Our first stop, and home for the next two days, will be the Greeley Freight Station Museum.  Started by David Trussell, the former owner of the Greeley Tribune newspaper, the Museum opened in 2009.  The initial item in the museum was a wood sided caboose from the Colorado & Southern.  Visitors will also find a nice collection of railroad artifacts. 

But the star of the operation is an amazing 5,500 square foot HO gauge layout.  A volunteer base of over 200 people helped David build this beautifully detailed operation. 

The Oregon, California & Eastern Railroad is a bridge line that runs between Klamath Falls and Chiloquin, Oregon.  There is ample opportunity see high mountains (one over 1500 scale feet in height), mountain streams, and deep canyons.  There are well over 20,000 trees on the layout, as well as detailed scenes at every turn.  I made several passes, and each time I saw something new.  Keep looking hard enough and you’ll find fly fishermen, people changing tires, fires, and even six dinosaurs.  The railroad will run in multiple modes, from “docent” mode, which is four operating trains on the single main line, to fully dispatched operating sessions.

We finished off the layout today.  This is another one of those hidden gems.  I’ve seen many layouts, and this one ranks up there with the finest.  The scenery is great, the scale is enormous, and it was a flawless operational layout. 

So while the building looks to be just another metal building, the interior is quite an adventure.  There is also a great collection of railroad artifacts, including some rare pieces of railroad signaling equipment.  David said that even though many of the items are out in the open - such as timetables - they have experienced very little loss. 

 

I almost forgot to mention an O gauge children's train set on display as well.  It is an interactive operation, so there is something here for the whole family. 

This is an amazing railroad.  We worked with a great bunch of people; far too many for me to name in this abbreviated blog.  Our primaries were Matt Abbey, the manager, and John Thomas, VP of Marketing.  I also now see why the SD90's are needed.  The railroad runs straight out of Alamosa on each of their three routes.  It is the line between La Veta and Alamosa that is the most interesting.  There are steep, steep grades out of the San Luis Valley across the pass. 

Interestingly, the Denver & Rio Grande used to do their passenger train at night so no one sawthe spectacular vistas, and amazing engineering that routed this standard gauge line through the mountains.  Of course, the comment made was that in those days, with no dynamic braking and straight air, it was perhaps better not to let the passengers see what could happen in the event of an accident.  The line has 3.5% grades, tight turns, and sheer drop offs. 

In addition to the passenger service, the line has a freight component.  Those of you who love potatoes will probably be eating one from the San Luis Valley.  Potatoes grown here have more moisture content, so are the edibles, as opposed to the Idaho potatoes which are industrial (French fries, etc). 

We spent the day shooting on the run from Alamosa to La Veta, which is three hours each way.  There is no way to see this except by train or high railer.  Which we will use tomorrow.  Of note, we saw a few bears.  There have been as many as ten at a site on the east side of the mountain.  A grain train crashed some years back.  It seems the train was going 14 mph, when the brakes failed.  In 800 yards, the train was going 40 mph.  That should give you and idea of the grades.  And I should point out that this was the previous railroad, not the current owners.  But more about the bears.  Seems the railroad pulled the metal out, and buried the grain.  Those loads have been fermenting, so the bears are always around the track, digging into the buried load.  The local joke is that to escape them, just run in a straight line!  The day ended with a cab ride - the SD90 cab is quite spacious - as we crept down the hill at 14 mph.  The locomotive almost seems too large for the track width, so I rather thought I was perched on something with a very narrow wheelbase.  I guess the perspective takes some getting used to!

It was another early morning, as were we down by the station to see an old friend, the #18 2-8-0 Consolidated that formerly was with the Grand Canyon Railroad.  The crew did a run across the Rio Grande for us, and then we train chased as the consist worked across the plains to the mountain foothills. 

 

At that point, we hopped on a high rail boom truck, and took off up the mountain ahead of the trains.  It was a thrill to hear that engine working as we climbed to the pass.  Today, we met the LaVeta to Alamosa train at Fir, the summit.  Passengers can either continue on, or wait for three hours at a mountain blue grass concert.  Michael Martin Murphy was on the venue today.  So passengers can ride to the top of the mountain, has a barbeque lunch, and watch a three hour concert in a lovely alpine setting.  How cool is that?