Bert Renck, South Park fireman, shares his adventures at Alpine Tunnel

[Kurt Maechner]

Bert Renck went to work for the Colorado & Southern narrow gauge in 1909.  He fired on many parts of the line including the Fish Special between Denver and Grant, the Boreas Pass route from Como to Leadville, and the Gunnison Division which included running over Altman Pass through the Alpine Tunnel.  Famously, he was involved in a wreck outside of the east portal of the Alpine Tunnel (Covered in this part of my video).  

I came upon his story when I bought a magazine on Ebay entitled Old West, Winter 1976 edition.  The article was titled "The South Park Narrow Gauge: a treacherous stretch of rails that you could slide on a while before you jumped the track and hurtled down the mountain" by Bert Renck submitted by Hank Givens.  

This is the second part of the audio of that article that I narrated.  

Part 1 can be found here. 

Enjoy!

Kurt