C&S Rotary 99201: C&Sng at the Colorado RR Museum video
The first piece of C&Sng equipment that I ever came across in my first visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum as a teenager was Rotary 99201. (The blog post link shows some old 1990-era photos of 99201) The reason I saw it first was because it wasn't even inside the museum. Instead, the giant snowplow was sitting on a Burlington Northern spur across the street from the CRRM entrance. It remained there for many years until being brought inside the grounds along with a Union Pacific switcher.
This rotary is fascinating for many reasons.
1. It was built for the famous Alpine Tunnel route, but it was found to be too large and heavy. To my knowledge, no photos of a trip on that line with 99201 exist.
2. It was so large, in fact, that it could also be used to clear standard gauge routes. The C&S simply switched out the running gear. The 99201 was used out of locations such as Cheyenne, Wyoming.
3. It plowed the last surviving stretch of the South Park Line, the standard gauged Leadville to Climax, Colorado branch.
4. While it was a steam powered machine it outlasted steam powered locomotives. The Leadville to Climax branch was the last regularly-scheduled class 1 steam operation, using steam locomotives until 1962. The coal-fired Rotary 99201, however, was still used for three more years being pushed by C&S diesels.
Here is a video I made from a visit with 99201 in the fall.
Enjoy!
Kurt
Re: C&S Rotary 99201: C&Sng at the Colorado RR Museum video
I had gone out to the Museum to watch the moving of the Snowplow across the bridge and into the parking lot. Mother Nature was making sure it was a memorable day. The wind was blowing out of the west and the wind chill was well below zero. I watched the contractor and his team for about 45 minutes. Some of us watching had huddled behind the end of the plow for some protection from the wind that day. I finally had to give up and leave because of the cold. I thought that day was a small taste of what the operations on the snowplow might have been like. Operators on the plow were hardy fellows indeed.
Re: C&S Rotary 99201: C&Sng at the Colorado RR Museum video
Kurt ,
I am sorry I don't remember the date. I know the Museum would have the date. The locomotive and Plow had to be moved because the boiler jacket on the 0-6-0 had holes in it and the lagging was blowing around in the wind. If it wasn't moved it would have been cut up and scrapped. The locomotive had the lagging removed when it was on the grounds of the Museum. They had a hazmat team do the abetment in a cocoon on site.
Locked
