HOn3 Rio Grande Southern First District 1938-1945

[Hawghead]

I do appreciate the outpouring of support, although I promise you I wasn’t seeking it.  So FWIW here’s what’s on the workbench now:
(Attachment Link)

Ah, an open air maintenance of way car, just perfect for those hot Colorado summers    Looking great Dave.  Any plans to do a rotary plow?  Although by your era the rotary was gone wasn't it?

Scott

[johnb]

Ah, an open air maintenance of way car, just perfect for those hot Colorado summers    Looking great Dave.  Any plans to do a rotary plow?  Although by your era the rotary was gone wasn't it?

Scott

hot? My fall weather is hotter than the San Juan Mountain's summer

[Dave V]

Ah, an open air maintenance of way car, just perfect for those hot Colorado summers    Looking great Dave.  Any plans to do a rotary plow?  Although by your era the rotary was gone wasn't it?

Scott

The rotary exploded in 1949, so I could use one...but outside of brass, it's a significant scratchbuilding job.  I could probably use parts from the Durango Press kit for the D&RGW rotaries, but RGS Rotary 02 was very different.  It's a space hog.  I do plan eventually to add Plow Flanger 02 however.

[johnb]

The rotary exploded in 1949, so I could use one...but outside of brass, it's a significant scratchbuilding job.  I could probably use parts from the Durango Press kit for the D&RGW rotaries, but RGS Rotary 02 was very different.  It's a space hog.  I do plan eventually to add Plow Flanger 02 however.

didn't they leave it on a siding after the explosion?  That would be a interesting model...pretty sure that there is a picture of it in the Narrow Gauge Circle book....one side looked normal....

[Dave V]

didn't they leave it on a siding after the explosion?  That would be a interesting model...pretty sure that there is a picture of it in the Narrow Gauge Circle book....one side looked normal....

It was stored dead at Ridgway.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It was stored dead at Ridgway.

A good use for a box of expired spaghetti?

[Dave V]

A good use for a box of expired spaghetti?

LOL, yes!

[Hawghead]

I thought the RGS traded a rotary to the D&RGW for a locomotive or a locomotive rebuild.

Scott

[Dave V]

I thought the RGS traded a rotary to the D&RGW for a locomotive or a locomotive rebuild.

Scott

They did.  Rotary #2 is what they kept, and according to Steve Haworth's website:

"Dec 1896...After being used only once, in Jan 1893, rotary #1 is deemed unnecessary, and sold to the Kaslo & Slocan Railway of British Columbia, Canada. In later years, it became part of the Canadian Pacific and was converted to standard gauge."

The RGS would regret that decision immediately, and for every subsequent winter until its death.

[Hawghead]

They did.  Rotary #2 is what they kept, and according to Steve Haworth's website:

"Dec 1896...After being used only once, in Jan 1893, rotary #1 is deemed unnecessary, and sold to the Kaslo & Slocan Railway of British Columbia, Canada. In later years, it became part of the Canadian Pacific and was converted to standard gauge."

The RGS would regret that decision immediately, and for every subsequent winter until its death.

Yeahhhhh, you would have thought that would have been predictable.

Scott

[chuck geiger]

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/37719#comment-406157

Pimpin' The Doctor

[Dave V]

I'm having an open house on Saturday, November 9th from 1200 to 1600.  If you think you want to come, please PM me for the address.

[DKS]

I'm having an open house on Saturday, November 9th from 1200 to 1600.  If you think you want to come, please PM me for the address.

Oh, I really want to come to your open house! Can I? Regrettably no...

[Point353]

It was stored dead at Ridgway.

Was this the old or new #2?

[Dave V]

Two different beasts.  Top photo is Leslie-built Rotary #2.  Bottom photo is Plow Flanger #2.  The latter was converted into a push plow from a standard D&RG drag flanger by the RGS Ridgway shop crew.

The RGS built two "Plow Flangers."  #3 was the larger one and it didn't last long, having a tendency to depart the rails at regular intervals.  Plow Flanger #2 was only slightly more reliable, but the picture of her below Lizard Head there sums up her service life quite well.  Neither home-built plow flanger was able to make up for the lack of a second rotary.  When Rotary #2 blew up, the RGS ceased to operate during the depths of winter, which essentially drove off the mail contract and all the remaining customers.  That plus the surcharge the railroad enacted on each carload in its last years...whatever additional money that surcharge brought in was offset by a mass outflux of shippers to trucks on the slowly improving highways of the era.

You don't need to be a physicist to imagine what happens when you take a piece of equipment designed to be dragged, you raise the center of gravity by several feet, and then you push it uphill into deep snow.  That the thing ever did remain on the tracks at all is somewhat miraculous.