I might add a thing or two about Dave Van Drunen. He was an extremely nice individual, always willing to help and/or share whatever he had. His speaking voice was a bit on the loud side and this bothered some people; but when you walked into Caboose Hobbies,
you always knew if Dave was working, no matter where you were in the store. I don't know what he died from, but he certainly died too young; couldn't have been over 50. And once he bought his home in Arvada, he soon took in a boarder, more than 25 years
his senior, but a longtime railfan also. Bruce Black was raised in the Chicago area, a neighbor of the Buhrmasters and a close friend of Ray's younger brother Bruce. They traveled to Colorado together on a railfan trip in about 1952 and Bruce (Black) fell
in love with the state and eventually moved out here, joining his parents in Lafayette (on the Q's Lyons Branch). Bruce was a prolific photographers, shooting both B&W and color slides, many of them on the Burlington. He always lived pretty much paycheck
to paycheck, and after he retired he tried buying and selling models railroad equipment to supplement his income, but not with much success. Then his health took a turn for the worse and when Dave learned Bruce needed a place to stay, he invited him into
his home. Bruce lived there for the last years of his life, and Dave died only a couple of years after Bruce.
Bruce's extensive slide and negative collection was apparently acquired by Paul Withers (of
Diesel Age magazine), and Paul is now selling many of the slides, primarily of depots, on eBay, while Joseph R. Quinn is selling off the steam negatives, a great many of them Q and some dating back to that early '50s trip to Colorado.
Just found this that Dave wrote me about his father, P.C. Van Drunen: "My father served 45 years on the Burlington in Galesburg, starting at the car shops pre-war, then 5 years with Uncle Sam, 29 years at the Galesburg wheel shops till their closing in
1975, and from then to 1981 retirement at the roundhouse drop pit."
Hol
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of Hol Wagner holpennywagner@msn.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 10:07 PM
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Van Drunen Collection
Archie:
The slides came from Dave Van Drunen, who was a longtime BRHS member from Galesburg. He moved to Denver around 1990 and lived about a mile from me, working days at Caboose Hobbies and nights for US Bank. He later moved to Arvada, Colo., about two miles
from me this time. Sadly, he died about two years ago. The slides were taken by his dad, P.C. Van Drunen, who worked for the Q, first in the steel car shop at Galesburg, and after it closed, in the material yard, where he was the locomotive crane operator.
He retired from BN ater 45 years as a machinist and has since died. I have about a dozens of the duplicate slides Dave had made, including three views of 9915B leading the California Zephyr exhibition train before inauguration of the CZ in March 1949. Hope
this solves the mystery of these photos.
Hol
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of 'Rupert & Maureen' gamlenz@ihug.co.nz [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 5:33 PM
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Re: Van Drunen Collection [1 Attachment]
[Attachment(s) from Rupert & Maureen included below]
Try this one.
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: 28 September 2016 12:21
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [CBQ] Re: Van Drunen Collection
Archie,
Check your file name for this attachment.
I am seeing the file name as "49er.jp2"
Shouldn't be "49er.jpg" ?
Greg K
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Posted by: Hol Wagner <holpennywagner@msn.com>
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