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Well welcome in the New
Year.. lets start the year off right with a Great Snow Sunset by
John Kelly... |
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Now thanks to John Sporseen,
we have some great shots of Southern Pacific 4449. |
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Now think about this for a second, if
it wasn't for Steam Volunteers and people so dedicated to railway
preservation, those young children would never have had the chance
or opportunity to stand next to this Beautiful Steam Locomotive.
Thanks John! |
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The last train of 2005, The locomotive was
actually facing to the rear.. so I was running in reverse, made it
easy to take picture's looking to the rear of the train. |
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We are rolling around the curve at milepost 290, just
on top of Gravity Hill. |
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Just passed the state line and we are in Colorado for
a few hundred feet, then back into new Mexico for about a quarter
mile.. |
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Just rolling down Gravity Hill, near the bottom. |
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And after passing Milepost 288 headed for Antonito. |
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A view of Rotary OY in Chama... thought you
might like a few winter scene's. |
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October 31st and we were switching stuff
around, moved something over there and moved something back to there
and set up this Photo Opportunity!! |
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Thought you would like to see this small special
train.. it didn't go anywhere, but it looks great. |
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After this we had to separate everything, but it was
nice while it lasted. |
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This is a awesome machine, would love to see
her run again. |
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Now our last visit to the
remnants of the San Luis Southern. |
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This old Boxcar served as a storage
shed. |
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The doors on the side were wide open,
and the structure of the car was unusual... the floor to the right
of the door is actually part of the car. It must have been some kind
of work car with a enclosed box and a open flat deck. |
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And the door on the end still has a
lock in place. |
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A switch stand is being lost to
mother nature. |
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The track goes all over the place,
but is being lost to the sage brush. |
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This was a unusual building, it drops
down below the surface of the ground about three feet, and is next
to a Pole... |
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And another view of the track as it
leads north to the old Rio Grande Mainline. |
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And lets say goodbye to that amazing
machine of the Southern San Luis.. I hope it can be preserved
someday. |
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Both Rotary Snowplows stand guard in Chama. |
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Daylight run over La Veta
Pass on SLRG Locomotives.. passing thru Fort Garland, Colorado. |
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Most runs over La Veta are at night,
but a build up of loads in Alamosa required the run... I was lucky
to be on board. |
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East of Fort Garland and climbing,
the Hill is a rough ride for the Locomotives.. |
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The going is hard almost
immediately.. |
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The curve's are extremely tight and
the Locomotives struggle around the curves pulling the 26 loads and
the 6 empties we had that day. |
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Going into Forbes Ranch and pulling
away from the highway. |
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The West side is completely different
from the East side. |
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Continuing the climb up La Veta Pass,
we are just a few miles away now. |
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Approaching the Summit of La Veta
Pass.. |
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To the left is the connecting track
of the Horseshoe loop, similar to the connecting track at Lava
Tank.. it has been removed from service. We will climb uphill and
turn to the right and then turn left and above to the left in this
picture is the Railroad tracks. |
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This First Video clip shows the train
entering the first tunnel, just known as the west tunnel. We are
going in thru the West Portal. These were taken from the cab. |
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Looking back to the train as it makes
the curve just below the Summit. |
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We are now exiting the West Tunnel
thru the East Portal. |
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Now off to the left is the upper
section of the connecting track and down below you can see the lower
section of the mainline. |
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Passing thru the Summit of La Veta
pass, you can see a old bunk-car watching the summit and the trains
that pass by. |
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Now this shows the train entering the
second tunnel. |
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Hey check this out, I found
this Burlington Northern Caboose sitting off the highway west of
Blanca, Colorado... I took the picture from a county road...
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How about a Quick visit to a
old Ghost town called Summitville, Colorado.. These Great shots are
courtesy of Steven Dickey.. |
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I am sorry, these are beautiful
picture's, but the website made them a little fuzzy. |
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Another Beautiful view of
Summitville, thanks to Steven for these great shots. |
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This car rolled by me in the
Alamosa Yard the other day, after work I went out and took a
picture. The drawing was done in Spray Paint if I am correct and can
either be very beautiful or quite haunting.. your choice!!! It
is destined to be sent to Antonito in a few days and will carry
perlite over La Veta Pass next week sometime. |
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Welcome to the Very Large
Array.. about 60 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. |
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The Purpose of the VLA is to provide
forefront-observing facilities needed for research in Radio
Astronomy. |
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27 antennas focus radio waves 24 a
day, 7 days a week. |
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The Antennas sit in a large beautiful
valley surrounded north and south by the Cibola National Forest. |
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The Antennas can actually be moved
and are moved by a platform which travels on parallel tracks which
you can see in this picture... This place is amazing and if
you have the time, stop in for a visit. |
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Now that I am going thru my
Schooling in Alamosa, I have been extremely lucky to be working with
two highly qualified Engineers. On the left is SL&RG Engineer Casey
McCall and Engineer Marc Widener. They have been a wealth of
knowledge and information to me and I have enjoyed every minute on
the rails with them both. |
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Steven's Dog enjoying the Beautiful
tall grass of Colorado and Summitville. I love this shot... Thanks
Steven. Well again
thank you all very much, 2006 is here and Roger is working on making
the new files and such for the New Year, so please be patient and I
will get the January 1st week update online as soon as possible.
Thank you, Thank you and see you soon, Carlos |
