at Lava Tank, see the stacks of old ties Steve checking out the scenery
The new management has done a lot of work on the trackage and some of the rolling stock. The first thing I noticed was all the new ballast. We had a docent on our car and he explained that they had just purchased another 18,000 ties. We did pass a work crew at Sublette that was replacing ties and prepping the track for ballasting. The mechanical MOW equipment was on a siding at Osier where we ate. Again the food was good and plenty of it. Something new was free trip maps. You could unfold these and determine where you were on the line. There were all new station, crossing, water and siding markers. I don't remember the mile markers from other trips but all mile markers were in place and freshly painted. On Sunday we got some early shots before eating breakfast. We headed out after the train left and caught it at the second crossing and chased and photographed it to just below Windy Point.
Notice fresh ballast along the track 487 at the end of the trip
After the last passenger was off the train the cleaning crews hopped aboard and started cleaning the cars. Next the train crew moved the train into position to dump the sewage from the cars. Next was to turn the engine around and come back into the yard to do some switching. We watched them build a mixed freight then setup the passenger train for Sunday Morning.
Rick with new Goose? Steam out Sunday morning
We fuel up in Alamosa and headed to Blanca to show my brother the old SLV RR trestle. When we made our turn we noticed new track had been laid along the abandoned ROW. We followed it to a large yard on the west side of the road where container cars were stacked on top of one another. We watched as crews cut up a car for scrap and a track hoe was loading the scrap into a gondola. Now we know the answer to the mystery of all the cars being stored from south Fork to Del Norte.
Grand Canyon loco at Alamosa Stack of rail cars
More stacked cars Scrappers cutting up car
We then started toward Walsenburg to head home so we could be home in time for rick to pickup Laura at the airport. She called and said her flight was delayed till 8:30 so we headed to La Veta for ice cream. We decided to take the back road to Trinidad and had a beautiful side trip. We also found another abandoned railroad that went from the New Elk Coal mine to Trinidad. As we had filled all our video chips we didn't take any pictures. So you know what that means! ROAD TRIP!!!!! All the bridges are still in place so there are plenty of photo options. We made it to the Springs around 7:30.
The South Park part II
We begin part II at South Platte were the Nighthawk branch line connected to the DSP&P main line.
This building is being preserved in South Platte Mail line heading east out of South Platte

We could have spent more time at the South Platte location. As we approached South Platte we crossed a new highway bridge but the grade went to the right. We parked on a wide spot on the other side and took the above photos. Rick & I walked down the old grade a few hundred feet and took more pictures which will follow. We were trying to find where the spur line and main line merged. We think we found it but will have to come down the other side of the river to see if we see any bridge foundations as there. was too much under growth on the side we were on to see anything.
Rock work on spur line east of South Platte See the underbrush growth along grade
Some rock work we found there is more but under the brush – This is some more rock work
I'm on the main line the spur is to the left of bridge Grade leaving South Platte

As you can see from the photos the area is heavy in undergrowth. My plan is to go back sometime in the early spring before the trees leaf out. I will walk down the branch line section next time as there was less underbrush to contend with. My goal is to see if I can find any remains of the bridge abutments.
Club Show
We need help with passing out the fliers for the show. Pass them out to friends and others, help get the word out. We are looking for vendors as well. As of this writing we have four confirmed, we need more.