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Hol...I'll be happy to relinquish my "claim" if your trips through the Belmont tunnel include a trip each way "Behind steam on a real...not excursion...passenger train with all heavyweight equipment. Pete
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From: Hol Wagner holpennywagner@msn.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Fri, May 19, 2017 2:29 pm Subject: Re: [CBQ] Bulletin No. 53 Pete:
Not trying to steal your thunder, but I, too, have ridden both directions through Belmont Tunnel on two different occasions. I believe I have ridden through every extant tunnel on Lines West: Belmont, three on the Deadwood Branch, three in the North Platte
River Canyon west of Guernsey, Wyo., and three in Wind River Canyon. I did not ride through the additional three in Wind River Canyon that were eliminated as part of the 1949-50 construction of Boysen Dam, nor through the 800-boot tunnel near Arminto, Wyo.
(between Casper and the southern end of Wind River Canyon) that was daylighted back in the 1920s. I have, however, been to the site of the long abandoned tunnel through the Pryor Mountains west of Toluca, Mont., on the original alignment of the branch to
Cody, Wyo.
And while on the subject of tunnels, it's always seemed odd to me that the C&S, primarily a Colorado railroad that operated two narrow gauge lines deep into the Rockies, had but one tunnel: the famed Alpine Tunnel at an elevation of some 11,600 feet, finally
abandoned in 1910 after unsuccessful efforts for nearly 30 years to deep the line up to it open in the winter. And even more odd is the fact that the FW&D, through its paper subsidiary the Fort Worth & Denver South Plains, had two tunnels on the branch to
Lubbock. I've been to but not through the Alpine Tunnel and I've walked through one of the two FW&D tunnels, now called the Clarity Tunnel and part of a hike/bike path on the abandoned grade.
Hol
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2017 10:50 AM To: BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com; CBQ@yahoogroups.com Subject: [CBQ] Bulletin No. 53 MAGNIFICENT is not too strong an adjective to describe the latest Bulletin effort...
First of all it arrived yesterday in PERFECT CONDITION wrapped in a plastic wrapper which, apparently is going to be "standard" from now on..As per usual the USPS ignored the instruction to "not fold" but the plastic wrapper protected the integrity of
the cover and the "innards" of the magazine.
Rupert's BELMONT TUNNEL article is my favorite..It required "superogatory" effort to produce this piece and him being thousands of miles away. It's the story of the tunnel from its original contemplation to the final not destruction but by its being
bypassed by double track.
Rupert's piece brought back some "far distant memories"...Don't forget "everything reminds me of something" Here's my story.
I believe that I can say without fear of contradiction that I'm the only BRHS member who has twice ridden through the Belmont tunnel in both directions. Once behind steam on the open platform observation car on the rear of Train 43 in year 1942 when I
was 6 years old..My GF and I stood on the platform as we went through the tunnel on the westbound trip.
On our return trip on No. 42 the conductor told us that we couldn't be out there since the tunnel is at the top of Crawford Hill and the gradient in the tunnel is UP that there would be too much smoke and cinders from the laboring engine for us to be
outside.
The second trip was in June of 1957 when I accompanied my GF from Lincoln to Sheridan WY for a celebration of the opening of the Jim Gatchell Museum in Buffalo, WY. By this time the open platform Obs was long gone, But we did ride through the tunnel
in both directions Trains 42 and 43 were, of course Diesel powered by this time.
Steve Holding has "outdone himself" with his reprise of his "OS Creston" piece from several years ago with his current effort OS BN (by the way he is not violating Society rules by writing about the Burlington Northern Railroad). Some of you guys
will understand before you read the piece, but Steve is "taking no chances" and explains in the opening phase of his article.
This Bulletin is worth the Modest $40 annual dues and there is hope that there will be additional bulletins of this quality in the forseeable future.
Pete
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