Day 3 - Saturday 2/29/2020 - Rotary Run from Chama to the Colorado State Line
Leap day 2020! I woke up at 6:30 and decided not to head to the breakfast the railroad was serving at the church parish hall in order to go to the yard. Jason had to work the breakfast so I met up with him at the briefing that was to be held at the Chama depot prior to us boarding the buses. Once at the yard, I watched 484 get serviced and waited with the crowd for the 487 and the OY to make an appearance. We were then called for the meeting by the railroad staff. We were then told to board buses. The "convoy" consisted of 4 buses and a railroad truck pulling a trailer with two porta-potties. An escort from the New Mexico Department of Transportation accompanied us and flagged traffic around the buses when they were parked on the shoulder.
We had to sit on the buses a while, while the OY received coal but by 10am we were headed out of town. For the rest of the day, we leap frogged the rotary train as it worked through the light snow up til the New Mexico / Colorado boarder. The railroad delivered us (and the train crew) box lunches from Subway for lunch and were constantly handing out bottles of water for us. In total, I figure we had around 14 run bys for the day. All too soon we reached the Colorado / New Mexico boarder and our day as done. We arrived back at Chama around 4pm. Dinner that evening was again at the perish hall at the Catholic Church.
After dinner, we gathered in the Chama yard for a night shoot that was organized by Pete Lerro. The rotary was positioned by the coal tipple and Pete setup his lights with help from the Friends volunteers and his own crew. He used constant LED flood lights so no flashes. The safety officer of the railroad necessitated people be brought into the yard in groups for photos which was a little different than what most of us expected but with 150 people on the excursion, it was necessary and worked well. I was back in The Hotel (right across from the yard) by 9:00pm, showered and was asleep by 10:30. WHAT A DAY!
We had to sit on the buses a while, while the OY received coal but by 10am we were headed out of town. For the rest of the day, we leap frogged the rotary train as it worked through the light snow up til the New Mexico / Colorado boarder. The railroad delivered us (and the train crew) box lunches from Subway for lunch and were constantly handing out bottles of water for us. In total, I figure we had around 14 run bys for the day. All too soon we reached the Colorado / New Mexico boarder and our day as done. We arrived back at Chama around 4pm. Dinner that evening was again at the perish hall at the Catholic Church.
After dinner, we gathered in the Chama yard for a night shoot that was organized by Pete Lerro. The rotary was positioned by the coal tipple and Pete setup his lights with help from the Friends volunteers and his own crew. He used constant LED flood lights so no flashes. The safety officer of the railroad necessitated people be brought into the yard in groups for photos which was a little different than what most of us expected but with 150 people on the excursion, it was necessary and worked well. I was back in The Hotel (right across from the yard) by 9:00pm, showered and was asleep by 10:30. WHAT A DAY!
