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RAIL REPORT October 2020 NO. 720 Rocky Mountain Railroad Club • Rocky Mountain Railroad Historical Foundation There Will Not Be A October Meeting In Barnes Hall Enjoy Another Online Virtual Meeting And Program Alaska Railroad And More Presented By Frank Keller October 13, 2020 • 7:30 PM The Alaska Railroad is rather unique in that they still operate a full service railroad, operating both freight and passenger trains year round. As you might imagine trains are more frequent in the summer tourist season, but Frank will cover the full spectrum in all seasons from north to south and everything in between. As a bonus, see some favorite Rio Grande pictures from the some 20 years he spent in Colorado, not to mention photos from many trips before he moved to Colorado. See Page Two For Information On How To Sign Up And Participate. RMRRC 2020 Calendar October 2020 The Annual Banquet is Cancelled. November 10, 2020 Monthly meeting and program by Ed Dickens, Jr. December 8, 2020 Annual meeting, elections, and program. Due to circumstances beyond our control, programs and dates are subject to change without notice. Please contact Dave Schaaf with program ideas at [email protected] or 303 988-3456. Virtual Meeting And Program Access Instructions To register ahead of time, please send an email to [email protected] asking for the September RMRRC virtual meeting address and password. Please send your request no later than Monday night, September 7th, and we will send you the meeting connection information. Please be patient as we all learn this new technology. We will be holding the meeting via Zoom. Please ensure you have the Zoom client ( https://zoom.us/download ) installed on your computer, phone, or tablet before the event so that you’re ready to go. Zoom Meetings Will Also Be Live Streamed As a view only option, Zoom supplies us the ability to live stream our meetings to YouTube. Those wishing toonly view our meetings without the option to participate will not have to email us for a meeting ID and Password any longer. The club has our own YouTube channel. This channel is for posting our club meetings and significant events. After the live event you may still view the meeting any time at your convenience. You can find our YouTube channel in several ways. The first is enter the URL shown below in your browser: www.youtube.com/channel/UCPUDXhWLazIbsHFO9DUUeoA For those whose typing skills are challenged by the URL above, a second method is search for “Rocky Mountain Railroad Club Channel” in the YouTube search bar or your search engine i.e. Google, Edge, etc. You may be surprised at all the items that come up. If you are familiar with YouTube and found the channel home page you can always subscribe. The third and last method is to browse our club web page. Right below the Facebook link is a new link to the YouTube live stream location. The board believes live streaming may increase membership and make our meetings avail- able to members who find it difficult to attend once we return to in person meetings. The Club Has a New Mailing Address: Rocky Mountain Railroad Club PO Box 620953 Littleton, CO 80162-0953 This address is for membership address changes and renewals, new memberships and general correspondence. The club email address is [email protected] For Rail Report 720, the masthead features the restored to operation Rio Grande Southern No. 20 at Colorado Railroad Museum on the back part of their loop on July 31, 2020. – Photo © 2020 Kenneth Jessen. Rocky Mountain Rail Report • Page 2 • October 2020 Alaska Railroad And More Alaska Railroad 4006 brings a rare daylight freight south as Denali peak stands tall in the background. – Photo © 2020 Frank Keller. Rio Grande 5355 leads a train westbound at Detour. – Photo © 2018 Frank Keller. Rocky Mountain Rail Report • Page 3 • October 2020 The transfer crane on Denny’s model Lake City and Ouray Railroad. – Photo © 2020 Denny Leonard. Into Indian Summer … From RMRRC President Denny Leonard Fall has started and is the favorite sea- via Zoom web conferencing to do club son of many Colorado residents. The business and advance our club goals. A virus, I think, is still with us. But we go new opportunity has surfaced as we may forward. Fall color is in the mountains be able to support a project to repair as our narrow gauge mountain railroads damage to the Palisades on the west side travel by. Eventually most of the nar- of the Alpine Tunnel. row gauge freight is brought to a con- nection with a standard gauge railroad. We are still in Zoom for our general Merchandise or commodities are trans- meetings. Wasn’t the GN show a great ferred and products