Early morning departure
Just past sunrise, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad's rotary outfit, with Rotary Plow OY on point, departs the yard in Chama, NM to resume plowing the line to Cumbres Pass. The plow is being pushed by K-36 Locomotives #s 487 and 484 and is headed back to the spot near Milepost 337, where the previous day's plowing operation was halted. This is Day 2 of the railroad's 2020 rotary plow event, which catered to railroad photographers and was the first in a series of events to celebrate the line's 50th anniversary as a tourist operation.
On Day (March 1st, 2020), the train departed the yard early, because it had to plow about 4 miles of trackage between Milepost 337 and 333, virtually none of which is visible from Highway 17 and which the attending photographers would be unable to see from that vantage point. The train would meet the busses carrying the photographers near 333 and the formal event would resume.
Astute observers will note the presence of a snowman built on the tracks by some of the attendees. Nicknamed "Rory", the snowman would shortly disappear in a cloud of snow and ice as the rotary crew briefly fired up the impeller, much to the delight of about half a dozen photographers.
Early morning departure
Just past sunrise, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad's rotary outfit, with Rotary Plow OY on point, departs the yard in Chama, NM to resume plowing the line to Cumbres Pass. The plow is being pushed by K-36 Locomotives #s 487 and 484 and is headed back to the spot near Milepost 337, where the previous day's plowing operation was halted. This is Day 2 of the railroad's 2020 rotary plow event, which catered to railroad photographers and was the first in a series of events to celebrate the line's 50th anniversary as a tourist operation.
On Day (March 1st, 2020), the train departed the yard early, because it had to plow about 4 miles of trackage between Milepost 337 and 333, virtually none of which is visible from Highway 17 and which the attending photographers would be unable to see from that vantage point. The train would meet the busses carrying the photographers near 333 and the formal event would resume.
Astute observers will note the presence of a snowman built on the tracks by some of the attendees. Nicknamed "Rory", the snowman would shortly disappear in a cloud of snow and ice as the rotary crew briefly fired up the impeller, much to the delight of about half a dozen photographers.