Looks like the rotary is lettered Denver, Leadville & Gunnison? That's a long, long gone name. Cool! Boxcab E50
Didn't the Colorado and Southern rotary burn in the roundhouse fire years ago? Where did this one come from?
Here is the information that I found on the Breckenridge Heritage Alliance Rotary Snowplow Park website. "The rotary snowplow you see in the Breckenridge Rotary Snowplow Park is not the one used by the Colorado & Southern Railway to get from Como to Breckenridge via Boreas Pass; the track, however, runs on the original right-of-way. This 108-ton snowplow was built in 1901 for the White Pass and Yukon Route in Alaska. It was moved to Denver in 1988, where in underwent repairs. Six months later, the restored rotary arrived in Breckenridge. It is one of only five known narrow-gauge rotaries still in existence". Ben
Great photos! Yep, it is one of 2 or 3 surviving WP&Y rotaries. The surviving C&S rotary is at the Colorado RR Museum...99201 (and has been there outside for at least 10 years). The 99200 was in a fire 65 years ago, but not destroyed in the fire...it was rebuilt with a nicer looking housing and a sloped back tender from a SG 0-6-0. It died when its shaft broke a few years later. The 99200 was the DL&G rotary. The ugly 99201 was quite a bit newer, bigger, and was used on the High Line after the conversion to SG. I wonder if the Breckenridge group counted the 99201 as SG or NG ;-) The 74 will never run again. Perhaps a replica will, but the original 74 is dead. The reason that stopped the restoration on her was that she would be less than 20% original after the rebuild. It was something like a new frame, new boiler, new appliances...new everything...and the restored engine would exist no more with a replica in her place. This is the reason why many locomotives, in my view, should never run. Every K-36 has been restored and operated. Guess what? There probably isn't a single intact D&RGW K-36 as the shop forces at Chama and Durango have slowly change the locomotives bit by bit (replacement parts, different repair techniques, illegal materials/appliances removed). There are 6 NKP berkshires left. The 765 and 759 are not stock NKP berkshires anymore. Small things were changed during their lives as excursion engines. Now the 763 is being restored as well. If you want to study how maintenance on an NKP berkshire was performed, you only can learn from the 3 unaltered locomotives...and there are no K-27s, K-28s, or K-36s that you can study. I'm not saying that #60, #74, or #191 shouldn't run, but that there is a trade off if they do. It also opens the opportunity for something significant to be changed (which is part of the reason why the annonymous benefactor of RGS #20 specified that the work be performed at Strassburg and not just by anyone). While I too want to see #9 and #74 run, I consider it consolation that the historic fabric of #74 will be preserved by not being restored. Michael
C&S#9 Waking up Sept. 2006 on the GTL [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA86BkN1suQ"]YouTube - Georgetown Loop Railroad #01[/ame]
Michael, Your point is well taken and is at the heart of every argument I have with preservation societies and government agencies. By restoring to running condition you necessarily must change the actual to a fantasy. This is like guys who restore muscle cars...the ones I rode in did not have shoulder belts but these are now required if the car is to run on the highway. This, of course, can be taken to the extreme the other way...saying that a depot restoration is wrong because the paint is not lead based for instance. It comes down to the fact that there are museum pieces that represent a bygone era and there are pieces that are restored to remind us of that bygone era. Ben, great shots as are all of your pics, and Darren, love that video!
and so it doesn't get painted and falls apart a few years later...mad: That is the same sort of reason that the Pennsy K-4 1361 overhaul has taken so long. From the people I know whom have restored steam locomotives, the person in charge of that is over the top on issues such as you've mentioned...and so the overhaul has included many unnecessary years. It really baffles me how many artifacts are no longer with us because someone couldn't just buy a can or two of spray paint...or even a tarp. DSP&P Coach #3/C&S coach 56 is one such example. Less than $100 and she'd still be in decent shape...rather than splinters. I agree that there is a degree of fantasy in restoring something to service...good choice of words. For the most point, a heavyweight passenger car requires many non-historic changes for modern operation...wheelsets replaced, bearings replaced, new electrical everything, and brought up to Amtrak standards. One common change is to add powerplants to the cars. Most cars originally carried generators mounted on their axles. They generated their power while rolling and lived off of batteries while in the station. This doesn't work so well with excursion cars as sit for long stretches of time and don't have a chance to charge their batteries until the excursion is already headed off down the line. And so diesel generators are common (or diesel generators tucked into baggage cars and providing power to the train). Being C&S fans, we can really appreciate the keep-it-as-it-is benefits. We have two C&S cabeese. One is historic...one is semi historic (1009's has replica hardware). We have one stockcar, and the trucks are not C&S. How much of the hardware is? I know that several of the Galloping Geese have had their engines replaced. I think #3 at Knott's is on its second or third motor since leaving the RGS...and that is why we can ride it. Great trade off, imo! Her sister that runs in Colorado has the previous engine from #3...which allows her to run and is one more reason to appreciate the wonderful people at Knott's. 3-4 years ago I was really excited about seeing #9 and #20 under steam (as well as #74). It is a shame that it will never happen with #9 and #74. I hope that new technologies will be developed so that someday I can see #9 under steam....But I'd rather never see her under steam than to see her with a new boiler. Michael
I don't think they would go through all of this work just to make a static display out of her (unless she's going into a museum or something like that). I'm feeling optomistic.
I drove by #9 yesterday and she is looking pretty good. They have the cab reinstalled and the plow is sitting behind her. Ben