reach industries or presentation? The meetings are also con- consumers in towns and cities. The small current on our YouTube Channel. Page transfer crane above is typical. As much 2 in this Rail Report explains access. as the narrow gauge was more cost effec- Also, this is the fifth Rail Report that’s tive to reach mountain towns and mines also available via email. We are excited and loading pens, the cost of transfer- to continue this enhanced digital prod- ring freight caused most lines to be stan- uct and ask all members who are able to dard gauged or abandoned. The excep- receive the Rail Report by email. We in- tion known to the author is Durango to tend to continue the availability of both Farmington. formats but we may propose a difference in dues for next year. This will allow us Your board is still meeting monthly to help balance our budget. Rocky Mountain Rail Report • Page 4 • October 2020 Into Indian Summer … From RMRRC President Denny Leonard We presented five groups with checks railroad books that the club has pub- to further their railroad preservation ef- lished. It makes me again ask for sto- forts this year. The Rocky Mountain ries and biographies of members, liv- Railroad Historical Foundation had a ing or deceased. So, I hope to motivate strong part in the return to steam service some writers out there. If you go to our of RGS No. 20. What a way to continue webpage, there are several members bi- our mission to help preserve our Colora- ographies to review. Please feel to send do history. So, one focus we all hopefully articles or biographies to me for consid- will support as the year concludes is to eration for publication in the Rail Report donate to the Rocky Mountain Railroad or on our web page. As always feel free to Historical Foundation to rebuild our contact me by email at denny@amerm. reserves. Since there is no banquet, $40 com or my cell (303) 809-9430. could go to the RMRRHF ? Travel safe, watch for trains, and hope- I have managed to do some reading fully we will connect soon. this summer of some of the Colorado Current Railroad Happenings One of ten diesel units newly decorated by BNSF to celebrate the BN-AT&SF merger of 25-years ago. – Photo © 2020 Dave Schaaf. In Remembrance Shirley Lee Fagan Shirley Lee Fagan, 93, passed away on July 26, 2020. She was a 55 year member of the club, joining in 1965, with a seniority number of 40. She frequently participated in excursion train rides and later adopted a new hobby of chasing trains. Rocky Mountain Rail Report • Page 5 • October 2020 Love Blossomed Along The Denver & Rio Grande Western Chili Line In 1912 By Mike Butler Young forester Aldo Leopold was ap- pointed superintendent of the newly cre- ated Carson National Forest of northern New Mexico in 1912. At this time the forest headquarters was in Antonito, Colorado. At a chance meeting in an Al- buquerque drugstore in 1911, Aldo met the love of his life – Estella Luna Otero Bergere. Estella and her sister were visit- ing from their home in Santa Fe. To be closer to Estella, Aldo moved the head- quarters of the Carson National Forest from Antonito to Tres Piedras, New Mexico. “Here is where the Chili Line comes in. Aldo often rode the train to Santa Fe Aldo and Estella on Chili Line tracks in to visit Estella. He described the Chili Santa Fe, New Mexico. Line as ‘slower’n a burro and just as sor- ry.’ Other old-timers added that D&RG stood for ‘Dangerous and Rough Go- see a doctor in Santa Fe, he also hopped ing.’ At any rate, it was the Chili Line aboard the Chili Line and headed south. that took Aldo to Santa Fe to propose In Santa Fe, it was discovered that he had to Estella. They were later married in Bright’s disease, a serious kidney ailment October 1912. that would soon have taken his life had it not been discovered and treated. He With wedding plans on the horizon, spent the next eighteen months resting Leopold designed and built the cabin in and recovering. His and Estella’s time at Tres Piedras in which he and his bride- Tres Piedras was over. to-be would live, and which would serve as the headquarters building for Carson Volunteers and the Forest Service re- National Forest. The cabin had a kitchen, stored the Leopold cabin at Tres Piedras bathroom, bedroom, library, and dining in 2006. Since 2012, it has served as the room on the first floor. home of the Aldo and Estella Leopold Writing Residency Program, which uses In April 1913, Estella was pregnant the cabin as a retreat for writers and art- and took the Chili Line from Tres Pie- ists to reflect on Aldo Leopold’s legacy of dras to Santa Fe to be with her family, conservation and environmental protec- while Aldo was riding the range in the tion.