Bert Renck, South Park fireman, shares his adventures on the narrow gauge

[Kurt Maechner]

Bert Renck, born in Missouri, started railroad work on the Santa Fe in 1906.  In 1909 he went to Como, Colorado to work for the Colorado & Southern narrow gauge on "The South Park Line."  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 Gunnision 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 (That portion will be covered in my forthcoming part 2 video).  

Later in life he would join with the likes of George Champion (another C&S employee who worked on the Alpine Tunnel route), Mac Poor, Dow Helmers, and Francis Trudgeon to meet up at the west portal for Alpine Tunnel Days and help with stabilization and reminiscing.  

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 part one of an audio of that article that I narrated.  I put images and video to match up with his story, though, of course, the time frame of the photos doesn't match up in many cases.  

I hope you enjoy another edition of C&S Tales!

Kurt