Railfest 08

The next day as I rode the Silver Vista I found #5 stranded out on the line. We saw her on the way up and also on the way back down. As we left the goose the distant sound of a diesel horn was heard. The goose would be towed in behind us and then departed for Dolores on Monday. We saw the 5 in Dolores after returning from our hike along the New Mexico Lumber Company line at McPhee.


The 315 is now cold and sits next to the roundhouse waiting for her next move. It will be interesting to see if she ends up in the Silverton Northern engine house. It would be nice to have her connected to the rail system rather than having to be trucked from some remote resting spot.

Railfest 08 Impressions

First of all I would like to thank all those involved with the return of the 315 to the rails. I never would have thought that it would happen when I saw her in the park many years ago. It is great to see a C class out running on long stretches of rail. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in the two 315 events this year. I would also like to thank the crew for a great effort. The traffic out on the line made this trip a bit challenging and constantly changing.  It was a long day for all of them.

For future photo specials I have a couple of suggestions. Don't run the presidential special on the same day as the photo freight. There was just too much traffic with the goose, MOW gang and presidential special to allow many photo stops. I rode the photo freight in 2006 and we had many more photo opportunities. The high bridge in the morning and the highline in the afternoon. I really enjoyed sitting out on the highline on that trip and watching all the trains coming back in. My second suggestion would  be that some sort of age limit be placed on trips like this. It makes no sense to have a toddler on a planned 12 hour photo special. That stretch between the high bridge and Hermosa had everyone in the car on edge due to the crying. I have kids and I wouldn't subject them to an all day train ride like this at that age. I don't even think that the couple was aware that they were on a special train until we told them.

The night shoot was a new experience for me. I have never had all the appropriate gear and enough familiarity with my camera to do one of these in the past. The last one I attended was Rockwood in 06 and I didn't know about it in advance. No tripod and lousy shots. This one worked out and I got some fairly decent shots. The event was a little delayed and all three groups went at one time but we managed ok.